Video Trivia Dodge Ball

If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball and if you can count to 10 you can try to count how many times two dogs jumped in a video clip.

The Dodge Ball version was much funnier after editing but the video trivia challenge would have added a whole new element to the movie.

I have been wanting a projector for the youth building for years. About 5 years to be exact. That is how long I have been in this ministry position. I was approved to purchase one but it isn’t like I had the money in the budget. At the end of 2012 the Youth helped with our Royal Rangers tree sales and I got a pretty good payment into the department for some much needed/desired things. I set aside some money for camp scholarships, paid for the giant bounce house I bought at the end of November 2012 (that is another story), and finally bought that new projector.

Of course, now that I have a projector instead of having to beg every time I want to use one, I will be trying to come up with every excuse to use it as often as possible.

A Legend is Born

After testing the new projector I started trying to come up with ideas. I went through video illustrations for the sermon series I’m doing, but honestly, I’ve done that and it just didn’t seem like the right way to celebrate the blessing of a new projector. Then it hit me, to celebrate we should have fun. So I started planning a game.

My good friend Google didn’t let me down. At first I was going to buy a video trivia game but ended up finding the site Rivvid on my first Google search. The concept was perfect. Basically people make a quiz that they share. There is a short video clip followed by a multiple choice question with a count down timer. The question might be about the clip or it may require knowledge of the subject.

There are quite a few categories to choose from and most categories have multiple quizzes already made. Personally I loved the 80s movie trivia and to be honest my students did better than I expected they would in that quiz.

Trivia is not enough

Well, it might have been. The students had a blast just doing the trivia portion, but it isn’t enough for me because I like overkill. When playing Madden I alway take the 2pt conversion because why settle for 1 when you can have 2 right?

I figured the more active students would want something they could do rather than just watching someone answer questions, so I added a physical element, dodgeball.

Rules for Video Trivia DodgeBall

• Students take turns as contestants
• Students take turns as “bouncers” (the ones throwing the ball)
• The contestant picks a category then a quiz
• Everyone watches the video clip and the student has one chance to answer correctly
• If they answer correctly they get a point
• If they answer incorrectly the bouncers throw dodge balls at them
• If the contestant catches a ball they get a point
• If the contestant gets hit they are out for that question
• If the contestant dodges all of the balls they get a point
• But hurry because there are no pauses between questions and the next video

The most important part is to really ham it up as the “game show host.” Work on the voice, keep the energy very high, and keep asking things like “is that your final answer” and “are you sure you wouldn’t like to change your answer” while the clock is counting down. I was able to select their answer as the clock hit “1” one several occasions.

Additional Notes

I went through quite a few videos. I did come across one that had some inappropriate language. So be warned, you should review as many videos as possible. The one I caught was in the teen category. I tried to find it so I could share incase you wanted to know just how “bad” it was and if you needed to skip it or not but I couldn’t even find the category, so it might have been removed.

During the “physical challenge” things need to move pretty quickly. I had three students with dodge balls and gave them each one chance during that particular question. This means the person throwing could catch 3 balls and get 3 extra points. If a student got a point by catching a ball but then got hit I let them keep their point. After throwing I had the “bouncers” retrieve the balls quickly so they would be ready after the next question was answered. In some cases that was actually pretty funny because they would be rushing around trying to find a ball that had rolled under someone else’s seat.

I think the dodgeball addition was a lot of fun and I’ll probably do that most of the time because more students can be involved, but I am also thinking of other physical challenges I can introduce. Maybe a point multiplier where students have to stack cookies on their forehead then if they can answer while the cookies are still stacked they get that many extra points.

If you have other ideas for additional physical challenges or point modifiers leave a comment.