Thief

by Kit
Published: Last Updated on 1.8K views

AKA

  • “The Key Game”
  • “Pirates”
  • “Pirates Treasure”

A popular group game that accommodates various numbers of players from 3 to 30 or more and the basis of many variants such as Pirate’s Pistols.
As this game requires things to be quiet to work well, its a good game for helping a group to quieten down after a noisy activity.

You will need
– some sort of blindfold (don’t rely on a person being able to keep their eyes closed for this one!) and
– A ‘treasure’ – an object that is noisy to move such as a large bunch of keys.

Everyone sits in a large circle facing inwards. However, if using a hall or large room it’s important there is enough space behind them to allow a person to walk behind.

One player is chosen to be the ‘guardian’ and sits with the blindfold on in the middle of the circle with the ‘treasure’ in front of them. The leader then silently (preferably by pointing) chooses in turn, 1 or 2 players from the circle who, without being detected by the guardian, have to get up from their positions, walk once around the outside of the circle back to their positions, then enter the circle and attempt to pick up the treasure and take it back to their position.

The blindfolded guardian has to point to where they think somebody is moving. If they point correctly the person has to go back and sit down and another person is chosen. If the player retrieves the treasure without detection they become the guardian.

Note! The guardian is not allowed to make great sweeps of their hand and must point directly at a player who is moving for it to count. Variants of the game include

  • The number of times players have to go around the circle. To make it harder, players can be asked to get back to their place or go once around the circle with the treasure to succeed.
  • Limit the number of times a guardian can point for each player walking around. E.g. being allowed to point only 3 times for each player moving. This stops random pointing and for large groups helps the turn over of players to have the opportunity to become a guardian.

Got a fantasy-themed party? Why not play this as players being dragons protecting their egg or gold?

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