Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Gladiator

By Lord Brian Goodheart

General type: Physical, Boffer fighting and chasing

Adult Involvement: Heavy involvement including a lot of running

Props: A cloak or blanket and a few boffer weapons.

Premise:  The adult uses the cloak to fend off attacks by the children.

Number of Children: Two to five.

Give out boffer weapons to the kids. Adult gets the cloak/blanket to use.  The children try to kill the adult with their boffer weapons.  If they score a good hit (or a few simple ones) the adult should act out a death. Then the game restarts so play can continue.

The adult in turn is using the cloak as a net. When the cloak is being used while being held onto, I recommending restricting the cloak fighting role to adults. Below are a few basic ways to use the cloak.

To trip the children, hold onto one end and snap the other out skimming the top of the grass. This will catch the children at their ankles or knees.  They will likely slowly fall down onto their knees with time to put their hands up.  If you do catch a child do not tug on the cloak as you could turn the slow fall into something fast and painful.

You can also hold the cloak out much like a bull fighter does. This gives you something to block or catch the boffer weapons with.  If you get a boffer weapon you can fight with it yourself. The children will have more fun if you drop it after a few moments. Of course the dropped weapon acts like bait to draw the children to where you can catch them.

If you act quickly you could also toss the cloak over a child’s head to catch them in the net. A good toss will flutter the cloak out. You can wrestle the child to the ground. When catching a child in the cloak it is recommended to let go of the cloak.  This reduces the chance of a strong impact or an accidental pull that could topple the child.

One more way to use the cloak is to chase after the children. You can toss the cloak over them, much like in Hunter’s Cloak, to catch a child. Again be sure to let go of the cloak when catching a child in it.

Anyone caught in the cloak is to be released after a few seconds. Likewise if the children “kill” the adult they also return to play in a few moments.

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