How it works
The key to this event is having a number of suitable small games. Set up the different games in different areas around your meeting space. If your group is large, divide them into teams of five to seven, and start each of them off at a different game station; this works just as well if your group is small enough that you might want them to work as smaller teams of three or four, and just have a few games running simultaneously.
Station 1: Beat the goalie
Multi-ball chaos.
Instruct the team that they need to take it in turn to take penalties past your volunteer. Give the group two minutes to attempt to score 50, and appoint someone reliable to keep count and track of time. It is worth having a couple of balls to remove unnecessary delays in ball-return. (They don’t all have to be football sized just to make it easier/trickier.) If they score 50 goals within the time they win a crystal.
Station 2: Name that food
An opportunity to bless your young people with a slap-up meal.
Get each team to nominate one teammember to be the taster, and provide them with three different samples of pureed food. They have to describe the tastes to their teammates who have to correctly identify what the puree is. You can use jars of baby food for this, or instead blend together a cooked meal (e.g. fish fingers, chips, peas and ketchup). The team has to correctly identify all three dishes to win a crystal.
Station 3: Lava floor
A game of skill, teamwork and ingenuity. Some youth workers may struggle.
Introduce the team to an empty room, with two areas marked out either end, and explain that they need to get the whole team from one area to the other without touching the floor. Provide them with two bricks and a plank (or equivalent) to aid them in their task.
Station 4: Mazey-mess
A spelling test, of sorts.
Create a simple covered maze using tables, boxes and blankets. Make it big enough that your young people can (safely!) crawl about inside. Hide inside it a number of pieces of paper each with a letter written on it that together spells a word of your choice. Instruct the team to go in one at a time and try to find a letter which they then need to bring out to their teammates. When all the letters have been found the team needs to rearrange them to spell out a word. Ensure that there are enough bits of paper for everyone to have a go at finding one in the maze.
Station 5: What’s in the box?
Blindfolded connections!
Get five large boxes, and cut a hole in the side of each one. Inside each box place one item that is linked to all the others. Get the team to nominate one team member who has to reach through the hole in the box, feel the item inside and, without looking at it, describe it to their team-mates. As a team they then need to identify the link between the five items to get a crystal. So for example you could put a bag of flour, a tomato, a lump of cheese, a slice of ham and a bit of pineapple - and they would have to guess Hawaiian Pizza (or just pizza if you were feeling kind).
Station 6: Beat the pro
Basically a chance for one of your volunteers to show off.
You may have one volunteer who is good at a particular activity (e.g. Playing FIFA on the Xbox or table tennis etc.). Make this station a challenge to beat your volunteer at their specialism. The team has to nominate a representative to compete against the expert, and if they beat them they win a crystal.
Station 7: General knowledge round
For this game you need to find an intelligent youth worker. This is presented without comment.
Pick your smartest leader to compile a list of ten general knowledge questions, and turn them into your quiz-master. When they reach this station the team has to pick three numbers between one and ten, and the quiz-master reads them the appropriate questions from the list. The team then has to correctly answer all three questions (first answers only) to win a crystal.
The Crystal Maze arena
The finale! The conclusion! The Mount Doom of youth ministry. Ish.
In a final, set-aside area, blow up as many balloons as possible. Inside each one put pieces of paper of two different colours. (Use gold and silver if your stationery budget allows, white and yellow if it doesn’t!)
Gather all the teams together and after revealing how many crystals each team has won, explain that each crystal represents five seconds of time inside the balloon pit, where they have to pop the balloons, and collect as many gold pieces of paper, and as few silver pieces, as possible before time runs out.
Explain that each team will be allowed to join in with the appropriate amount of time left as crystals won - e.g. so a team with all seven crystals gets the full 35 seconds, a team with six gets to join them after five seconds etc. Give each team a container into which they need to place their collected bits of paper (put them in different corners of the room to remove confusion) and clarify that there is no stealing paper allowed, but that any bits on the floor are fair game regardless of who popped the balloon!
Get the teams into their respective corners, and blow a whistle to indicate that the first team can begin popping. Blow the whistle every five seconds, and ensure that each team joins in at the appropriate time. At the end count up how many pieces of gold paper each team has collected, minus each piece of silver paper, and award prizes based on this.
