The Great Summer Game

Every year, as the summer holiday comes closer, the kids ask whether there will be a Great Summer Game again. For several years now the answer has been yes. The game gets more elaborate each summer, but the base stays the same: the kids do tasks through the holiday, make progress, and collect points or prizes.

The first game was fairly primitive. I set tasks around the house — empty the dishwasher, tidy your room, wash the car — and each one completed earned stamps. At the end of the period the stamps bought presents, like a prize counter at an arcade.

The version described here is far more elaborate, and went down much better with the kids. Instead of collecting stamps they move along a track. Every player has a progress map with 50 stages; each stage holds two task squares, and each square holds one task or more. The player picks one of the tasks on offer, and completing it moves them to the next stage — which opens the tasks after it. Wherever they have got to when time runs out is their score, and the score decides the prize.

Building your own version

Step 1 · Aims and a span of time

The Great Summer Game is a template. It comes out completely different for every situation and every player, so before thinking about tasks, think about the character of the game and what you want out of it. The aim might be getting the player off a screen and outside, or getting them to help around the house, or to eat better. Any aim works, and so does a combination of several.

Set out clearly when the game starts and when it ends. How much time you have also tells you how many stages to plan for.

Step 2 · The tasks

This is the hardest part. Make a list of tasks that serve the aims of the game — the more you come up with, the more varied it will be.

• Note the difficulty beside each task, a number from 1 to 10.
• Some tasks come in versions, which grows the list cheaply: a one-kilometre walk easily becomes a two-kilometre one.
• Aim for more tasks than stages, though you do not need twice as many — a task can appear more than once.
• Set aside a few days for this, and don't do it in one sitting.
• Include tasks that take time, or that can only be done at a particular moment. Those are what stop a player running through the whole game at once.

Step 3 · Laying out the map

Here you become something of a game designer. Spread the tasks across the map so that whoever is playing wants to keep going. You can draw your own map or use the templates here.

• Keep tasks of similar difficulty in the same stage.
• Start with very easy ones and raise the difficulty gradually.
• Space identical or similar tasks apart.
• Several tasks can be merged into one bigger task.
• Give special tasks a special look and more points. They become anchors the player wants to reach, a little like bosses in a video game.
• Mix in bonus tasks — not really tasks, but things the player would want to do anyway.
• Attach immediate prizes to some tasks, handed over the moment the task is done. It also makes those tasks likelier to be chosen.

Step 4 · Printing

A home printer is enough. If you used the templates here, cut each sheet in two and glue the pieces into one long map. With several players, print each of them their own.

Step 5 · The announcement

Announce the start on the first day of the period, hand out the maps and explain the rules. Explain that each player marks where they are with a tick beside the tasks they have done.

Step 6 · The game itself

As it runs, check whether anyone is stuck on a stage. If they are, offer to make the task easier or swap it for another. It is worth watching: a player who gets stuck stops playing.

Step 7 · The end

When the period is over, hand out the prize you promised.