Instead of playing a fireman or a policeman, this time your child will become the Special Missions Unit GROM operator. They will be sent on a mission to rescue civilians.
The game is based on the classic rules of ‘hide and seek’. With some small details and ‘special’ words added, your child will become the hero of the day. The minimum number of adults or children for the game is 2. If, however, you are able to get at least 5-6 persons involved, the game might turn even more interesting.
WE WILL NEED:
- 1-2 torches
- Reflective band visible at night
- Dark headgear (e.g. balaclava, dark headscarf, cap)
TIME AND PLACE OF THE GAME
Wait until it gets dark.
Choose where the game will take place: at home, in the playground, in the street, etc. If there is large open space, define the boundaries the players cannot cross (e.g. introduce a rule that the players can hide no farther than the nearest tree, tent, street, etc.).
THE GROM UNIT OPERATOR VS. CIVILIANS
All players are divided into two groups: GROM UNIT OPERATORS and CIVILIANS.
CIVILIANS can change their hiding place, sneak, move from one room or place to another. Civilians do not know that a rescue mission is on its way and, consequently, they try to hide from their future hero. During the game, they attempt to remain concealed for as long as possible.
GROM UNIT OPERATORS have to find as many concealed players as they can as soon as possible. They have a torch at their disposal. Yet, they have to be cautious so that the enemy troops cannot find them. That is why they can switch on the torch only when they reach a place they are certain to find a hiding person.
POINTS
Everyone has a chance to score points in this game.
If the GROM Unit Operator is certain to find someone in a given place, they switch on the torch. If the light does reveal a hiding person, then this person is saved in this round of the game and the rescuer scores one point. Persons who were already rescued can help the rescuer in the following parts of the game. However, they cannot give away where the others civilians are hiding.
If the torch’s light reveals an empty space where nobody is hiding, the GROM Unit Operator has to return to where they started the search mission and they receive one penalty point.
The winning GROM Unit Operator is the person who rescued the largest number of persons (received the most points) and at the same time has the lowest amount of penalty points.
As for civilians, one point is awarded to the person who remained hidden for the longest period of time. Clearly, they did not know the rescue was on its way and managed to hide from potential danger successfully.
Where there is a large group of players and all persons but one have been found, you can finish this round of the game and ask the last hiding person to come out. This person will get their point anyway, while the rest of the group will not get bored waiting for another round.
FAIR DIVISION OF PLAYERS
Allocate numbers to each person playing the game: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. (if you play with small children under 3-4 years of age, you can pair them with an adult / older child).
At any time, there should be 2 rescuers in the game while all the other players should be the hiding civilians. In each round one of the rescuers and one of the hiding players will receive one point each (following the instructions mentioned above).
In each round of the game different persons should be chosen to play the GROM Unit Operator. For the game to be fair it is best to select the rescuers in accordance with the numbers allocated at the beginning of the game.
Make sure that the competing rescuers have equal chances of winning. If a 14-year-old was to compete with a 5-year-old, the game would be enjoyable only for the first child…
