Olympic Games In The Office

Some ideas for running a games session in the office, inspired by the Olympic games

Now that the 2012 Olympic Games have started and interest / enthusiasm for the games is increasing I thought I would offer some ideas for games you might choose to use in the office as a bit of fun. Some of the following we have already used in a very successful lunch time session last Friday.

My aim was to bring people together from across the organisation and from every level for a fun relaxing session. It was less about competition and more about laughter. Importantly each game took no more than 30 seconds to explain. Having a wide selection of games I had a few to choose from however there is a link at the end of the article that will take you to a pack of games ideas produced by the Friends of the Elderly.

We started with PitchCar – A racing game (Skill=Dexterity and finesse!) where players flick a wooden disk around a wooden track and off the plastic barriers. Or in my case frequently over the barriers! A video of how the game works can be seen here.

This game worked really well and had the added advantage that as people came along after we had started they were able to pair up with people who had already started so each of the 8 cars had two players taking turns to flick it round the track.

Then moved onto Lemon Fencing – This is really a party game (Skill=Combative craziness!) but generated a huge amount of laughter and energy.

All it requires is just 2 wooden spoons and two lemons. The idea is that two players approach each other wielding their wooden spoons as fencers would their foils (with a lemon in the bowl of each spoon). The winner is the one who manages to dislodge their opponent’s lemon whilst keeping their own in place - cheered on by the crowd that inevitably congregates around this daft game. The winners go through to the next round. If both lemons fall simultaneously then the players reset and start again.

Then as numbers thinned we used Geistesblitz – A speed of reaction gamer (Skill=Analysis and speed!) where players have to identify the correct object from 5 possible and grab it before their opponents. A full review of this game can be read here or video review here.

Sadly we ran out of time before we got to Fuchs and Fertig – A push your luck memory game (Skill=Risk Taking and Memory) where players have to guess the next card and if they fail hope they can remember the order of their cards the next time they have a go. Again a review can be read here.

Other board games we might have selected based for their fun / simplicity include: Word on the Street, Bausack, Incan Gold, Take it Easy! and Hey! That's My Fish.

I mentioned at the beginning of the post that if readers of this blog post are not gamers and are looking for games they can create / improvise ala the Lemon Fencing then check out this excellent resource pack from the Friends of the Elderly.

Have fun what ever games you play and let me know how you get on.