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Description

Strategy game played in sixes or teams that illustrates the importance of not being selfish and working together.
Also covers the rules of Scout Law.

Resources

Print one copy of the attached "ScoutLaw.pdf" for each team playing (six teams works well).
Cut up each copy into multiple puzzle pieces and add a colour or other identifying marks to make it clear which team it belongs to.

(My sixes are colour-based, so I outlined each piece in the colour of the six - see the attached "ExampleBeforeCutting" and "ExampleRedSixAfterCutting")


Edited to add a cub scout version with the promise and law - print out at A3 from PDF and cut out puzzle pieces

Instructions

Set up
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- Have each team stand together in a different corner/wall of the hall or playing area.
- Give each team a mix of puzzle pieces for the OTHER teams, but none of the pieces belonging to their team (eg Red team is given some pieces for Blue, Green, Yellow but no Red pieces).
- The team should lay these pieces face-down on the floor in front of them.

Rules (to read out)
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We are going to play this game three times with slightly different rules in each round, so listen carefully.
The aim is to find all the pieces of the puzzle belonging to your team and put it together.
This is a strategy game, NOT a speed game. No one needs to run!
When we say "Go", just ONE PERSON from your team will go visit ONE of the other teams, perform an action, and then come back.
There is no rush! It's not a race. We will not say "Go" again until everyone is back at their team.
If you come back with a puzzle piece for your team then place it face up on the floor. Leave all the other pieces face down.

When we say "Go" again you send out a different person from your team. Everyone should get a turn.
You'll need to talk to your team to figure out which teams you need to go to and what pieces you need to find.

Round One
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In this round the visitor can choose between two actions:.
- They can choose to turn over ONE of the face-down pieces. If that piece matches their team colour then they take it and return home. If it doesn't match then they place it face-down again and return home with nothing.
OR
- They can choose to sabotage the other team by taking one of their face-up pieces, which they take home and place face-down with the others.

(Depending on numbers, and how devious your young people are, this round can go on for a while. That's ok and is part of the point. Feel free to stop it early if it shows no sign of ending)

Round Two
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Reset everything, so that each team is back to having a random selection of the other teams pieces face-down in front of them.
This round is played the same as the first, but there is no sabotage option. They can only take a piece belonging to their own team.

Round Three
============
Reset everything for the final time.
In this round the visitor must pick up a random piece from their own collection, take it to the matching team, and then return home with nothing.
(This round should end very quickly!)

Reflection
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We played this game three times, in three different ways.
- In the first round we tried to get ahead by just taking what we wanted and sabotaging others so that they didn't succeed.
- In the second round we didn't sabotage anyone, but we were selfish and we were only interested in taking what helped us succeed.
- But then in the last round it went really quickly. Why? Because we all worked together to help each other and instead of selfishly taking for ourselves, we gave to the others. And by doing that, we all won together.

Now I want you to look at the what is written on your pieces. Read some out. Who is this person that "is loyal", "is trusted", "has courage", "is friendly" and respects themselves and others? They sound great. I'd want to meet them,
Well that person is YOU! These are the rules of the Scout Law and every one of us should be guided by these rules and be the kind of person that helps others first instead of only thinking about themselves.

Notes
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I found this game worked quite well with six teams and 8 pieces to the puzzle. But you could increase the number of pieces to make it run longer.
If you want to run it shorter then play with all the pieces face-up to eliminate the trail-and-error guessing.

Tags

• law
• moral
• puzzle

Badge Links

• Membership - Promise and Law
• Skills - Problem solving
• Teamwork - Team game