Yesterday we had our departmental team-building event at the Lexis Suites Hotel. This time I helped out as a facilitator, so instead of playing the games, I was posted at one of the game stations (with the "game master" who is a full-fledged committee member).
The game was initially planned for an outdoor location, but it rained the night before and also on the day itself, so we set up the game in a meeting room instead (meeting room 3, as mentioned in the title). We basically explained to everyone that the game was like tic-tac-toe on a 5-by-5 grid, with some variations.
The setup was five rows of five plastic cups, and five table-tennis balls for each team. The teams would each send a player forward from the starting line to place a ball in a cup, then the player would return and the next player would come and place another ball. Once all five balls are in the cups, the next player to come forward would move one of the balls (from their own team) to another cup. In tic-tac-toe style, the first team to place all five balls in a row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) would win the game.
There were a few things we thought we wouldn't need to point out. It was a variation of tic-tac-toe, after all. But someone tried to swap ball locations with another team, instead of moving the ball from their cup to an empty one. So after that we needed to clarify that the balls could only be placed in empty cups (and not on the other team's ball, either!) Another question that we got a lot was whether both teams would be playing at once or taking turns. They were actually supposed to play at the same time, doing the relay in their own team. The idea was that the team that ran faster would be able to place their ball earlier than their opponents (before their opponents blocked them). I had seen this game before (on China Running Man, if not mistaken), so it was easy for me to understand once the committee told me about the game.
However, the number one question that we got was not about the actual game. It was "Is this beer pong?" There were eight teams playing in four sessions, so when we got the question again in the fourth session, we lamented that everyone had asked that question. One of the players told us we should put up a notice, so the "game master" did.
And hence our game was christened as "not beer pong". (a little too late)
(By the way, we pasted tape on the white balls because we thought that the white balls in the white cups would be a little hard to see, and could cause a disadvantage to the team using them. This was especially because the table we used was rather high, and we can't really see into the bottom of the cups.)
I took quite a lot of photos, since we didn't really have to do much if they were playing properly. The rule was that they were supposed to call out if they won, and then we would verify it. That allowed us to keep out of their way as they dashed across the room.
During the second session, some of the players said that they were too tired to run any more. Actually in every session, the teams seemed to expect that one game would determine the winner. But the plan was to play for half an hour (including the explanation of the game) because every game station was supposed to occupy half an hour of time. When these players heard that they needed to continue for another twenty minutes, they asked whether they could play in turns, without running (like actual tic-tac-toe). We agreed, so this was the leisurely game where each team sent out a player in turn.
The game was never-ending, so in the end I think we asked each player to make their move in ten seconds instead of standing there thinking out their strategy. But that's not all... after that game ended, they still didn't want to run, so they asked to play rock-paper-scissors and let the winner come and make a move. (I've got to give it to these two teams...they are creative! lol)
The first rock-paper-scissors game was very funny, because one team managed to put one ball in, and the next five were placed by the other team. And so the latter won very easily! I happily found out that I had captured the five straight losses. (I just missed the first rock-paper-scissors game, because it was after that that I realized this was more interesting than the ball-placing)
Then here's a collage of the other rock-paper-scissors games.
(I just downloaded PhotoPad to make these collages. I was using Picasa before I changed my laptop, and I think I haven't made any collages after changing to this laptop. I'm trying to find a more lightweight collage-maker... this one seems to work, though the grid is not so customizable. I wanted to make a vertical filmstrip but I didn't want to go to the trouble of using Paint.)
In the third session, the team that arrived early decided to play pong while waiting for the other team to arrive. They found that the best way was to throw the balls to hit the window and bounce back into the cups.
This group was the rowdiest of all... for some reason (maybe because of the earlier "practice"?) they kept wanting to play pong instead of our game. We got tired of trying to make them listen, so we let them play what they wanted. Since no one was listening to anyone else, no rules were decided and the room turned into a mess of flying balls.
I think the only consistency was that they put themselves behind the starting line and threw the balls from there. Using the window to bounce the ball back was a no-no since one team had tape on their balls. Who were supposed to throw the balls first and how many chances were given? We had no idea... and no one asked. So my fellow facilitator and I just kept track of how many balls went into the cups (not too many...seems like it was rather difficult). As you can see from one of my photos, our cameraman came in during this kelam-kabutness and managed to get some good shots of people throwing balls.
The last session wasn't as eventful, except for a sudden insistence from the second team to choose the balls. We had simply let the team that arrived first to choose the colour of their balls during each session. There had never been any contestation for this... The funniest thing was that they were still thinking that they would be playing pong (despite our repeated assurances to the contrary and the newly-made "not beer pong" sign) and both teams wanted the orange balls because they didn't have tape on them (easier to bounce and get them into the cups, I guess).
After the explanation of the actual rules, they took some time to strategize (the teams from the first session did that as well, but I wasn't taking photos yet). I took these photos just to highlight the differences between the two teams.
(They had team numbers but I've forgotten them, and they're not relevant)
After the first game, the first team started strategizing again (they had lost). The second team, on the other hand, decided to play pong happily.
And here are my favourite two photos.
Best of all is that we can see the concentrated look on their faces as they thought about their move, then we can see both balls being dropped into the cups as they smile, having made their decision. The guy on the left is Ashraf, my fellow facilitator and "game master".
