Number of players: 2+
In honor of the Fourth of July, this week’s game is patriotic! To begin, players should gather all items that are out of place in the room and put them in a pile in the center of the room (see The Middle Thing Pick Up). Then, all players should stand in a circle around the pile. Choose which player to start (click here for a list of ways to pick who goes first). The first player should pick something out of the pile that is red (or has the color red anywhere on the item, even if it is a small spot) and hold on to that item. Play proceeds clockwise. The next player picks something out of the pile that is white (or has the color white on it). The third player picks something out of the pile that is blue (or has the color blue on it). Continue around the circle, following a red, white and blue pattern until all players have picked an item from the pile.
When each player has an item to put away, the player that started the round shouts, “Red, white, blue!” (instead of “Ready, set, go!”) and the players race to put away their item. The first player to return to their spot around the pile, will start the next round.
Starting a new round: When all players have put away their item and returned to the pile, the first person that returned to the pile gets to start the new round. That player can pick any of the three colors to start with (red, white or blue). The next player must then pick something out of the pile that is the next color in the sequence. For example, if the first player picks the color “white” to start with, then the next player picks something out of the pile that has the color “blue” on it.
Play continues until the pile runs out of one of the three colors. When this happens, each player that has not picked an item from the pile yet, can choose an item of any color to put away. Once the players have finished racing to put these items away, the bonus rounds begin! The first player to start a bonus round, can choose any color and pick an item form the pile that has that color on it. All of the other players must also pick an item from the pile with that color on it. Then all players race to put their items away as before. Again, the first player to put their item away and return to the pile, gets to pick the next color and start the next round. The game ends when there are no more items to be put away!