"Olly olly oxen free" is a catchphrase or truce term used in children's games such as hide and seek, capture the flag, and kick the can to indicate that players who are hiding can come out into the open without losing the game; that the position of the sides in a game has changed (as in which side is on the field or which side is at bat or "up" in baseball or kickball); or, alternatively, that the game is entirely over. The origin of the phrase is unknown. The Dictionary of American Regional English says the phrase may be derived from all ye, all ye outs in free, all the outs in free, or possibly ”calling all the outs in free”; in other words, all who are out may come in without penalty. Others speculate the phrase may be a corruption of a hypothetical and ungrammatical German phrase alle, alle, auch sind frei (all, all, also are free). A number of variations exist. "Ollyoxalls" is one such variant, said to be used in Portsmouth, England. Another variant is "Ollie Ollie in come free." In popular culture Various songs are named "Olly olly oxen free", or a variant thereof, including songs by: the Ted Weems orchestra (sung by a young Perry Como); Terry Scott Taylor, on his 2004 album Imaginarium: Songs from the Neverhood; the metalcore band Sworn In, on their 2015 album The Lovers/The Devil; and Amanda Palmer, on her 2012 album Theatre Is Evil. Olly Olly Oxen Free (1978) is a film starring Katharine Hepburn, Oxenfree is a 2016 videogame by Night School Studio. At the very end of Peter, Paul and Mary's recording of "It's Raining", they speak the more straightforward version of the phrase: "All-ee, all-ee in free." In Kurt Vonnegut’s 1962 novel Mother Night, the phrase’s use among children is referenced, as the narrator desires to hear an analogous message to come out of hiding. On Victoria Williams' 1994 album Loose, the song "Polish Your Shoes" features the line "Olly olly oxen free, but be careful." In the Peanuts comic strip for October 3, 1955, Lucy hollers "Olee Olee Olsen Free-O!" Violet informs her chagrined friend that it should be "Ally ally out are in free!" The punk band Authority Zero released an album called Ollie Ollie Oxen Free in 2021. The 2017 film XXX: Return of Xander Cage, Toni Collette's character says it to