(A BIG Thanks to my creative friends at Group Dynamix for this engaging activity!)

If you happen to know the Quad Jam progression from my book, Affordable Portables, here's a great addition to the party. If you don't know about Quad Jam, no worries, Lost In Space stands alone just fine!! So, break out the Trolleys for some versatile fun. 
 
Set Up: Set down four, 4-inch by 4-inch boards, 6 to 8 feet in length (Trolley’s with ropes work for this) into a large square configuration (see Photo 1). (If there are ropes on/in the boards be sure they are pulled out from underneath each board so the boards lay flat on the ground/floor – as long as the bottom of the Trolley boards are not facing up, it does not matter where the top of the boards are placed). Place a large number (50 to 75) small objects (golf balls, tennis balls, Beanie Babys, wads of paper, fleece balls) in the center area of the square – spread out the objects so that no object is any closer than two feet from any board. Place one or two large buckets near one of the corners of the square, on the outside of the square.
 
Objective: Move objects (for points) from within the square of boards into the bucket located outside the square without touching the floor/ground. 
 
Time Limit: For a competitive activity with two or more teams, set a time limit of 8 to 12 minutes to collect objects with a few minutes up front for planning.
     For a single group (16 to 24 people), play until all materials are collected – the group will need to reconfigure the square to retrieve objects (thinking “out of the box”). Variation: If you have an Expandable Cube, put all the parts into the center of the square - the group has to get all the parts in order to create the Cube element for the next challenge. 

RULES of PLAY

1. The materials related to the activity, including the objects to be retrieved, can only be touched if everyone in the group is standing on the boards – no feet touching the floor/ground – with the exception of the bucket(s). The bucket(s) may not be moved.
2. Objects can only be picked up – may not be used in any other way – from the center of the square – the boards must be in a square (four equal sides) configuration for objects to be retrieved. In other words, these objects (including any ropes in the area) may not be used to retrieve any other objects.
3. If a player touches the floor/ground at any time after the activity begins, any objects s/he is holding must be given to the facilitator (who will place them back into the center of the square). Also, if there are objects in the bucket one is taken out (by the facilitator) and placed back into the center after a touch of the floor/ground.
4. When a player is able to retrieve one or more objects from the center of the square s/he must put them or toss them into the bucket in order to score points (e.g., one point for each object retrieved) – objects may not be passed/given to any other player after being picked up.
5. When using Trolleys with ropes attached, players can use the ropes for support if the ropes are not touching the ground.

 
Facilitation Notes: Spot players when you can and encourage them to help each other during dynamic movements. If the group discovers and decides to move the boards in order to make a smaller "square" (getting closer to the objects), be sure to remind them to be careful of board-to-body contact and pinch points. There is one square configuration (Photo 3) where boards might be placed on top of other boards resulting in players being higher off the ground. Let the group know about the elevated risk potential and be sure to spot movements from these boards where and when you can.
     A way to explain handling the materials in the activity is to say that the center of the square is "outer space" and the materials are floating within – weight cannot be put on the floor in any way. Your boards are a space ship that can contain the objects if the ship is in a square formation (equally distributing its particle beams within the cargo bay - or something of this nature). 
     Heads Up: Based on Rule 4, players will end up walking around on top of the boards. Be mindful of any spotting needs during this movement.  

Let me know how this goes for you!! Leave a comment below. 

Have Fun Out There!

Chris Cavert
​

After sharing Sam Sikes' Top 10 activity list (September FUNdoing blog post), people have been asking for my list. (Others have shared their lists on Facebook - search "Top 10 Activities Cavert" and here's another list from my friend Brian in Canada.) What follows is my "Portable" Top 10. In a further post I'll share my Big Prop Top 10 - there's just so many to choose from. (To quote my friend Sam, these are in no particular order.)

