Camelot Wide Game

This game was run for up to four teams of four/five at a time, four times a day, four days of the week. It lasted about an hour/hour and a quarter. The four teams started at the same point, the gateway to the campfire at Beaudesert, and finished at the campfire circle. They followed a trail of wool and tracking signs, and carried out the tasks on the way. Each group had a leader or service team member with them to keep them on task if needed, and to make sure they completed the whole trail, since the terrain meant quite a bit of overlapping/doubling back.

Initial Instructions

Queen Guinevere has been imprisoned by the wicked knight Mordred at Ivanhoe’s castle. Mordred has enlisted the help of the wizard Merlin. Your task is to rescue the Queen.
In order to do this you will need :
Ingredients for the counter spell
A sword, which must be pulled from the stone
A ballista to attack the castle
Cunning and skill to reach the castle and carry out the rescue.

Follow the trail and carry out your appointed tasks.

1 :In order to make your counter spell, you need to collect one each of :
Two types of fir cone
Feather
Holly leaf
Beech nut
Lump of sheep wool
Bunch of pine needles

2 : King Pellinore had to follow the Questing Beast. Make a beast out of natural materials and anything else you have with you or find lying around this area. It can be two or three dimensional.

3 : Sword in the Stone
Arthur proved himself to be the rightful King by pulling the sword from the stone. Using the materials provided, pull your sword from its tin.
No feet may cross the boundary.

4 : Ballista Instructions
Using the canes and elastic bands provided, make two tripods. Attach two more canes to the base of each tripod for stability. Fasten a cane between the two, then attach another cane at right angles to it. Fasten the tub to one end of the last cane.
Your target is the castle a little further along your trail. You will find your ammunition at the point from which you must attack. Each of you must fire a shot. At least two shots must hit the target before you can move on.

5 : Your group must make its way through the swamp in Indian file. Use the lengths of line to fasten your legs together, then follow the trail. Beware of the crocodiles.

6 : You have reached the river, and must cross it. Unfortunately Merlin has put a spell on the fish and they have become man-eaters. Do not get your feet wet, or the fish will attack! The bridge was washed away in the spring floods, but there is a pile of stones on the bank.

7 : You will need to convince the guard at the castle that you can be allowed to enter. Luckily he is a simple minded fellow and easily convinced! Signal the word ‘friend’ to him in Semaphore. Each person in the group must do this. Then read his reply, and do what he says. (Come in) (Sorry, no flags – arms only)

At the castle the must produce their counter spell ingredients and display their Questing Beasts.

Equipment/Set Up List

Counter Spell
Instruction cards – to be given at start 4 spares
Ingredients to ‘plant’ : fircones - 2 types, feathers, beech nuts,
pine needles, holly leaves, sheep’s wool.
(these can be anything freely available at the site of the game – I took all these with me because I had never seen the site.)

Questing Beast
Instruction cards – tied along trail, 4 spares
Possibly ‘bits lying around’

Sword in Stone
Instruction cards tied along trail
Sword in tin with water / stones as ballast
Boundary marked by ribbon, a little more than two canes length away. (The intention was to tie this at waist height, hence ‘no feet must cross the boundary’. In the event the ribbons were at ground level so a better instruction would have been ‘no part of any of you must touch the ground between the boundary and the tin’)
Equipment per group : Two canes, piece of wire, two pieces of string – one long, one shorter, three rubber bands

Ballista
Instruction cards tied along trail
Equipment per group :
12 canes
Bag of rubber bands
Yogurt tub

Castle picture a little further on, common to all groups. Pile of ammunition (fir cones) at point from which each group is to fire.
(Each group in the end had a separate target)

Swamp
Instruction cards, ropes (pieces of very cheap clothes line)

River
Instruction cards, ribbon to mark banks, pile of ‘stones’ – lino or carpet

Semaphore
Instruction card tied along trail.
Sheet of letters

Drawbridge
Marked by ribbon

The Castle
Backdrop of castle (just happened to have --- ) tied to trees, ‘Queen Guinevere’, Guard with Semaphore Crib Sheet, Swords in stone for winning team (made from cork, pieces of bamboo skewer, painted gold with ‘Magic’ flag attached, lashed together and fastened to safety pin). Flagpole with flag (left over from ‘Tales of Narnia’ PH)