Taters

Remember how in childhood you used the one-potato, two-potato, three-potato, four method for "randomly" selecting someone?  Well, it's rhythmic, like most music, and as such has eights beats (two measures in 4/4 time).   In groups of two people to eight people, the first person counted is only "it" if there are seven people.  In groups of eight or higher, it's just the eighth person.  (Corollary: If it's just two people and you want to be "it" be the counter.)  Further, except for a group of five, the person who is "it" is next to the person who is counted first.  Which side the "it" person is on depends on whether the counter goes clockwise or counterclockwise.

Now, I seem to remember an optional addition where the potato counting would be continued with "My mama told me to pick the very best one and you are it."  That's not rhythmic and has fourteen additional beats.  In that case, the first person counted is "it" in groups of three and seven.  (Also in the unlikely event you are using the potato method in a group of twenty-two people, the first counted would be "it".)

The only random thing about the potato method is the choice whether to go clockwise or counterclockwise.  Once that is determined, then the person who is "it" can be determined by counting the number of people in the group and reference to the chart I'm making for all K-4th grade teachers in Montgomery County, Maryland.

[Just thought I'd mention that since once I got it into my head, I went to the trouble of drawing groups on my legal pad and playing out both scenarios.]