Gold Rush is a terrific, traditional summer camp game that kids love. It takes about a half hour to set up if you have all of the materials and takes about an hour to play. It's best with medium sized groups of kids, about 10-30.
Materials needed:
- 25-50 medium sized rocks (about the size of a softball), painted gold or yellow.
- 10-30 kids
- At least 6 staff or grownups
- several squirtguns, the longer the range the better
- fake money
- prizes, at least 3-4 per kid
- a large field
- a place to put the bank, jail and general store
- a “doctor,” see below
Setup For Gold Rush:
Hide the rocks (but not too well) in the field.
Set up the Bank, Jail and General Store as described below
Establish out-of-bounds and safe areas
Give jobs to staff members: bandits, sheriff, banker, merchant, gold-thrower
How to play:
Round up the kids and tell them a silly story about the “gold rush,” how 100 years ago or so prospectors came to the area, found gold, and made a fortune. While giving the speech, have someone hide the gold in the field. Turn the kids loose: when they find a “gold nugget,” they can go to the bank and exchange it for play money. Then they go look for more gold. Once they have collected a good amount of money, they can go to the general store and use the money to buy prizes of their choice.
But wait! There are bandits in the fields. Roaming staff or adults with squirtguns are “bandits” chasing the child “prospectors” who are looking for gold. If a kid is squirted, he/she must drop all gold nuggets (but not any cash collected) and go see the “doctor,” which can be just about anything from a real person to a sign that says “doctor.” At Camp Possibilities, the doctor is a rubber chicken hanging from a rope. Once they’re “better,” they can return to the field and look for more gold.
Catching bandits: if a kid tags a staff member before being squirted, the bandit has been captured and the kid can take him or her to the jail, which is any area labeled “jail.” Bandits generally break out of jail whenever they want. Under no circumstances do kids get the squirtguns.
Extra Rules and Tips to Make GOld Rush More Safe and Fun:
- It's a good idea to expressly forbid mugging other kids for gold or cash.
- You may want to appoint a “sheriff” who is the ultimate authority in the game: saying when kids have been squirted or not, placing bounties on the bandits, keeping time, etc.
- Have a “safe area” where kids cannot be squirted and staff can refill their squirtguns without being caught. Put the bank, jail, doctor and general store inside the “safe area.”
- Limit kids to cashing in three nuggets at once. Don’t let them carry “gold” in their pockets, as they may not drop it when squirted. They can carry cash in their pockets, because they won’t need it until they go purchase their prizes.
- Don’t squirt the kids in the face.
- You’ll need “runners” to return the gold to the field: assign bandits as bodyguards to keep the kids from mobbing the runners as they’re tossing the gold back into the field.
- Establish prices for gold and prizes before the game starts: if the bank pays too much for gold, the store will run out of prizes. If they pay too little, the kids won’t be able to buy good prizes. A good general standard is that if a kid successfully comes in with gold two or three times, he/she can earn enough to buy a small prize. Larger prizes obviously cost more. You can also sell lemonade, fruit, etc. at the store.
- The sheriff can place a bounty on bandits, and pay kids in play money for capturing the bandit in question.
- Gold-painted rocks can be replaced by tennis balls. They're safer, but kids tend to throw them and they're not as gold-nuggety as real painted rocks.
- Set up a time-out area for kids who break the rules.
- A typical Gold Rush lasts about 30-45 minutes before the kids get tired. Setup can take up to an hour.
With a little attention to safety, Gold Rush will become one of your kids' favorite games ever! Staff and adults love being bandits, too.
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