After the four sessions we stopped for lunch. Before lunch, I went to take a look at the Sky Terrace on the 24th floor. One of the games was supposed to be played there, but it was also relocated due to the rain.
The game was initially planned for an outdoor location, but it rained the night before and also on the day itself, so we set up the game in a meeting room instead (meeting room 3, as mentioned in the title). We basically explained to everyone that the game was like tic-tac-toe on a 5-by-5 grid, with some variations.
The setup was five rows of five plastic cups, and five table-tennis balls for each team. The teams would each send a player forward from the starting line to place a ball in a cup, then the player would return and the next player would come and place another ball. Once all five balls are in the cups, the next player to come forward would move one of the balls (from their own team) to another cup. In tic-tac-toe style, the first team to place all five balls in a row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) would win the game.
There were a few things we thought we wouldn't need to point out. It was a variation of tic-tac-toe, after all. But someone tried to swap ball locations with another team, instead of moving the ball from their cup to an empty one. So after that we needed to clarify that the balls could only be placed in empty cups (and not on the other team's ball, either!) Another question that we got a lot was whether both teams would be playing at once or taking turns. They were actually supposed to play at the same time, doing the relay in their own team. The idea was that the team that ran faster would be able to place their ball earlier than their opponents (before their opponents blocked them). I had seen this game before (on China Running Man, if not mistaken), so it was easy for me to understand once the committee told me about the game.
However, the number one question that we got was not about the actual game. It was "Is this beer pong?" There were eight teams playing in four sessions, so when we got the question again in the fourth session, we lamented that everyone had asked that question. One of the players told us we should put up a notice, so the "game master" did.
And hence our game was christened as "not beer pong". (a little too late)
(By the way, we pasted tape on the white balls because we thought that the white balls in the white cups would be a little hard to see, and could cause a disadvantage to the team using them. This was especially because the table we used was rather high, and we can't really see into the bottom of the cups.)
I took quite a lot of photos, since we didn't really have to do much if they were playing properly. The rule was that they were supposed to call out if they won, and then we would verify it. That allowed us to keep out of their way as they dashed across the room.
 |
| the dashing |
During the second session, some of the players said that they were too tired to run any more. Actually in every session, the teams seemed to expect that one game would determine the winner. But the plan was to play for half an hour (including the explanation of the game) because every game station was supposed to occupy half an hour of time. When these players heard that they needed to continue for another twenty minutes, they asked whether they could play in turns, without running (like actual tic-tac-toe). We agreed, so this was the leisurely game where each team sent out a player in turn.
The game was never-ending, so in the end I think we asked each player to make their move in ten seconds instead of standing there thinking out their strategy. But that's not all... after that game ended, they still didn't want to run, so they asked to play rock-paper-scissors and let the winner come and make a move. (I've got to give it to these two teams...they are creative! lol)
The first rock-paper-scissors game was very funny, because one team managed to put one ball in, and the next five were placed by the other team. And so the latter won very easily! I happily found out that I had captured the five straight losses. (I just missed the first rock-paper-scissors game, because it was after that that I realized this was more interesting than the ball-placing)
 |
| on the second-last panel, Kenneth was getting really nervous about losing rock-paper-scissors yet another time |
(I just downloaded PhotoPad to make these collages. I was using Picasa before I changed my laptop, and I think I haven't made any collages after changing to this laptop. I'm trying to find a more lightweight collage-maker... this one seems to work, though the grid is not so customizable. I wanted to make a vertical filmstrip but I didn't want to go to the trouble of using Paint.)
In the third session, the team that arrived early decided to play pong while waiting for the other team to arrive. They found that the best way was to throw the balls to hit the window and bounce back into the cups.
This group was the rowdiest of all... for some reason (maybe because of the earlier "practice"?) they kept wanting to play pong instead of our game. We got tired of trying to make them listen, so we let them play what they wanted. Since no one was listening to anyone else, no rules were decided and the room turned into a mess of flying balls.
I think the only consistency was that they put themselves behind the starting line and threw the balls from there. Using the window to bounce the ball back was a no-no since one team had tape on their balls. Who were supposed to throw the balls first and how many chances were given? We had no idea... and no one asked. So my fellow facilitator and I just kept track of how many balls went into the cups (not too many...seems like it was rather difficult). As you can see from one of my photos, our cameraman came in during this kelam-kabutness and managed to get some good shots of people throwing balls.
The last session wasn't as eventful, except for a sudden insistence from the second team to choose the balls. We had simply let the team that arrived first to choose the colour of their balls during each session. There had never been any contestation for this... The funniest thing was that they were still thinking that they would be playing pong (despite our repeated assurances to the contrary and the newly-made "not beer pong" sign) and both teams wanted the orange balls because they didn't have tape on them (easier to bounce and get them into the cups, I guess).
After the explanation of the actual rules, they took some time to strategize (the teams from the first session did that as well, but I wasn't taking photos yet). I took these photos just to highlight the differences between the two teams.
 |
| first team |
 |
| second team |
After the first game, the first team started strategizing again (they had lost). The second team, on the other hand, decided to play pong happily.
 |
| Throwing the ball... |
 |
| ...and got a good result? They seem happy :P |
 |
| Concentrating on strategy... |
 |
| ... move decided! |
After the four sessions we stopped for lunch. Before lunch, I went to take a look at the Sky Terrace on the 24th floor. One of the games was supposed to be played there, but it was also relocated due to the rain.
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