Thanks to Victoria B. for today’s post!
This set of games was done for a Youth Conference with the subject of Samson and Samuel. All the games are related in some way to these characters but you can adjust most of the games to fit in with whatever topic. We had 4 teams of 6 or 7 per team. The trickiest part of organizing this is making sure the teams are at the right station at the right time, especially when you have games that have 2 opposing teams so both teams need to be there at the same time.
School Bus Game
This is a favourite that comes back every year. It is adaptable to any topic as the reading can be from any chapter where there are a number of names repeated throughout the chapter. It has become “tradition” for the speaking brother to be the reader, and they end up having as much fun as the young people!
Instructions: 2 teams are opposing each other. Team members sit on labelled chairs. When the reader calls out their name they have to run around their own “aisle” of the “school bus” and back to their seat. The first one back to their seat wins a point for their team.
For example: This year the reading was Judges 13 and the names were Manoah (15x), angel (11x) man (5x) LORD (14x) woman (7x) God (6x). We set the chairs up in the volleyball court – the sand adds another variable to the game! There are two columns of 6 chairs each labeled with the names. Whenever “Manoah” was read the two people sitting in the “Manoah” chair would race around their side of the “school bus” and sit back in their chair. The first one sitting in their chair wins the point. See pictures for better idea!
Team 1 Team 2
Manoah Angel Manoah Angel
Man LORD Man LORD
Woman God Woman God
Cooperation Sharpie
Instructions: Team must cooperate using the strings on the Sharpie to draw Samson pushing the two pillars of the temple. Points are based on quality of drawing, and the detail in the drawing (for example: the little boy with Samson, the Philistines on the roof, the pillars falling down etc…)
Fire-fox Tag
This game is based off the 300 foxes that Samson tied together in pairs. I wasn’t sure how well it was going to work as it was our first time playing it but people enjoyed it. It was definitely a challenge and your team has to figure out a way to work together to protect your people while still being able to tag the other team. After playing it I would suggest that the pairs should hold hands or wrists as well as the having the rope to prevent from rope burns.
Instructions: Make a boundary covering an area large enough for running space. 2 teams are opposing each other. The team members pair up and are tied together with the rope by their wrists. One team member in the pair is the Protector, the other team member is the Protected. The Protector is given a piece of pink and silver flag tape to tie around their head. The Protected is given a piece of pink flag tape to tie around their head. The flag tape must be around the head so it is clearly visible. The 2 teams face off against each other and the Protectors must try and tag the Protected players on the opposite team while Protecting his/her own partner. If the Protected partner gets tagged, then that pair must sit down till the end of the round. The last team with a pair (or multiple pairs) standing wins. Play as many rounds until the time is up. No tackling!
Journey’s of Samson/Samuel
Instructions: Team must draw on the map in correct order the journeys of Samson in one color, and the journeys of Samuel in the second color. Some cities were unlabeled so there’s bonus points for cities that they correctly label.
Escape Room
Instructions: Follow the prompts in the Escape Room to “escape”. Solve the puzzles in both the First and Second Room. Mixture of finding things, solving riddles, figuring out codes to unlock the locks, avoiding traps. By the way it would take roughly 30 minutes for a team to get through both rooms.
Items you will need: instruction sheet, compass, tape measure, question sheet, chart with Hebrew Alphabet with Numerical Value of letters, 4 digit bike lock, 2 combination padlocks, bible, Samuel the Seer book by Michael Ashton, 3 riddles, 3 pictures of honey bees, elderly man with grey hair!
Setting up: We used a covered trailer for the second room of the Escape Rooms and made a boundary outside of the trailer for the first room. Our initial idea was to use a couple of tents, but whatever is available can work.
Room #1:
Question sheet is provided along with compass and tape measure.
Question Sheet: Stand in the entrance of the tent and follow the 3 steps on the question sheet
Step 1:
How long was the Philistine oppression for? 40 years
Subtract by
How long did Samson judge for? 20 years
Equals
20 feet to the west from the entrance of the tent
Step 2:
How many Philistines were on the temple roof? 3000
Subtract by
How many pieces of silver did Delilah get for betraying Samson? 1100
Subtract by
How many men died by the jawbone? 1000
Divide by
How many foxes did Samson catch?
Equals
3 feet to the south
Step 3:
How many men did Samson kill in Ashkelon? 30
Divide by
How many times did the Spirit of God come upon Samson? 3
Equals
10 feet to the west
Dig at that location to find the next clue which is buried in ground.
The next clue is the letters of the Hebrew Alephbet with the numerical value (NV) of each letter. Inside the first room is a jawbone with the Hebrew letters spelling Shimshon (Samson) The players need to match these letters to the Alephbet to find the numerical value.
Shin: 300 (x2) = 600
Mem: 40
Vav: 6
Nun Sofeet: 700
Total: 1346 is the combination for a 4 digit bike lock that unlocks the door to the second room.
Room #2: This room would be ideal to be set up as an office – desk with drawers, bookshelf, and an elderly man with grey hair! On the desk is a riddle for the starting point along with two combination padlocks.
Riddle 1:
A riddle for you
To decipher if you dare
But beware
Samson played with riddles too
Of which the outcome
Was none too fair
So study to show thyself approved
A workman that needeth not be ashamed
Find the three honey bees
The order of which
You must determine
To unlock the lock
But which lock? You might ask
Well take heed, my friend
Lest you by the hornet get stung.
One of the combination padlocks is discreetly labelled “hornet” – this is the incorrect lock (lest you by the hornet get stung). The other is discreetly labelled “cornet” – this is the correct lock. I used business cards with a picture of a honey bee as the three bees (see pictures). The cards were hidden in different locations in the room. Somewhere on the bee was discreetly written a number (whichever three numbers are used for your lock) – in my case the numbers were 35, 9, 26. Once the players have found all the bees and their numbers they must find the correct order to unlock the combination padlock labelled “cornet”.
Once they have unlocked the lock you can provide them with the next clue.
Riddle 2:
Delilah, what a strange woman she was
Similar to Jezebel, the ones to avoid
But there was a young man who did not…
It was in the twilight, in the evening
In the black and dark night
Although Samson could slay 1000 men
With the jawbone of a donkey
This young man went like an ox
To the slaughter
Many strong men have been slain by her
Where is she?
Answer: Proverbs 7
When they find the Bible on the bookshelf, and find Proverbs 7 – I wrote next to Proverbs 7 in pencil “your next clue is in the book “Samuel the Seer”.
In the book “Samuel the Seer” is another piece of paper with this riddle.
Riddle 3:
What is sweeter then honey
And the honeycomb?
Although you may find gold
Even much fine gold
It must not be money…
By them your servant is warned
And in keeping of them there is great reward
Six things there must be
Tell these to the Seer, Samuel by name
He’s old and grey headed
But beware, he hewed Agag in pieces.
Answer: The riddle leads to Psalm 19 – the 6 things are the law, the testimony, the statutes, the commandment, the fear, the judgements. The players must tell these 6 things to the elderly grey headed man 🙂
This is a word document including all the instructions above plus score cards.