Shaker Showdown
The lowest-stakes heist of the century…
Overview:
- # of Participants: 2+
- Where to Play: Indoors/Outdoors
- Age of Participants: Elementary / Middle / High School
- Approximate Time to Play: 15 to 45 minutes
- Materials: Wooden Stool (or short surface), Musical shaker (or small object that makes noise), Pool Noodle, Blindfold
How to Play:
To set up your play area, you need to establish some sort of circle that’s around 20 feet in diameter. You can do this by taping off a section on the ground, or you can just have everyone sit in a circle of chairs fairly spread out from each other. In the middle of this circle, place down a wooden stool and put a little musical shaker on top of it.
This game is played 1 versus 1, where the defender is blindfolded and given a pool noodle. The thief’s goal is to quietly sneak into the middle of the play area, retrieve the musical shaker and exit the play area, all without being hit by the defender’s pool noodle. The defender often starts right in front of the stool, trying to protect the musical shaker. They will swing the pool noodle at any sounds they hear, and if the thief gets hit, the defender wins. If the thief makes it out of the play area with the shaker, they win. Once you get a turn being the thief, switch roles to the defender. That way there is a set rotation so everyone gets to play both roles.
Normally my group doesn’t keep track of the score. You could consider putting a time limit on the thief if the rounds are taking too long, but we find it more fun to let everyone use their own strategy no matter what it is.
Lesson Handout: