7 outdoor game ideas when the lockdown starts to be over

As game makers, we might be looking for outdoor game ideas when the lockdown starts to fade away. This tendency began right at the beginning of this week, from the 11th of May, in any country.

Is that a milestone? No. Let’s be brutally honest on it: Things are not like before. 50 pax event? Forget it. Regulations are still tight about meetings. Given how easy coronavirus can be transmitted, we may expect that this situation will last.

Actually, many large scale events are being ruled out. I can mention that in Germany, all concerts until September are simply canceled.

From this situation assessment, we may wonder the following: How can we bring an outdoor game despite the restrictions?

I would come up with seven different games ideas. The fourth one will appear pretty fresh for you, perhaps 😄

1. Remote outdoor game ideas when the lockdown is lifting

Here is the equation:

You manage players from South Africa 🇿🇦, Mexico 🇲🇽, Australia 🇦🇺. You expect to make them play together, without paying for their plane tickets (and without risking quarantine).

The answer to this equation stands in few letters: technology. You can simply combine games (like ours), videoconference software like Zoom or Webex, portable devices such as phones or tablets 📱

Actually, I do believe that technologies will be the winner of this crisis. By enabling interaction, they solve many problems raised by forbidden proximity.

2. Games based on distance

Your colleague is in Mexico 🇲🇽, the other one is in Durban 🇿🇦. And you are yourself located in Perth 🇦🇺.

What can be a common rule for one outdoor game ideas when the lockdown is still in everyone’s mind?

My question sounds a little bit vague. But here is one idea: distance. You can run 10 km in three different countries, the rule will remain the same. And it’s easy to assess one’s distance.

With Loquiz, you can conceive games based on the distance thanks to the “odometer”. This is one of the main answers to “battle the corona”.

There is one game you can try right now that uses the odometer, the “Running man”.

The principle is the following: you run a certain distance, then more and more riddles appear on your list. Each riddle gives you the opportunity to earn some precious points.

You only have 30 minutes to run. A choice needs to be made: running? Solving riddle? Up to you.

If you are interested in having a try, you can send me an email. I will happily show how you can build this game with your own style.

3. Storytelling for outdoor game ideas when the lockdown is not totally over

Do you know the story of the Running Man?

This is from a movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. In a futuristic dystopia, there is a show. Someone has to keep running. They have to avoid being overrun by criminals.

The movie holds a metaphor about life. If you are consistent enough, you can succeed.. Thus, you need to keep running throughout your life.

From here, I see one element: from storytelling, you may easily justify challenging over the distance.

By using storytelling, any outdoor game will become pleasant despite the numerous restrictions.

You can even sugarcoat restriction with storytelling. For example, you can tell to your players that they will lose points if they run too close to each other.

4. Games based on item recognition

Do you recognize the following item? 🛑

Loquiz can recognize it. You can build a Loquiz game based on item recognition for outdoor game ideas when the lockdown and restrictions are not totally over.

You can ask people from Durban 🇿🇦, Mexico city 🇲🇽, Perth 🇦🇺 to find a stop sign, anywhere around their office or their home.

Loquiz might also detect cats, birds, toilets, cars. Combining with storytelling, you have the possibility to bring a lot of ideas! 💡

5. Using location anyway for outdoor game ideas when the lockdown is not entirely lifted

The location is often the main part of an outdoor game using tablets. If you are here reading my article, you might be probably used to it. It may be difficult to use that feature, given the fact that you need to be on spot testing.

But if you are confident enough, you can bring location-based tasks for each player’s city. From this idea, I would recommend you ask one local person per player’s city to test the game around before day D. The game will be playable. It will respect the restrictions. You will be sure of it.

If you can bend with COVID-19 regulations, it can be fun to build the 24 minutes of Loquiz in Perth 🇦🇺, Durban 🇿🇦, Mexico city 🇲🇽. This game consists of running the highest number of laps in 24 minutes.

For every location, you can decide the same lap distance. Then you can compare the laps result for each player, disregarding their country.

6. Games based on photo/video tasks

There is another way that you can use for outdoor game ideas when the lockdown has just finished: photo and video tasks.

Wherever you are in the world, you can still offer people to perform some dance or exercise, to snap some funny things while outdoor.

As the rules master, you can decide a list of challenges that can only be solved outdoor. For this idea, I would recommend linking with one story, as I explained in point 3.

It is easy to set it up with technologies. Any scavenger hunt platform with photo/video tasks (as ours) can work.

7. …And why not indoor still?

Do you remember when your teacher offered you to have a course outside, while the sun was brightly shining?

If we analyze the situation, basically we are bringing an indoor activity to an outdoor place.

You can do the same with your indoor game. If your activity requires connectivity, you can simply use your phone as an internet router (don’t forget to bring a power bank!!).

Otherwise, there are still some possibilities. With Loquiz, you can simply bring an offline game. Download them while you are at your office; upload the results when you are back to the office. And then play outside.

In a nutshell… Not a crisis situation will stop you from playing an outdoor game

However, I would gladly ask you to respect the different restrictions that are set up by your own State. The COVID-19 is a concerning crisis; we need to respect the global measures against this.

Acknowledging this, no restrictions can stop you from having outside. Summer is coming, people crave for activity outside. Let’s not cut ourselves from this fun, as long as we are respectful of our local regulations.