Reinforcement
Players
For ~5 - ~20 players.
Setup
One person is picked to be It. Everyone else is the crowd. They leave the room and the crowd comes up with three tasks for It to complete.
Tasks should be physical actions and have specific and deliberate steps:
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Walk to the fridge, open it, take the milk out, carry that to the cups, pick up the one red cup, pour a glass of milk.
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Walk to the light switch of the room, flick it on and off repeatedly.
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Take off your shirt.
Once three specific tasks and an order for them to be completed are agreed upon, It is invited back into the room with wild applause.
Gameplay
When It returns to the room, the crowd becomes silent. The only way the crowd communicates what tasks It should perform is by cheering them on. The crowd should give varying levels of reinforcement to It to guide them:
- Clap politely if they face or look at where they need to go.
- Clap vigorously if they start reaching towards any objects they need.
- Cheer wildly when they start performing the right action.
The crowd immediately becomes totally silent if It starts to stray from the steps of the task. Expect lots of sudden cheering mixed with complete silence as It figures out the task.
It’s job is made easier if they are very deliberate about exploring. They should probe out different directions and wait for feedback, and pretend to touch objects to see if the crowd reacts.
Once It has completed a task, everyone holds up the number of fingers of tasks remaining. They then are guided to the next task in order.