The Boo Radley game was the inventive amusement first suggested by Dill on his first day back after returning to Maycomb. The children were bored with their standard play-acting of The Rover Boys, so Dill suggested that their new parts should include the characters of the Radley family: Jem played Boo, Dill played Mr. Radley, and Scout was Mrs. Radley, and their stage was the sidewalk outside where the whole world could see.

     As the summer progressed, so did our game. We polished it and perfected it, added dialogue and plot until we had manufactured a small play upon which we rang changes every day.  (Chapter 4)

The game became more and more gruesome, with the imaginary biting off of fingers and plunging of scissors into legs. The children stopped their game when anyone appeared, but one day they missed Atticus's silent appearance. When Atticus asked what they were doing, Jem replied, "Nothing," but the children soon found that Atticus knew better. The next day Atticus delivered an ultimatum--that the children "stop tormenting that man" and to give up the "asinine game he had seen us playing."