The second series of 'The Cube' has been on Sunday nights for a few weeks now and proves compulsive viewing as Phillip Schofield tries to encourage contestants to take it in turns to try and 'beat the cube' and win £250,000 (so far unsuccessfully). The game is simple. Complete a number of challenges, each one taking them nearer to that jackpot. The challenges are made up of different games to test the challenger and they have to decide whether or not to walk away with the money they've earned or to risk everything to 'beat the cube'.
As I sit and watch this most weeks with my family, I can't help thinking two things:
1. Was the programme written by youth leaders? I've certainly tried many of these challenges with different young people over the years.
2. If we haven't done so already, we should be using these games! The challenges are perfect for fun ways of engaging young people who attend youth groups and clubs each week.
As someone who is always looking for new ways of engaging teenagers, this format is great. I am sure I will not be the first leader to stage a 'The Cube' night, as we invite the young people to take the different challenges including emptying a box of balls in 10 seconds and stepping over a series of beams while blindfolded.
The great thing about these challenges are that they are mostly very simple, which makes them simple to emulate.
The games also could be adapted to make them team challenges and so foster an atmosphere of co-operation and cheering each other on.
As a close for such an evening, it would be great to get the young people to think about the risks they take and how this can be motivated by greed if we're not careful.
Well that's just a few of my thoughts on this ready-to-use resource from ITV!
Do let me know how you use it.
Andy
