ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Marco Polo (game)

Alright kiddo, have you ever played a game called "Marco Polo" while swimming in a pool? Remember how you have to close your eyes and yell "Marco" while trying to find your friends who are trying to stay away from you by swimming silently around the pool?

So, Marco Polo is named after an explorer who lived a looong time ago in China. He traveled across Asia for over 24 years and discovered many new things that people in Europe didn't know about.

Now, the game Marco Polo is based on a legend about Marco Polo when he was traveling on a ship with some friends. He got lost and his friends were trying to help him find his way back, so he would yell "Marco" and they would shout back "Polo" to let him know where they were.

And this is how the game got its name! In the game, one person is "it" and closes their eyes and yells "Marco" while the other players try to swim away without making any noise. The person who is "it" has to use only their ears to listen to where the other players are and find them by yelling "Marco" and then following the sound of their friends shouting back "Polo."

It's a really fun game that requires you to use your senses to locate your friends in the pool, and it was named after a really cool adventurer who traveled across Asia a long time ago. Hope that helps, kiddo!