Koos de Korte

Spy

by .  
3 - 58 - 15 Low

A simple game that will have everyone running within minutes. Very effective to fight the "after-lunch" dip.

364

Goal

To activate the participants after a stressfull / intensive / static session or after lunch.

Attachments

Instructions

  • Find a space that is large enough to have the group walking around (or even run), preferably outside.
  • Have the group stand in a circle, including the trainer.
  • Tell them that each one of them is a spy.
  • Tell them that in the group there is one spy-catcher, dedicated to arrest them.
  • Tell them the good news: there's a body-guard in the group as well, protecting them.
  • Ask every member of the group to select a group member which they suspect to be the spy catcher, WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE
  • Then ask them to select another member of the group which they think is their body guard, again without telling anyone.
  • Now ask the group to position themselves in such a way that their body guard is between them and the spy-catcher. 
  • Let them run for about 2-3 minutes and find everyone happy and energised.

Background

As a debrief, you can talk about the observation that with a few simple rules people can create chaos.

Comments (11) (4.7 avg / 3 ratings)

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  • Hi there Florent, how did running this activity work with your group? As each different person will choose their bodyguard and spy-catcher without telling anyone, it's likely that there will be lots of movement to get near those people rather than an organised line as it's not probable that each person will have secretly chosen different individuals.

    about 4 years ago
  • This energizer game looks fun and I'll try it tomorrow with a group of 40 people... My only concern is that since everyone has to form a line with their spy catcher and their body guard, doesn't this game end up inevitably with all participants being aligned on one single long line ?

    about 4 years ago
  • I use it mostly for fun as an energizer ;)

    over 4 years ago
  • I'd like to understand how would you debrief this activity. or is it just for fun?

    about 5 years ago
  • Great method used it several times as an energiser!

    over 5 years ago
  • Hi Hyunhee, Yes, the way I used it was that every person is a spy. As everyone takes a mental note about how they think is the spy catcher and who they think is the body guard, then a quite chaotic situation unfolds as people try to position themselves in a way to have their own suspected body guard between themselves and their own suspected spy :-)

    about 6 years ago
  • More question to understand, every person is spy? Is that why every person has to position between spy catcher and body guard?

    about 6 years ago
  • Thanks for your question Anurag. Each participant chooses a spy catcher and a bodyguard for themselves, without telling anyone. So if for example, we would be in this game, you may choose me as the spy catcher and a third participant as your bodyguard. I will not know that I am the spy catcher for you. During the game, you try to keep the bodyguard between me and you by moving around.

    about 6 years ago
  • Can you please explain how are Spy catcher and bodyguard selected , who tells them who is it?

    over 6 years ago
  • Fixed it, Andreas, thanks for the comment!

    over 7 years ago
  • Session description is not complete. :-(

    over 7 years ago