A player is chosen as "it" and a landmark such as a tree or lampost is chosen as the base. Players who are not "it" run and hide, while "it" counts to a certain number, usually 40 or 100. "It" looks for the other players, while the players try to get to base without being seen.

If a player gets to base without being seen, they shout "forty forty home" and are then safe, waiting at base for the remainder of the game. In order to catch someone, "it" must see the person, run back, touch the base and say "forty forty I see [name]".

Players that are caught by the "it" return to base. The last person to be caught by the end of the game is "it" for the next game. Some variants make the first person caught "it" for the next game.

There are variants to allow players to be freed. In some variants, a player reaching base can say "Release, one, two, three" or a similar chant to release one or all captured players. If the last player reaches the base without being spied, they can chant a variant of 'Forty-forty, one, two, three, all saved', and all the players are freed to play again.