Wake your delegates up after lunch with this fast-paced activity that requires speed and communication skills. This 10-minute game makes everyone excited and if delegates are of a competitive nature, they will try even harder to win, with amusing results! Great for delegate numbers between 8 and 30.You’ll need a pack of cards for each team and maybe a prize for the winning team!
1. Split the group into teams with a minimum of 4 people in each team.
2. Explain that the objective for each team is to pass playing cards from one person to another as quickly as they can.
3. Get the teams to sit (or stand*) in two lines in front of each other. Each line is a separate team. They will be competing against each other for this task.
4. Place the pack(s) of cards at one end of the table, face down, out of their packet.
5. The row of players have to pass the cards from one to another – starting with the person at one end picking up the first card and passing it to the next person’s nearest hand.
6. Each card must then be passed on along the row, passing to the nearest hand only with no ‘skipping’ people out to speed up the process!
7. No one is allowed more than two cards in their hand at any one time.
8. Each team must carry on passing cards until all cards have made it from one end of the table to the other.
*If your delegates are standing, then you need either a table at either end to put the cards on, or a team ‘captain’ to collect the finished card pile.
Variations: You can repeat the exercise to allow teams to improve their performance or switch team members around and see how the group dynamic changes.
Outcomes to look for:
- Communication between team members – everyone contributing?
- Competitiveness
- Speed/energy and ‘waking up your delegates
- Participation, reluctance
Thanks go to The Complete Trainer Ltd for this energiser.
