Activities

Virtual Team Building Events

Activity Description

Round and Round Ice Breaker Energizer

Round and Round is a fast paced elimination energizer or tag game using the circle formation. Always goes down well, even for a group wanting non physical activities due to the short time of this activity.  

Benefits Round and Round Energizer or Tag Style Group Activity  

  • Highly-energetic
  • Elimination game
  • Challenging
  • All size groups
  • No props

How To Play Round and Round Game

This game will need a flat space in which participants can run around in. Have players form a circle, make sure they are standing about a metre from each other. Mark the circle on the inside with cones, rope or some chalk. So, everybody will be standing on the outside of the rope or marker, which forms the boundary.

The objective is for all participants to remain in the circle for as long as they can, until there is only one person standing. When you say ‘Go’, each person must start running around the circle in a clockwise direction. Each participant must try to tag anybody who is in front of them. This means anybody to left of each person, as long as they are running around the circle. Basically, everybody is considered ‘It’

When the game begins, expect quite a few participants to be tagged and therefore eliminated quite quickly. Those that have been eliminated must take up a position along the boundary. The rest must carry on running around the circle trying to tag each other.

As the game progresses, you get less and less participants running around chasing each other. Finally, there should be one person who lasts until the end, they are then the winner and I’m sure the most exhausted.

Contextual Framing Ideas of Round and Round 

Imagine, you and a friend are running through the forest, being chased by Bigfoot. Do you think you would need to run really fast? Maybe, but a little faster than your friend should be good enough. Have fun with this idea during the following activity.

Have you ever found yourself concentrating so hard on something that you lose sight of the bigger task at hand? You come to a stage where you’re not sure how to continue? Is there something you would do in order to avoid this type of situation? Now, think about this as you play the following game.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Round and Round Activity  

  • Organise the group into a circle with everybody standing at least 1 metre from each other.
  • Mark off a boundary line following the inside of the group circle. You can use a rope, cones, chalk or other marker.
  • Explain on the word ‘Go’ everyone must start running around the circle. Participants must run in a clockwise direction, tagging anybody in front of them.
  • When someone is tagged, they are eliminated and must find a spot along the boundary line.
  • The tagging and elimination continues until there is only one player left.

Facilitators and Leader Tips

Those who find themselves being eliminated, must stand anywhere along the boundary line, they don’t have to go back to the position they started in. Participants are only allowed to tag somebody in front of them, which is to the left. As the Game progresses and there are fewer players, allow these participants to go either way. This means they can turn any direction and then tag somebody.

Those players who continue to the end will be very tired, so if these players are taking a bit too long to tag each other, shout out “ten seconds left”. After the ten seconds are up and there still remains more than one player, congratulate all the ‘finalists’ who made it.

During the game, if you notice some players running wider around the circle trying to avoid being tagged, put a stop to this behavior. When marking out the circle boundary line, using rope may not be the best idea. The rope could become a tripping hazard.

Debriefing and Reflection Strategies

Here are some questions to ask the group, which will help them to process their experience of the game ‘Circle Tag’.

  • Tell us about your experience and did you observe anybody who seemed confused during the game?
  • Did you deal with the confusion?
  • During the game, did you notice anyone helping another player and how did they help?

Variations of Round and Round Energizer or Tag Style Group Activity  

  • Larger Gaps: You can use this variation for smaller groups of 10. When forming the circle, have players distance themselves further from each other. You can also allow players more than one life, in other words they can be tagged more than once before being eliminated.
  • Change direction: Instead of running clockwise, have everybody run in the opposite direction, anti-clockwise.
  • Teams: Divide into two or more teams and have the teams stand around the circle. Players are then only allowed to tag members who belong to another team. The last team standing wins.

Round and Round Energizer

Basic Details
Property Type : Energizers
Listing Type : Placeholder
Activity Type : Energisers
Focus On : Having Fun
Outcome Based : No, just fun
Facilities : Indoor, Outdoor
Props Required : None
Duration : 1 - 5 minutes
Exertion Level : Medium
Group Size : 1 - 8, 9 - 16, 17 - 30, 31+
Age : Children, Youth, Adults