Pirate's Cursed Treasure Fire Challenge

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Requirements

• Age 7+
• Players 8-12
• Time 3-5 min rounds
• Location Small clear area Large clear area Forest
• Energy Low (sitting, standing) Medium (walking, stalking) High (running) Extreme (sprinting)
• Materials Bands
• Lead by Pathfinder Whiskers Cloak
• Guides 1

Story

What is the essence of this game?

Action Call

Compelling questions / challenges to get kids excited to play.

Game

Safety

• Scout playing area for hazards: tripping objects, stinging insects, trash, and much more.

Mission

Materials needed: treasure chest (plastic ammo can), padlock, padlock key frozen in ice (see below for instructions), candy (or other prize), parachute cord to suspend treasure chest, weight to throw the paracord over a branch, twine (natural fiber) for the last twelve feet of rope, carabiner or metal ring to redirect the rope as it comes down from the tree so it can be directed horizontally at knee height, matches, #10 can with bail, water to fill can, dish soap, food coloring, tripod, wood hook + paracord to suspend can over fire, water to put out fires.

Preparation:

• At least a day before, fill a large paper paper cup HALF FULL with water. Freeze it solid. Add more water to fill the cup all the way full, then drop the key in the water so it comes to rest in the center of the ice. Put the cup back in the freezer. In a few hours, the key should be frozen inside a cylinder of ice.
• Put candy in treasure chest. Padlock it shut. Tie paracord to a weight and throw the weight over a branch. Tie paracord to treasure chest; haul it up so it's about ten feet off the ground. Tie twine to p-cord. Set a redirect at about waist height. Tie the end of the twine to another tree at about waist height so you have about ten feet of twine running horizontally at just over knee height above a patch of ground where it's OK to build a fire.

Instructions:

Explain: An old woman told me that Shadow Pirates have hidden a treasure in this forest. It's suspended in the air with a magic string. There's a magic spell that makes the string uncuttable. If you touch the string, you'll die. Even if you touch the string with another object, the electricity passes through the object and will kill you. In fact, if you place anything within about a foot of the string, there's a field of energy around the string that will kill you (this is to prevent someone from simply holding a match under the string). If the uncuttable string is broken, the spell will break: you can touch it and not die. The spell on the string also protects the treasure chest: the chest can't be broken unless the string is severed (so don't bother whacking the treasure chest with sticks).

Also: the treasure chest is locked shut. The key has been cursed - if you touch it, even with gloved hands, you die. The pirates have frozen it in magic crystal, which blocks the spell. The crystal CAN be touched. The way to break the spell is to boil the key in preying mantis guts (soapy water with green food coloring). The water must fully boil over to ensure that the spell is broken.

Modify

Variations of the game.