Game Websites:

• http://www.wtsmith.com/rt/games.html
• http://www.harvington.org.uk/guides/games.html

Ideas:

LAME CHICKEN
Divide the boys into two teams and give each team 10 sticks about 10 inches long. The sticks are placed about 10 inches apart like the rungs of a ladder. On signal the first boy in each team hops on one foot over all 10 sticks. He then reaches down and picks up the 10th stick and hops back over the other 9 to his team. The second boy then begins, hopping over the 9 sticks, picking up the 9th and returning. Continue until all have raced. The last boy in line hops over all remaining sticks and then picks up all of them as he hops back to the finish line. If a player steps on any stick, he must start over from the starting line. First team through wins.

PING PONG FOOTBALL
Divide the den into two teams, kneel on opposite sides of a table. Object is to blow a ping pong ball so that it will fall over the edge of the table on the opponent's side. This scores one point. No one is allowed to touch the ball or the table in any way.

TRIO RACE
Instructions: This variation of the "two legged" race teaches coordination and cooperation. Tie a rope on each end of the broomstick. Have three (or more) boys straddle the stick, while the boys on the end hold it off the ground by the ropes (adjust if necessary). Mark a finish line and have boys race towards the finish, keeping stick parallel to the finish.

TARGET BOUNCE
Equipment: egg carton, ping pong balls
How To Play: Place an egg carton on the floor. Stand the players about six feet away and give them ping pong balls to bounce off the floor and into one of the egg compartments. Points may be assigned to each of the compartments for scoring. Whoever reaches a predetermined score first may be the winner.

The Rattler
Group forms circle around two blindfolded boys, each holding a can containing several pebbles. One is the hunter, the other the hunted. Each must shake his can every 10 seconds. The hunter has 2 minutes to catch his opponent.

Variation:

# 1 blindfold
# 1 set of keys or tin filled with pebbles

This is a similar game to 'Whomp'em'. The snake is nominated and must stand within the circle of players. Another player is the hunter. The hunter calls: 'Rattlesnake!' and the snake must 'reply' by jangling the keys or tin. The snake may move within the circle to avoid the hunter but doing so may create enough noise for the hunter to find him.

After the hunter has managed to find the snake (or after 2 minutes) a new hunter is nominated and the old hunter becomes the snake.

Arm Wrestling
Each wrestler places the outside edge of his right foot against the outside edge of his opponent's right foot. They grasp right hands. At a signal each tries to force the other to lose his balance. The only contact allowed is their right hands, and the first to move either foot or touches the floor with his hand or body is the loser.

HARBOR MASTER
Activity Level: Low
Needed: Large room or level playing area, any number of players, blindfold

One boy is blindfolded and is a Ship: another is the Harbor Master. The rest of the players spread themselves throughout the playing area as Buoys. Buoys may not talk or move, and the Harbor Master must remain at the finish spot (‘port”). Using only his voice, the Harbor Master must guide the Ship safely through the harbor to the port. Switch roles and repeat the game.

Reflecting questions might concern how the Ship felt being unable to see; how the Harbor Master felt being able to use only his voice to guide the Ship: or how the Buoys felt being unable to move or speak.

MAP READING
Divide den into two teams. Each team is given pencil and paper and told to draw a map showing the location of some relatively small object within two blocks of the meeting place. (Examples: fire hydrant, bicycle rack, real estate sign, or flagpole.) Keep teams apart during the drawing; neither should know what the other's assigned object is. Den leader makes sure completed maps are not misleading.

The teams then exchange maps and study them. Supervised by the den leader and den chief, the teams leave to find the object on the other team's map. Score two points if a map is correctly drawn, one point for finding the object on the other team's map. If both teams earn three points, winner is the one finding the object first.

SCARICA BARILI
(Unloading Barrels)
From Italy

Boys especially like this vigorous Italian game, whose name means (Unloading barrels) in English. It is played in 'pairs, who stand back to back, hooking elbows. One, then the other bends, lifting his partner who kicks his feet up high. They proceed toward a goal 12 feet or so away, bending and lifting. First pair to reach the goal is the winner.

CHERRY CHOP
From France.
Give each boy from five to 10 pebbles or marbles. (Cherry pits are used in France.) Players line up about two feet from a shallow bowl with one pebble or marble in it. In turn, players try to knock that pebble out of the bowl, using their own pebbles or marbles. When a player succeeds, he keeps that pebble and the leader puts another in the bowl. If a player misses, he must put one of his pebbles into the bowl. Winner is the one with the most pebbles.

BIVOE EBUIVIA
(Clap Ball). From Cameroon, Africa.

Draw a line on the floor and divide den into two teams. The teams line up parallel to the center line and about six feet from it. A small rubber ball is tossed back and forth between the teams. After each catch, the catcher claps his hands once and stamps a foot once. Keep the ball moving fast.

CROSSING THE RICE FIELDS.
From China.

Divide den into two teams and have each team pair off into two-boy teams. On the word “Rice!” the first pair on each team form a “wheelbarrow” (one boy walks on his hands while the second holds his ankles) and races across the “rice fields” to a “river” (two parallel ropes on the floor). At the edge of the river, one player climbs on the other's back and is carried piggyback across the river. On the other bank, they change places for the return trip across the river and then wheelbarrow back to their team. The next pair then starts.

Crows and Cranes.
Equipment - none
Method - Line the boys up in two lines facing each other, one side being the cranes and the other the crows. When the leader calls "cranes" or "crows", all of the team called must turn and run to the wall behind them, hotly persued by the other team. If a boy is tagged she joins the other team. This is kept up until one side has everyone in it. When "crab" is called no one moves, if they do they must go to join the opposing team. This helps keep the suspense going as they must wait to see exactly what you are going to call.

Tips - Don't let this get to rough, make sure only tagging is allowed not grabbing. If there is a danger of boys smashing into a wall maybe two chalk lines would do better as goals.

Wink Murder

Equipment - none

Method - Sit the boys down in a circle and take one boy out. He is the detective and must go out of the room or hide his eyes while the leader gets all the boys to close their eyes as he walks round the ring and silently taps three boys on the shoulder. These are the murderers and no one must know who they are to start with. The detective comes back and stands in the ring. Everyone must watch each other carefully as the murderers must wink at other boys to murder them, without the detective seeing him wink. Any non-murderer who is winked at must die and lie down dead. The detective has three guesses to work out who is doing the winking, the winker is the next detective.

Tips- The odds and difficulty can be changed by having only one or two murderers.You can use this as a chance to involve new or shy boys into some of the action. If you want a really quiet time then boys must die quietly, but part of the fun is with the blood curdling screams that accompany each dramatic death. This game can seriously alarm passing parents or visitors.

Christmas card game

Equipment - a large collection of old Christmas/birthday cards cut diagonally into two, and divided into two carrier bags with one half of each card in each bag.

Method - Without the boys watching too closely, spread out the half cards in various places around the hall. With the boys in sixes/patrols give them one half card each to go off to find the matching half and bring it back to their corner. As they find their card they can be given another to find. Set a time limit and the most complete pairs collected at the end wins.

Tips - Obviously the more cards the merrier and the more you scatter them around the longer it will take. You can make it harder by choosing very similar cards. To make it more difficult for older boys try giving them several cards at the beginning placed on the floor which they must not take with them when they look for the other half. They can then only pick up one of the scattered halves at a time to try to match and return it straight away if it does not match.