In the Early Days, before there was Team Fortress, and before there was Quake, and before even Doom or Wolfenstein were ideas, in the Early Days when baudrate was a term yet unheard and then forgotten when 56K became the norm, in those Early days did we play Capture the Flag outside, with our very bodies, and in those Early Days we skinned our knees and laughed and played and lost and played 'til the shiny fireflies bid us return home to suckle from the hose of gardens and collapse into mud-streaked sleep.

Zerg rushes of anonymous children punctuate summertime in Barrio de Zheng. They overrun the defenses, screen door swinging, slamming, swinging again. One on the Ouya, two on the xBox, three on the Wii, most doing end runs around their parents' summertime video game restrictions and conveniently not informing me of the fact.

But enough of pixels and vectors and voxels, little ones. I shall teach you the Old Ways, swaddled in furs sufficiently nerdy to invest you mentally in the game before you become physically addicted to the running and laughing with others of your ilk, for the creaking of my joints is the harbinger of wisdom, and I know how to manipulate younglings as I was once manipulated.

Go, now, and play, before Summer wanes and study begins anew, for the Early Days that belong to you will not last ever long.

Learn the rules for Capture The Flag IRL.