Fostering Cooperation: Recommended Games to Enjoy in the Boy Scouts
The Boy Scouts is an organization that aims to help children grow into healthy, wonderful adults by connecting with nature and interacting with friends from various generations.
Within the Boy Scouts, games are sometimes played as part of various activities.
In this article, we’ll introduce recommended games that you can enjoy in the Boy Scouts!
We’ve gathered a variety of games, including ones that use the knowledge and skills gained through contact with nature, as well as games that foster cooperation.
If you’re not sure which games to choose, be sure to use this as a reference!
- Recommended outdoor games and recreational activities for lower elementary school children
- Play ideas kids can enjoy from 1st to 6th grade [indoors & outdoors]
- A simple and fun co-op game that enhances teamwork
- Recommended for upper elementary grades! Exciting indoor recreation and games
- Great for camping! Recreation games for kids
- Recommended outdoor recreation for junior high school students: A roundup of fun outdoor activities
- Outdoor games and recreational activities recommended for children
- Fun activities for junior high school students. Recreation games.
- [Play Right Away!] Exciting Recreation Games Recommended for Elementary School Students
- [For Kids] Outdoor Recreation Games: Fun Outdoor Play
- Fun nature activities that children will love. Recreational games.
- [Elementary School] Quick and Easy! Indoor Recreational Activities Perfect for Lower Grades
- [For Kids] Fun Indoor Game Ideas for After-School Day Services
[Fostering Cooperation] Recommended Games to Enjoy in the Boy Scouts (21–30)
Six patients and medicine
It presents the ultimate choice: help one critically ill patient or save five moderately ill patients.
There is only one dose of medicine; the critical patient needs the entire dose, whereas the moderate patients can all survive if it is divided among them.
The dilemma of valuing a single life versus prioritizing the many exposes one’s values.
Key discussion points include whether all lives are equal in weight or whether social roles should be considered.
It is important for the whole class to debate and work toward a single final decision, making this a thought-provoking theme that lets students experience the challenges of ethics and difficult choices.
A game developed by NASA
Let’s try playing a game developed by NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
To briefly explain the game: it assumes a situation where a spaceship has malfunctioned, and you rank 15 items you have on hand.
You assign ranks in order of necessity, and decide them through group discussion.
First, each person should make their own ranking based on their interpretation, and then discuss and reconcile the differences with the group.
Can you determine the correct order—and survive?
Southern Cross Expedition
It’s an exciting theme where you become a member of the Southern Cross Expedition Team and go on a treasure hunt.
It begins when you receive a message from a teammate saying, “I found treasure on a southern island, but it’s heavy—please help.” However, communication is cut off partway through, and the story revolves around completing the remaining map.
Each member holds different pieces of information, and you can’t reach the answer unless everyone shares what they know.
The key is not to keep your own information to yourself, but to share it and work cooperatively with your teammates.
While enjoying the fun of deduction and organizing information, you also learn the importance of trusting your companions.
The very process of completing the map through repeated discussions is a stimulating theme that lets you experience a real sense of accomplishment.
The Runaway Trolley, the Worker, and the Fat Man
A further variation on the trolley problem is the scenario where you could stop the trolley by pushing a fat man standing beside the tracks.
If you push him, many lives would be saved, but you must make the decision to directly sacrifice that person.
The choices are simple, yet they question the value of life and the ethics of actions.
In group discussions, opinions tend to split between prioritizing outcomes and prioritizing the action itself, leading to heated debate.
It’s an idea that allows classmates to delve deeply into their individual values through discussion.
Class Recreation Consensus Game: Deserted Island Edition
This is an activity where you choose 8 items out of 17 under the scenario that you’ve been caught in a storm and stranded on an uninhabited island.
There isn’t a single correct answer; the key is to discuss why you choose each item as you make your decisions.
The criteria for what seems necessary—such as tools to make fire, food, or items to call for help—vary from person to person.
In small groups, considering what’s essential for survival will also test your ability to cooperate and persuade.
By engaging in conversation and exploring your teammates’ thinking, understanding deepens, and the adventurous theme fosters excitement and a sense of unity.
Runaway Trolley and Workers
A consensus game themed on a thought experiment proposed in 1967 by British philosopher Philippa Foot.
There are multiple workers on a railway track, and unless something is done, a major accident will occur; if you flip a switch, you sacrifice one person to save many lives.
Should you flip the switch, or leave things as they are? The key is first to consider the dilemma individually, then to reach a single conclusion as a group.
Because differences in positions and values become clear, it’s a compelling topic that sparks lively discussion.
Survivors
A consensus game where you consider what decisions you would make to survive when suddenly faced with a disaster.
The theme is the real-life crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, inspired by the film “Alive.” Participants take on the role of a survivor and discuss how to respond to Roberto’s proposed actions, as well as how to overcome limited food supplies and the extreme cold.
Through discussion, players experience cooperation and differing values in a crisis, and because it tests a team’s ability to consolidate opinions and make judgments, it makes for an engaging, educational activity in schools and training programs.
It’s a theme that lets you enjoy the critical choices and viewpoints at key moments.
Escape from the Desert
This is a consensus game with the scenario: your plane has made an emergency landing in a desert where only cacti grow.
You have 12 items, such as a flashlight, a compass, a plastic rain poncho, and an aerial photo map.
Rank these items in order of importance.
First, think individually, then discuss within your group.
Consider detailed conditions—like temperatures exceeding 40°C and the nearest settlement being over 100 km away—as you work toward the optimal solution.
Captain’s Decision
Consensus is a word that means “agreement.” There are many possible situations, but in a consensus game you face a particular challenge.
In this case, while you’re at sea, visibility becomes poor, and by the time you spot another ship’s silhouette, a collision is already unavoidable.
As the captain, you must address the given items in the optimal order.
Your group discusses and decides that order.
At the end, you compare the model answer with your group’s answer and calculate the rank difference for each item.
The group with the lowest total difference wins.
Invisible Invaders
This content discusses whether, in a situation where a virus is spreading, families should gather and stay at home or go to work to make a living.
The focus is on how to address the contradiction that prioritizing safety reduces income, while attending school or working in offices increases the risk of infection.
Each member has different positions and opinions—such as the desire to protect children and the elderly and the sense of responsibility to support the economy—leading to a clash of values.
Through speaking, participants not only express their own views but also develop the ability to understand others’ thinking.
If the discussion is held in class, it becomes a deeply educational theme that allows students to simulate the challenges faced by society as a whole.