Keeper of the case

Before you start

• Place a closed box somewhere prominent in the space. Fill this with a prize of your choice.
• Pick four numbers from zero to nine, without repeating a number. This will be the code for opening the box.
• Pick the challenges that the group will do and set them up. At least three challenges should be impossible; the others should be possible or difficult. You can make up your own or chose from the list below. Don’t let the players know that some challenges are impossible.

Pick your challenges

Possible:

• Balance a spoon on the end of your nose for 30 seconds.
• Carry a pencil from one end of a table to the other using only the tip of your thumb.
• Make a paper aeroplane and throw it so it flies into a preselected goal, like a bucket.
• Use ropes or a necker to tie a friendship knot.
• Move five sweets from one bag to another using chopsticks or a straw, within 30 seconds.
• Throw a piece of paper into a preselected goal, like a bucket.
• Count out ten seconds without looking at a clock or timer. Any time between nine and a half and ten and a-half seconds can be accepted.
• Pick the Joker from a shuffled pack of cards within five tries.
• Stack five sweets on top of each other within 60 seconds. They must stay up for at least 30 seconds.

Difficult:

• Blow through a straw to guide a ball around a course and into a hole. The hole and the ball should be virtually the same size.
• Guess a random word that has been written on a piece of paper.

Impossible:

• Lick your elbow.
• Throw a small light ball to knock over an item like a chair or a table within three goes.
• Roll a ball from a start point into a target zone with only one roll. The course should be L-shaped with no walls, so there is nothing to rebound the ball against.
• Place shapes (such as a cube, ball or pyramid) in a tube. The shapes should not fit in the tubes, and they are not allowed to swap.
• Balance a coin on the end of a toothpick for five seconds.
• Bounce a ball made of scrunched up paper five times.
• Catch a ball thrown from around five metres away. The person throwing the ball should throw it behind them instead of towards the players.
• Roll a ball into a cup that is smaller than the ball.

Try to crack the code

1. One player should be the keeper of the code.
2. Everyone else should get into teams of at least four. They will work in these teams to win challenges, and for each one they win, they will get one number of the four-digit code for opening the box.
3. Explain each challenge and how to play. Each team must nominate one person to complete each challenge, with every person having a go at something. Teammates may give the player advice but not physical help. Players can only use the resources given to them in that challenge to complete it.
4. When a team completes a challenge, the keeper of the code should give them one digit to open the box. The order of the numbers does not matter.
5. Teams crack the code by writing down a four-digit number on a piece of paper and handing it to the keeper of the code. If they are correct, the keeper should open the box to reveal the prize. Teams can guess at the numbers they don’t know or ally with other teams to win.
6. Everyone should get back together and chat about how it went. What did they do to be a good team player and help their team? Can they think of other types of teams and the roles in them?