Death BALL!

Engage (what you need to know)

• Ages

  • 13-25

• Number of Participants 

  • 10 -20

• Time frame 

  • 10-30 minutes 

• Necessary Components  

  • 1 chair for every person

  • 1 Beach ball

• Purpose

  • High energy game that requires that really engages young adults in an intense back and forth action. It involves sabotage, some competition, and a willingness to scramble for a ball. This game is all focused on creating a high energy fun around throwing a beach ball around a circle. 

Demonstration / guide

1. First is a wide clear space and a set of chairs to be able to make a circle of chairs. Once the circle is made, there will be one less chair than the number of people playing. So assuming 15 people are playing, there will only be 14 chairs. This game is essentially “Monkey in the middle” 

2. The person in the middle’s goal is to get the ball by any means necessary, the people around the edge's goal is to stop the person in the middle from getting the ball. Sense everyone is sitting, the person in the middle has a massive advantage. They have complete freedom of movement as opposed to the rest of the people playing. 

3. The exterior people in order to keep the ball away from the person in the middle must continually pass the beach ball around the circle. Either by throwing it, rolling it, or chucking it as hard as they can. If the person in the middle gets a hold of the ball, the last person who was touching the ball is now in the middle. 

4. This hopefully creates situations where the ball is launched out of the circle, either because nobody caught it, or someone failed to catch it. The last person who threw the ball must now scramble over the chairs and their fellow circle mates in order to try and get to the ball before the person in the middle can. This action is where the game gets its titular name of death ball. This game could theoretically go on forever. However I recommend cutting it off when you can tell the energy is dropping. 

Explaining the requirements. 

• Create a circle of chairs

• With one fewer chair than the number of participants. 

• One person is selected to be in the middle 

• The circle must stop the person in the middle from getting the ball 

• The person in the middle must get the beach ball

• If the middle person gets the ball, they take the seat of the last person to touch the ball. 

• The last person who touched the ball is now in the middle. 

• Make sure they know they do not want to be in the middle