End Game, Energize Your Audience, Lorraine Ukens, Team-ing With Success

END GAME

Objective

To complete a letter puzzle that reveals a closing message.

Group Size

An unlimited number of participants.

Time Required

Five minutes.

Materials

One copy of the End Game Worksheet and a pencil for each participant.

Preparation

None

Process

Distribute a pencil and one copy of the End Game Worksheet face down to each participant.
Explain that participants are to use the series of clues on the worksheet to make the appropriate entry into each block of the puzzle. The first person to complete the puzzle is to stand immediately and announce the solution aloud.
Direct the participants to turn over the worksheets and begin. The activity stops when the first person announces the puzzle’s solution.

Solution

"TIME IS UP"

Discussion

Did you answer the questions in order or randomly?
Did the pressure to be the first to finish affect your performance in any way? Why or why not?
How does this relate to problem solving in general?

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End Game Worksheet

Directions: Using the clues given below, fill in each block with the appropriate entry.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

If more than half of the months of the year have an R in their names, place an I in spaces 2 and 6; otherwise, use an O.
2. If there are 120 pencils in a gross, place an H in space 7, unless there are 144, in which case use an S.
If Pat and Pamela are girls’ names, put an S in space 1, unless Pat is sometimes a boy’s name, in which case do nothing.
If the River Seine is in Italy, put an E in space 8, unless Perth is an Australian city, in which case put an E in space 4.
If the North Star is the brightest star in the sky, place an S in space 5; otherwise, darken the space.
If a collie is a dog, put a U in space 9, unless carrots are sold by the ear, in which case put an L in space 9.
Put an M in space 1, unless rhubarb is edible, in which case put it in space 3.
If Ernest Hemingway wrote "Islands in the Stream," put a T in space 1. If Joseph Conrad wrote "Lord Jim," put a T in space 10 also.
If 9 and 8 are 16, put an S in space 4. If they are not 16, put a T in space 10, unless Cinderella went to the ball, in which case darken space 8.
If Jack Horner pulled a prune out of his pie, put a K in Space 10. If it was a peach, put an N in space 10; but if it was a plum, put a P in space 10.