Velcro Puzzle Beanie Relay

How To Play Velcro Puzzle Beanie Relay

This game has worked brilliantly every time I've played it at my youth group. It's one of those games that combines action, thinking and sillyness all together.

I originally saw a similar game played on Big Brother Friday Night Live and adapted it from there.

You'll need to buy some coloured cardboard and some velcro. Make sure the cardboard pieces are around A3 or A2 - the bigger the better. First up, you'll essentially need to create a puzzle out of them. The puzzle I've used most commonly is a grid of the numbers 1-9 where each row, column and diagonal adds up to 15 (The Magic Square). So I never needed to make actual puzzle pieces, just normal A3 size with big numbers written on them.

On the back of each piece of cardboard attach a piece of velcro using stickytape. Make sure the velcro piece sticks to the beanies you will be using AND make sure the velcro piece is attached strongly and won't come off when you peel it off the beanie.

That's the preparation done - here's how to set up and play the game:

1. Set up a relay course, the teams will line up at one end and the puzzle pieces will be placed randomly at the other end. The distance between is up to you. Maybe place some obstacles in the middle that the players will need to crawl through or go around when they run.

2. Explain the game to the teams. Each team must send one play down to the other end at a time. That player must wear the beanie and pick up the puzzle piece without using their hands, and bring it back to the start. Then another player can take the beanie to go fetch another puzzle piece.

3. To win the game, your team must arrange all the puzzle pieces into the correct order to complete the puzzle (in this case - the magic square).

This youth group game is always a bit of a laugh because the players look pretty silly with a giant piece of cardboard blocking their view while running the race. It also gives the relay team something to do while waiting for their team mates to collect pieces. It worked really well as a mini-game in a games tournament.

Added by
Joel
on 5 April 2011