You can run and you can hide but Marco Polo will find you!

Game Type: Study Break Game

Recommended Ages: 6 and up

Number Of Players: Whole class

Equipment Required: Blindfold (A sleep eye mask is perfect), stopwatch

Where To Play: Indoors or outdoors Tip: Keep the play space quite small (a quarter of a basketball court for example)

Duration: 10 minutes

Objective

For Marco Polo to find as many Travellers as possible.

How To Play

Step One: Define the play space boundaries (This is the Silk Road) and out of bounds (This is The Steppe, this might be outside the basketball court or just touching the walls of the classroom), this will be important later on. Choose one student to be Marco Polo. They wear a blindfold and stand in the middle of the play space. All the other players are Travellers who spread out around the play space. Define a time limit for the game Tip: Five minutes is a good length of time in my experience.

Step Two: Explain that Marco Polo is travelling the Silk Road to China and must find as many Travellers as possible to become the most successful trader in Silk Road history!

Step Three: On ‘Go’, Marco Polo moves around the room feeling for the Travellers. Each time Marco Polo says ‘Marco’, all the Travellers must say ‘Polo’. Marco Polo may do this as often as they like.

Step Four: Travellers may leave the Silk Road (The play space) and go into the Steppe (Out of bounds). While in the Steppe, Travellers do not need to reply ‘Polo’ when Marco Polo says ‘Marco’. However, if Marco Polo says ‘Travellers In The Steppe’ all Travellers in the Steppe are caught.

Step Five: If Marco Polo touches a Traveller they are also caught. Caught Travellers must sit out the round.

Step Six: At the end of the time limit, say ‘Stop’ and count the number of Travellers caught by Marco Polo. Choose a new Marco Polo and play again!

Variation:

Who am I?: In Who Am I?, when Marco Polo touches a Traveller they must identify them by touching their face. If they guess incorrectly then the Traveller is free to continue playing the game.

Download This Game!

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