An alternative to dipping we sometimes used was for everyone to cry "not it". The last one to say it was it, or in some places where I lived, "on". (I had a nomadic childhood as my Father was in the RAF)

The "not it" method of deciding who was "it" not surprisingly, often led to disputes or had to be repeated several times as someone was considered to have taken an unfair advantage or cheated - rather like jumping the starting pistol in a race.

I remember playing kick can.

A variant of hide and seek we played was, when you were found by "it" you raced to the base (often a tree) and called "one two three in" or if "it" got there first, "one two three xxxxxx" where xxxxxx was the person's name. If you got to base before "it" you weren't "on" next time.