Fun and Games

OK, when it comes to telling about the games we play I have to be careful because the more memorable ones will be recognized, but since I didn’t come up with this game I’m going to share it.

I can’t remember the name of the game but I call it, “Walking on goldfish,” or, “Follow the yellow fish road.”

To play this game you need a tarp, blindfolds, volunteers (willing or unwilling) and goldfish. You can buy feeder fish at pet shops for really cheap. You will want 20-30 minimum to make it look good. I have someone in the church that owns a pet that eats the feeder fish so I got them from this person.

I set this game up as a “trust” exercise. I explained that I would be spreading the fish onto the tarp after everyone was blindfolded, and that they would have to walk across the tarp and listen to instructions on how to avoid the fish.

Then you make sure everyone can see the fish and blindfold the “volunteers.” Then you retrieve the secret supplies. A large can of mandarin orange slices. Make sure the spectators understand that they should reveal the trick. I like large hand gestures that indicate quiet. Start dropping the slices all over the tarp, but try and get some dense clumps that will be hard to get through without stepping on. Drop from a height so the blindfolded volunteers can hear the “fish” flopping on the tarp. I also got the spectators to start talking about how the fish were flopping and gasping and even crying about hurting the poor fish using hand gestures. Be creative. The power of the mind is amazing.

The last part is to have the contestants walk across the tarp. It is great watching them when they “kill” a poor fish. Get your audience to go on about how gross it was. If you remember to save a couple slices you can even dare a couple of volunteers to eat a fish.

Depending on your time constraints you can get 3-5 volunteers to go through. Remember some basic rules though.

Don’t call it a game, just start getting people lined up to play.

Have all your supplies ready. I put my fish in a big glass bowl during worship so people would ask about them before service and wonder about them during worship.

Have volunteers ready to start putting supplies into place while the rules are explained.

Explain the rules in less than a minute.

End the game while everyone is having fun, even if the last volunteer hasn’t gone through. This is a great person to have eat a “fish” before they walk through.

The only problem I have with this game is you can’t really play it with the same group, but you can encourage your group to keep secret about the trick so that they can invite friends another night and have them walk on fish.