# Your Add

Partners hide their hands behind their backs, choose how many fingers to hold out, and reveal them simultaneously. The first person to shout the correct sum of all fingers wins the round.

**Time:** 5 minutes. Source lists under 5 minutes; UWT structures 5 minutes including two partner rounds and a short debrief.
**People:** 4 to 24. Pairs facing each other; one trio if the headcount is odd.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Calculate quick numerical sums under brief reaction pressure during a short group transition.
**Use it when:** Use as a fast physical energizer and reset between demanding seated sessions.
**Skip it when:** Skip when the agenda requires calm, quiet focus or when participants feel undue stress from competitive mental arithmetic.

## Materials and tools

- No special materials.

## Before participants arrive

1. Clear enough floor space so pairs can face each other two paces apart.

## Say this to open

We are playing Your Add. You and a partner hide your hands, pick a number of fingers, and show them at the exact same moment. The first person to yell the total count of fingers across all four hands gets a point.

## How to run it

### 1. Demonstrate rules and form pairs (1 minutes)

Invite people into pairs facing each other. For an odd count, create one trio where two play and one serves as caller, rotating roles each round. Demonstrate with a volunteer. Both hide hands behind their backs. Partner A calls SET while choosing fingers. Partner B calls GO and both reveal hands. For example, Partner A shows 3 fingers on the left hand and 2 on the right (5 total). Partner B shows 4 on the left and 0 on the right (4 total). The first person to call 9 wins.

### 2. Play first partner round (2 minutes)

Pairs play continuous rounds for two minutes. Partner A calls SET, Partner B calls GO, and both reveal hands together. Players keep a casual running score. If neither player names the sum immediately, both keep calculating until someone calls the right total.

### 3. Switch partners and play (1 minutes)

Ask everyone to take three steps and pair with a new partner nearby. Pairs immediately begin another series of quick-fire rounds.

### 4. Debrief and close (1 minutes)

Call time. Invite one or two volunteers to answer a debrief question before transitioning to the next agenda item.


## Debrief questions

- What mental shortcut helped you add all four hands quickly?
- Did you focus first on your own hand count or your partner's hands?

**Finished output:** All pairs complete several rounds of rapid addition across two partner pairings.

## Remote

Run in gallery view. Send pairs into breakout rooms with video on. In each pair, one person calls SET, the other calls GO, and both present hands to the webcam simultaneously.

## Hybrid

Keep in-person participants paired together and remote participants paired in breakout rooms. Mixed pairs suffer from video latency, giving one person an unfair view.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may sit or stand.
- Participants who prefer not to use hand gestures can serve as caller and referee for a pair, or simply state their chosen number verbally on the reveal.
- Anyone may opt out of active play and serve as group timekeeper without disclosure.

## If the session gets stuck

**Players present hands at slightly different moments, giving one person an unfair head start.**

Enforce a shared cadence: Partner A says SET, Partner B says GO, and hands must appear strictly on GO.

**Participants feel stressed by rapid mental math.**

Allow pairs to agree to use only one hand each, keeping sums capped at 10.


## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Playmeo records; attributed by Playmeo to Mark Collard.

Retained the Playmeo mechanics of hiding hands, calling SET and GO, and racing to calculate the sum of extended fingers. Added clear partner rotation, trio handling for odd headcounts, and concise step timings for a 5-minute schedule.

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

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

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/interactive-partner-energiser-to-build-quick-thinking-your-add/