Smuggler’s treasure

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.

Setting up the area

• Find an area with plenty of safe hiding spaces, without people leaving the agreed boundaries. 
• Set boundaries with your group for during the game, which you could mark out with cones or natural features, such as walls and hedges.
• Remember to check the terrain and make sure the game area is free of hazards. For example, hazards could be roads, dips in the grass, steps, rocks or rivers if you’re playing outside. 

Introducing the playing area

1. Explain the boundaries of the playing area and where the no-go zones are. Tell people how they can use the space respectfully, without disturbing the wildlife or other people enjoying the site if you're in a public space.
2. Tell everyone where adults will be around the site and what people should do if anyone in their team needs help. This should include setting memorable spot where an adult will always stay.
3. Explain the signal to stop play and how long the game will go on for. A long blast on a whistle works well as a signal to stop the game.
4. If playing in a public space, young people should be paired up so no young person is left alone, and they should run or move together.

Play the game

1. The aim of the game is for the smugglers to try and get all their treasure into the pedlars base, by passing the treasure to the pedlars to put it in. However, the coastguards are trying to stop them. If the coastguard tags and catches a smuggler or pedlar, the coastguard takes their treasure to put it into the coastguard's base. Whoever has the most treasure in their base at the end of the game, wins.
2. Decide what you’ll use for treasure. Coloured counters or pretend coins work well. You could also draw, colour and cut counters out of paper.
3. Each team has a box, bowl, bucket or hoop each to put their treasure in. This is the team's base. The smugglers base is at one end of the playing space. The pedlars base is at the opposite end of the space. The coastguards base is in the middle of the two groups.
4. Remember, only the team whose base it is can add or take treasure from it. An adult volunteer or young leader could watch each base if needed.
5. Tell everyone the ‘treasure limit’. This is the maximum amount of treasure a player can hold at once. This could be one or two counters.
6. Explain the roles to everyone:

The smugglers

• Each smuggler should try to avoid the coastguard and pass their treasure to a pedlar. Once they’ve delivered their treasure to a pedlar (or been caught red-handed) they need to go back to the base before they can run again.
• The smugglers should try to help others, for example, by passing on messages or distracting the coastguards.

The pedlars

• The pedlars should try to avoid the coastguard as they collect treasure from a smuggler and take it back to their base. Once a peddler has taken treasure from one smuggler, they can’t collect treasure from another smuggler on their way back to the base, even if they still have some of their treasure limit left.
• A smuggler can’t add treasure to the peddler’s base and an adult volunteer or young leader could watch this base if needed.
• Once a pedlar’s delivered treasure to their base, it’s safe. They can continue to collect treasure from other smugglers, one at a time.

The coastguards

• The coastguards should patrol and try to find and catch smugglers and pedlars red-handed.
• If a coastguard catches a smuggler or a pedlar, the smuggler or pedlar must give all the treasure they’re carrying to the coastguard.
• The smuggler or pedlar needs to go back to their base before they can run again.

Ready, steady, go!

1. Split everyone into three teams: the coastguards, the smugglers and the pedlars. Think about how you could show each team, such as by different coloured neckers or bibs.
2. Put all the treasure at the smugglers base. Only smugglers can touch the treasure on this base. An adult volunteer or young leader could watch this base if needed.
3. The smugglers should stand with their base at one end of the playing space. The pedlars should stand with their base at the opposite end of the space. The coastguards should stand with their base in the middle of the two groups.
4. When everyone's ready, make a signal to start the game.
5. The game ends when all the treasure’s either at the peddler’s base or with the coastguard.
6. If the game hasn’t ended by the agreed time, the person leading the game should make a signal to tell everyone to stop.
7. An adult volunteer or young leader should count the treasure.
8. If there’s more treasure at the pedlar’s base than with the coastguard, the smugglers and pedlars’ win. If the coastguards have more treasure than is safe at the pedlar’s base, the coastguards win.
9. Any treasure that’s still with smugglers or pedlars isn’t counted.