That, of course, resulted in a great tug between the two patrols, and a great finish to the game. We decided this was a do-over round, but it had to be “sane.” Only the two patrols and adults they purchased could be on the rope. snap! The rope broke, right in the middle! For a good five or ten seconds it didn’t look like either side would budge, then. I yelled “go!” and saw them at a standstill.

Eventually they were all ready: each patrol had purchased the remaining half of the Troop! Everybody was on the rope for one patrol or the other. The Scorpion and Moose patrols were weighing their options and considering their purchases. It became a game within a game.įinally we came to the last round of the game, to determine the grand champion and ribbon winners. Eventually it even moved beyond food: “dance like ballerinas” and “lay on the ground and pretend you’re swimming” were two of my favorites. The adults would play patrols off of each other to get the best treats.

Purchasing adult help quickly grew into something bigger: candy bars were no longer enough, and Scouts were bring out leftover pretzels from lunch and other snacks to barter with. With so many elimination levels and only one patrol getting eliminated each time, they all knew that they could afford to lose some, and once they were eliminated, it wasn’t a big deal because they had already played so much. Nobody was worried about losing their round.A lot of consideration went into how they could win each round. And even then they were a little cautious with their spending because they knew more rounds were coming up. They would first try to assess if they could beat the other patrol on their own, then they’d try to decide if they needed to purchase an adult.

The Scouts really enjoyed trying to weigh their chances of winning against the other patrol.

The “purchase an adult” idea was a great twist.

In total, we completed 22 rounds of tug of war! With that many rounds, I kept the “winning distance” short: to win, you only needed to pull the other patrol about three feet. Four of the patrols got to tug five times, three patrols six times and two patrols seven times.

Brackets and elimination rounds ensured that each patrol got to tug at least four times.

I did three things with this game that really made it much more exciting than just a typical tug-of-war, and I think they made it a fantastic event: Scouts were definitely excited about this game-there was a resounding cheer at the announcement! Adults were mildly interested in the tug, though their excitement grew quite a bit as the game progressed and Scouts became even more excited. The winning team gets the ribbon! How the Game Went The bracket lets Scouts see which patrol they will face up against next and decide whether or not it will be worthwhile to “purchase” for this round, and if so, how many adults to “purchase.” The “purchase” is good for only one round. They can use one of these to “purchase” an adult leader for one round of tug-of-war. To make the game more fun-and use the adult leader volunteers-each patrol is given five fun-size Snickers bars. This is a tournament, where each patrol will be competing against the other patrols to determine the grand champions! Next is the announcement that we’re going to play a big game of tug-of war. All adults are directed over to one spot. This game starts with an announcement: we need adult leader help. The team with the most points when all members have thrown is the winner. Teams score one point whenever the drowning scout can reach the rope thrown to him and the rescuing scout does not lose the rope. Count how many scouts are in the largest team so all teams throw the same number of times, possibly some scouts throwing twice. He can lean and reach, but can not move his rear.Įach scout throws the rope once and then goes to the end of the line. The sitting scout tries to reach the rope being thrown without moving from his spot. Each scout makes one throw with the rope trying to reach the drowning scout. One scout from each team sits down facing his team about 20-25 feet in front of the line.įirst scout in each team has a rope. Teams line up single file at a starting line. Practice throwing rescues for water safety. Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.

Boy scouts knotes and when to use them