Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: 4168611570b913405ff6a1c469e4f3890e9634e50bedee8926847ce5af1d6232

# Spider's Web

A team plans and guides or lifts each member through separate openings of an upright rope web without touching the cords. Each opening may be used only once.

**Time:** 30 minutes. Playmeo recommends up to 30 minutes for the challenge and debrief.
**People:** 6 to 14. Single intact team working across two sides of an upright web.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Coordinate physical support and sequential planning to move everyone through constrained openings under clear boundary rules.
**Use it when:** Use in an outdoor ropes course or gymnasium setting when an intact group wants an advanced physical cooperation and spotting challenge.
**Skip it when:** Skip when participants have mobility limits, recent injuries, discomfort with close physical contact, or when trained spotting cannot be maintained.

## Materials and tools

- 1 pre-strung spider web element (rope, bungee, or cord strung between two sturdy posts or trees with at least 14 distinct openings)
- 4 safety mats or level soft turf beneath the entire span
- 1 countdown timer or stopwatch

## Before participants arrive

1. Construct or inspect the upright rope web between two secure posts or trees. Ensure the web contains at least 14 distinct openings so that every participant in a full group has a unique opening.
2. Check that the lowest openings are 30 to 50 cm off the ground and highest openings do not exceed chest height of an adult.
3. Clear the ground directly beneath and around the web of roots, rocks, and debris, and position safety mats beneath the entire span.
4. Review spotting stances: eyes on the mover, hands up in ready position, balanced base, protect head and spine.

## Say this to open

Before us is the Spider's Web. The objective is to move your entire team from this side of the web to the opposite side. Each open section of the web can be used by exactly one person. No one may go over the top or crawl under the bottom cord. If anyone touches any part of the web, that person plus one person who has already crossed must return to the start side. Safety is our absolute priority. Spotters may stand on either side to protect movers, but you can only physically support someone from the side you currently belong to. Anyone who prefers not to be lifted can choose a lower opening, serve as a non-contact safety watcher, or act as chief strategist. Before we plan, please indicate if you are comfortable being lifted, or if you prefer a ground opening or observer role.

## How to run it

### 1. Brief safety, consent, and spotting rules (5 minutes)

Say the opening script. Explain the core boundaries: one person per opening, no touching cords, no passing over or under, and physical support allowed only from your current side. Demonstrate spotting stances (staggered feet, fingers together, hands near waist level, tracking the mover). Ask each participant to state their role preference: lifted through an upper opening, stepping through a ground opening, or taking a non-lifting safety role.

### 2. Plan the crossing strategy (5 minutes)

The group gathers on the start side to plan. They inspect the web openings, map each member to a specific opening matching their comfort, and decide the crossing sequence from first to last.

### 3. Execute the crossings (15 minutes)

The team carries out the crossing attempts. Spotters must surround each moving participant. Facilitator watches rope movement. If a participant touches a strand, call a fault: that participant and one previously crossed member return to the start side. Spotters on the finish side may catch only after the mover passes through the plane. Continue until all participants cross or time runs out.

### 4. Debrief group coordination (5 minutes)

Gather the group on the finish side. Facilitate a brief structured review using the debrief questions, taking two or three contributions per question.


## Debrief questions

- How did your group decide the sequence of who crossed first, middle, and last?
- What specific verbal calls kept movers and spotters aligned during lifts?
- When a fault occurred or an opening proved difficult, how did your plan adapt?

**Finished output:** The team successfully moves all members through unique web openings to the far side, or records the number of clean crossings completed within the time limit.

## Remote

This is a physical low-ropes challenge requiring direct spotting and cannot be run online. A related remote planning alternative is an online grid allocation puzzle where participants assign constrained resources through digital cells without duplication.

## Hybrid

Spider's Web cannot be run safely in a hybrid format. All participants must be co-located at the physical ropes course element.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may opt out of being lifted by choosing ground-level openings that require only stepping through.
- Any participant may select non-physical roles such as Chief Safety Spotter (watching rope contacts) or Lead Strategist without needing to disclose medical or personal reasons.

## If the session gets stuck

**Participants attempt to dive headfirst through elevated openings, creating a fall and neck injury risk.**

Pause the attempt immediately. Enforce a rule that heads and torsos must pass through horizontally with continuous multi-person support, or redirect that person to a lower opening.

**The team leaves its heaviest or tallest members for last, leaving nobody on the start side able to lift them.**

Allow the team to discover the mechanical problem naturally unless spotting safety drops. If they stall, call a 60-second strategy timeout so they can reallocate remaining openings.


## Terms used here

- Spotting: A physical safety technique where teammates position bodies and hands to cushion, balance, or catch a participant in motion.
- Web Opening: A single enclosed polygon formed by the intersecting cords of the spider web apparatus.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Playmeo collection, where it is described as a classic group initiative by Mark Collard.

Retained the core mechanic from Playmeo evidence (one person per unique section, no over or under the web, fault penalty requiring the toucher and one crossed person to return, spotters assist only from their legal side). UWT added explicit opening counts aligned with group size, concrete safety and consent checks, non-lifting role allocations, and time allotments.

[Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/challenge-ropes-course/spiders-web/)

[Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/challenge-ropes-course/spiders-web)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/classic-group-initiative-for-team-coordination-spider-s-web/