• Eye Contact Partner Tag (The EMPTY Bag)
• Chiji Connection (The Chiji Guidebook)
• The Building Block Sequence (Described HERE)
• Moonball (See my favorite variations HERE)
• Flipping Burgers & Elbow Tag Trio (Noodle Books ONE & TWO)
• Fastball (Portable Teambuilding Activities - my latest book)
• Key Pad (Rohnke's Quicksilver)
• Bull Ring (Teamwork & Teamplay)
• Corner-to-Corner (Portable Teambuilding Activities)
• Four-of-a-Kind (The POSSIBLES Bag Activity Manual - written up below)

This one plays well with 10 to 30 participants. You'll need a standard deck of playing cards (the bigger the better - the picture above is me using SUPER JUMBO cards.) Make a big circle with a 50 foot long rope and set out all the cards face down inside. Now divide your group into teams of two or three players (you could go with up to four per team, but I find there's too much waiting around and "I hate waiting! What if I throw you a rope....?" I digress.) Give each team a game spot or carpet square and ask them to place it down on the floor/ground about 10 feet from the outside of the circle of cards. ​​

Have each team gather by their spot or carpet square while you give them the directions. The objective of the activity is for each team to have four cards of the same rank at their spot/carpet square - the timing starts when the first player breaks the plane of the rope circle and stops when all teams have four-of-a-kind. Please be sure to remind the teams that they are all one "group" working together in small "teams" to achieve the objective as quickly and safely as possible. 

(NOTE: I worked with an adult group recently and one of the participants did not know what was on the faces of a deck of cards - true story. So, don't assume participants will know what four-of-a-kind means. You'll need to explain. Now, if using playing cards is a bad idea for your group make up some letter cards so the teams can obtain four-of-a-kind in letters.)

RULES: 

• Only one player from each team can enter into the circle of cards at a time (i.e., if there are six teams, up to six people can be in the circle).
• After entering the circle you are only allowed to pickup/touch one card. 
• If you choose to take this card from the circle you and your "teammates" may not look at the card until it is flipped over onto the team spot/carpet square. [NOTE: Nothing was said in this rule about someone else in the group seeing the card once it is picked up inside the circle - this is often discovered after a few rounds of play.]
• All players on a team must take turns going into the card circle - meaning, all players from a team must go into the circle once before someone can go in a second time and so forth. 
• If your team decides to keep the card taken from the circle it is placed down on the floor/ground and must be touching the spot or be touching a card that's touching the spot.
• If your team decides not to keep the card it is brought back into the circle of cards and placed face down inside the circle. In other words, if you don't want the card it goes back into the circle. This means you may not hand a card that you have to another team.  
• Each team may have up to five cards in their area - touching the spot. Once a sixth card is brought to their area someone in the team must bring a card back when going into the circle. 

I usually get in at least three rounds so the group can experience improvement. If they delve into their mental models and phantom rules results can be impressive. 

That's the gist of one of my TOP 10s. I like it because it brings up a lot of discussion about assumptions, mental models, and phantom rules, and pushes participants towards helping each other in order to clock the fastest possible time. It's also a good activity for working on goal setting and meeting expectations. I've seen it done with a group of 20 players in under 90 seconds. 

Speaking of assumptions, here's one I made that lead to a variation of Four-of-a-Kind that I now use on a regular basis (if you have time to read on). I've been working with Group Dynamix in Texas recently, a company that provides team building programs for groups. I saw they had a couple decks of SUPER JUMBO cards so I grabbed a deck for Four-of-a-Kind. As I was setting down the cards my group was taking a short break. By habit I was counting the cards as I set them out. 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56. Rats.

My mind started going to the place where I was wondering what idiot....but, I thought, let's see what happens. When I presented the rules to the group I did say, "There are more than 52 cards here and I don't know if there is a complete deck - please keep this in mind." Well, of course one of the teams was after a set of four that was missing a card. At first it was an issue, then it became an opportunity for the group. Good stuff.

WARNING: Since this discovery I've set up the deck in a way where some cards are missing - adding extras from another deck - and I do not frontload with any warnings. In one case so far I was harshly accused of "setting the group up" for failure. However, it did end well after a good processing session about assumptions and the difference between "reacting" to challenges and "responding" to challenges. Concepts this group needed to hear. Again, good stuff!

I'd love to read your TOP 10 - share in the comments!!

Have fun out there. 

​Chris Cavert