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Play Mission: Lightyear

Improve your teamwork skills with this fun space themed game.

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You’ll need

  • Something to mark lines (for example, chalk, masking tape, or rope)
  • Blindfolds
  • Different coloured cones

Before you begin

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers.

Planning this activity

  • To set up the game, mark a line on the ground. On one side of the line, spread out your plastic cones.You can increase the challenge of this game by placing the cones further apart. 

Setting the scene  

  1. Gather everyone together and start by setting the scene. Ask everyone to imagine you’ve all crash landed on a distant, faraway planet, and you need to get home. However, you’ve been marooned, and your spaceship was damaged during the crash. Now, you must work together in small teams to gather all the parts to fix your spaceship.  
  2. In their teams of three, they must each choose a role. They can either be the Commander, Pilot or Engineer.  
  • The Commander can speak, but not see the cones or the Engineer.
  • The Pilot can see, but not speak.  
  • The Engineer can move, but not see. 

Explain the game  

Everyone needs to get into the right position for their chosen role.  

  • The Commander must stand behind the line with their back to the cones, so they can’t see them.
  • The Pilot must stand in front of the Commander facing the cones, so the Commander can see them.
  • The Engineer must be blindfolded and stood on the other side of the line facing the cones. They should have their back to the Commander and Pilot.

Now, explain the rules.

  1. Each team must work as a team to collect as many cones as possible to fix their ship. 
  2. The Pilot will see the direction in which the Engineer needs to go. The Pilot needs to signal the directions using body movements to the Commander, who can say them.  
  3. The Commander will see the Pilots movements, but can’t see the Engineer. The Commander will be able to say the Pilot’s direction verbally to direct the Engineer. 
  4. The blindfolded Engineer needs to listen out for their Commander to direct them to the cones. 

Playing the game

  1. When everyone's ready, set a timer for three minutes and count everyone in to start the game. 
  2. When the three minutes is up, let each team discuss what went well and what could be improved.  
  3. Play the game again and switch up the roles, so everyone gets a chance to be the Commander, Pilot and Engineer.  

Reflection

This activity needed everyone to communicate and work as a team. Which of the Commander’s and Pilot’s instructions were the easiest to follow, and why? Each team should think together, and then share their ideas with everyone else.

If you were blindfolded during this activity, you had to use all your senses, including your sense of balance and awareness of your own body. Did you find this part of the activity easy or difficult? What was it like to not have your sense of sight? How did you feel?

In this game, different people had different roles, even though they were on the same team. Can anyone think of another example where people have different roles in a team? People may think about sports, such as football, where players have different positions, or even a film set, where some people are actors, some directors and some are set or costume designers, among lots of other roles.

This activity gave everyone a chance to think about what makes a great leader, and gave some people the chance to give it a go. The Commanders and Pilots needed to give the Engineers clear instructions, so everyone reached their goal. It’s important for them to be trustworthy. What was it like to guide someone who couldn’t see? Was it a lot of responsibility?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Active games

The game area should be free of hazards. Explain the rules of the game clearly and have a clear way to communicate that the game must stop when needed. Take a look at our guidance on running active games safely.

To make this game easier, each team could just need to pick up six different coloured cones to fix their ship.

To make this harder, some people could be 'aliens’. The aliens could call out incorrect instructions to try and confuse the blindfolded player, the Engineer.

People can move at their own pace, so you don’t need to make it competitive unless it works for everyone.

No-one has to be blindfolded if they don’t want to be. They could just close their eyes, or they could choose someone else to have their turn.

If it’s too noisy and anyone doesn’t like the noise, the person leading the activity can remind everyone to be quieter.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Scouts Teamwork Challenge Award

People could work in small teams to make up their own simple team games where everyone has to work together to achieve a goal. You could provide materials, such as a ball or piece of string, that they have to use in their game. People could practice their game, then teach it to another group. This would help them work towards their Teamwork Challenge Award or even their Sports Activity Badge.