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French Hot Potato

Travis Prouty
HSM
California

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What is French Hot Potato you ask? Well it’s like regular hot potato but with a lot of TONGUE! Easily the highlight of our summer camp rec games, this is sure to be a gross hit.

Supplies:

A cow tongue. (available at meat markets, walmart, wherever fine cuts of cow are sold)

Cones/ field markers

Way to identify different teams (it can be as a simple as telling students to wear a certain color, flag football belts, or bandanas)

Airhorn/ Whistle

A timer (your phone)

Setup:

Create a square 20 x 20 ft boundary with cones or field markers on grass. Split your students into two teams of 10.

Gather all the students into the square boundary, and give one team the cow tongue to start.

How to play:

The goal of the game is to pass the cow tongue to the opposing team and not be the one holding it when the timer runs out. The person holding the tongue is eliminated, and play continues until there is only one person left.

When you sound the airhorn/whistle, the person with the cow tongue must tag someone from the other team. Once they are tagged, they must grab the cow tongue and then try to tag someone else from the opposite team.  Set a 20 second timer for each round. This will keep things moving and fun!

Whoever is holding the tongue when the timer goes off is out!

Rules

You will have to watch closely and referee well. If a person is tagged, the tongue belongs to them, so regardless of whether they are physically holding the tongue or not, if the the timer goes they are out after  they’ve been tagged, they are out.

No tag backs!

If a person runs out of the boundaries, they are out.

The Ending

You can end it when there’s one person left on a team, (BORING) or you can go into sudden death mode and let them hurl the tongue at each other for 20 seconds. Whoever threw it last after the timer goes off is the winner!

 

Tips:

Take the time to thoroughly explain the rules and everyone will enjoy it that much more.

Explain all the rules first and THEN reveal the tongue for maximum gross out effect!

Use a hose to make the coned-off grass area muddy and slippery so it’s harder to escape!

Audience

  • Middle School
  • High School
  • College
  • Young Adult

Context

  • Outdoor

Group Size

  • Mid sized group (11-50)
  • Large group (51+)

Requires

  • Supplies

Level of activity

Mellow / Active

100%

Idea Originality

Totally Original

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