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: 5bfc71839dbc57e7a7f44121aa5a3cbba2a428f4503b5abef8b41448a209b223

# Mighty Wind

Teams use handheld fans or sturdy paper plates to blow table tennis balls across an open floor toward target goals. Players compete to score goals without ever touching the balls or their opponents.

**Time:** 15 minutes. Playmeo suggests two rounds of 5 minutes; UWT structures a 15-minute plan including brief rules and debrief.
**People:** 4 to 24. Two opposing teams of 2 to 12 players across a shared floor space

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Move table tennis balls across a designated floor space into goals using only air currents generated by hand-held fans.
**Use it when:** Use during in-person sessions to raise physical movement, practice active coordination, and introduce lighthearted competitive energy.
**Skip it when:** Skip when meeting in small or crowded rooms, in carpeted spaces with heavy friction, or when physical kneeling and sweeping floor movements create safety or mobility barriers.

## Materials and tools

- 1 durable handheld fan, paper plate, or cardboard sheet per participant
- 2 to 6 table tennis balls
- Painter tape or floor cones to mark starting lines, boundary edges, and goal areas
- 1 countdown timer

## Before participants arrive

1. Clear a wide, open floor space free of tripping hazards.
2. Use painter tape to outline two goal boxes at opposite ends of the room.
3. Mark a center dividing line and starting points for the table tennis balls.
4. Distribute one fanning tool to each player.

## Say this to open

Welcome to Mighty Wind. You will play in two teams. Your challenge is to guide your team's ball across the floor and into your goal using only the air current created by your fan. Two strict rules apply: you may never touch the ball with your fan, hands, feet, or body, and you must never touch an opposing player. If you make accidental contact with a ball, freeze that ball for five seconds before fanning it again. You may fan air to steer your own ball or deflect the opponent's ball. Let us form two squads and prepare for round one.

## How to run it

### 1. Form squads and review boundaries (3 minutes)

Divide participants into two balanced teams. If there is an odd number of players, invite one person to serve as game referee and timekeeper, or assign the extra player to a team. Give each person one paper plate or fan. Walk the boundary lines, identify each team's scoring goal, and point out the starting line for each ball. Demonstrate how to wave a plate close to the floor to move a ball without hitting it.

### 2. Round one: opening race (5 minutes)

Place one table tennis ball at the designated starting point for each team. Start the 5-minute timer. Teams immediately fan air toward their balls to navigate them across the floor into their respective goals. Defending players may fan air to steer the opposing ball off course, but physical contact between players or with any ball is prohibited. When a ball enters a goal, award one point, reset both balls to their starting marks, and continue playing until time expires.

### 3. Round two: multi-ball challenge (5 minutes)

Announce the score. If group size is 8 or more, introduce two balls per team to increase tactical choices between offense and defense. Reset the timer for 5 minutes. Teams play under identical no-touch rules. Stop play immediately when the timer sounds. Announce the final point tallies.

### 4. Reflect on coordination (2 minutes)

Gather the group. Invite two or three quick observations about team tactics, crowd control, and communication under fast-moving constraints.


## Debrief questions

- What tactics helped your group move the ball cleanly without accidental contact?
- How did your squad decide when to fan toward your own goal versus blowing the opposing ball away?
- What surprised you about how the air currents behaved when multiple people fanned the same spot?

**Finished output:** A completed physical game with recorded goal counts and shared tactical observations.

## Remote

Mighty Wind relies directly on shared floor air currents and physical proximity; it cannot run online without changing into an entirely different game. For an online energizer with a related coordinating element, run a 15-minute Word Association Race: the facilitator displays a target word in chat, and teams take rapid turns typing related terms within 30 seconds without repeating words.

## Hybrid

Not recommended for a split cohort. If attempted, keep the physical game on-site while assigning remote participants specific administrative or tactical roles, such as serving as live referee spotters via wide-angle video or managing the countdown timer and scoreboard.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants who prefer not to run or bend down to floor level may serve as goal judges, scorekeepers, or timekeepers.
- Players who experience wrist fatigue or limited mobility may use a lightweight folder or larger cardboard square with two hands, or choose to sit on a chair near the goal to provide localized defensive wind currents.
- Anyone may opt out of active play without giving a reason and participate as an observer or referee.

## If the session gets stuck

**Players accidentally kick or swat the table tennis ball with their plates.**

Enforce an immediate five-second freeze on the touched ball: have the player back away, count out five seconds, and resume fanning from that spot.

**Balls collide and players crowd together dangerously in the center of the room.**

Pause the timer. Remind both teams of the strict rule against physical contact. Assign each team a designated defensive zone that opponents may not enter.


## Terms used here

- Table tennis ball: A lightweight, hollow celluloid or plastic ball that rolls easily when exposed to gentle air currents.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Playmeo library entries where it is attributed to Mark Collard.

The game concept and core mechanics (using fans to propel table tennis balls without contact, interfering via air currents, 5-minute rounds) are drawn from Playmeo records authored by Mark Collard. UWT structured the activity into an exact 15-minute sequence, added boundary and setup specifications, supplied neutral facilitation scripts, integrated foul handling procedures (a five-second freeze penalty), and defined inclusive alternate roles.

[Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/energizer-warm-up-games/mighty-wind)

[Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/energizer-warm-up-games/mighty-wind/)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/energetic-team-game-to-inspire-friendly-competition-mighty-wind/