I recall playing this game as a small child, which means it was more than six decades ago. The Dictionary of American Regional English says the game was played primarily in the Appalachians, and involved throwing a ball over a building to players on the other side. Someone catching the ball had the “…right to run around to the other side and touch them (and) they had to come to our side.” If the ball wasn’t caught, someone would yell “pigtail” and throw the ball back while yelling “Andy Andy Over” again. An article titled “Before We Lived in Castles We Played Andy Andy Over” says that the game lost favor when we began living in three story homes (castles).

Other names for the game were Andrew-over, Andy-over, Annie-over, Antony-over, anti-over, ankety-over, and probably several other possible variations.