Nerves of Steel

1. Position four chairs, one each in the corners of an imaginary square, facing inwards approx 5 to 10 metres apart.
2. Invite four people to sit on the chairs and a fifth person to stand in the middle of the space.
3. Challenge the four people sitting on chairs to move off their own in an effort to sit on and occupy all other chairs as quickly as possible.
4. Only one person can sit on a chair at any point in time, ie they will be required to swap seats frequently.
5. Instruct the person standing in the centre to steal (sit) any seat that is vacated by the other four people at any time.
6. When the person who is standing successfully claims a vacant seat, a new person (ie the one without a seat) will become the next person standing in the middle.
7. The first person to visit all four chairs and return to the one they started from is the winner.
8. Start a new round with a new team of five people, or swap the person who won with a new person waiting their turn to play.

In my experience, this is one of those games that groups just love to play over and over. I hope you like it too.

Start by placing a sturdy chair in each of the four corners of your space, approx 5 to 10 metres (16′ to 33′) apart. Face them inwards and ask four people to sit on them.

Then, ask a volunteer (fifth person) to stand in the middle of the four chairs. If they look a bit lost, without a chair, the game is perfectly poised.

Announce that the objective for each of the four people sitting down is to visit and occupy all other seats and then return to the seat they started from in as short a time as possible.

And then to spice up the challenge, explain that the person standing in the centre is entitled to steal any seat that is vacated if they can rest on it before any other person.

To govern fair play, it is important to note that only one person can occupy a chair at any point in time. Refer to a suggestion in the Leadership Tips tab as one possible way to help you determine seat ownership.

Once things get started, you can expect a lot of stealth, secret nods and fast-paced moves, not to mention a lot of despair when a prized seat is stolen unexpectedly.

At some stage, someone will manage to visit all four seats and return to the one they started from before all others. Acknowledge this person as the winner of the first round and then proceed to the next.

Depending on your purpose, and the size of your group, moving on may look like one of two options:

1. Swap the winner with the next person waiting in line to have a go, at which point the new person starts in the centre (and all other competitors continue in their current quest;) or
2. Swap all five people with a new team to start afresh, at which point everyone starts from scratch.

Once you have grounded your group in the basic rules, it’s time to try something new from the Variations tab.

Have FUNN.

Note the description of “sturdy” chairs. Given that these assets are highly sought after, it is not uncommon to see two people attempt to mount one seat at roughly the same time, often with disappointing results.

First in, best dressed. Provided some part of a person’s posterior (as distinct from any other anatomical part) mounts a seat before that of another, it is theirs to occupy.

A fast game is a good game. If necessary, add the extra pressure of a time limit to encourage a lot more movement and stealing and a lot less waiting and biding one’s time.

You could integrate Nerves of Steel as part of a well-designed SEL program to help your group make caring and constructive choices about personal behaviour and social interactions across different situations.

Specifically, this activity offers ample opportunities to explore and practice the following social & interpersonal skills:

Self-Awareness

• Recognising Strengths, Prejudices & Biases
• Demonstrating Self-Confidence, Honesty & Integrity
• Experiencing Self-Efficacy

Self-Management

• Demonstrating Self-Discipline & Self-Motivation
• Setting Personal & Group Goals
• Taking Initiative
• Use Planning & Organisational Skills

Social Awareness

• Demonstrating Empathy & Compassion
• Understanding & Expressing Gratitude
• Respecting Others

Relationship Skills

• Communicate & Listen Effectively
• Seeking and/or Offering Support
• Work Collaboratively
• Showing Leadership

Responsible Decision-Making

• Demonstrating Curiosity & Open-Mindedness
• Identifying Problems
• Making Reasoned Judgements
• Identifying Solutions
• Anticipating & Evaluating the Consequences of One’s Actions
• Promoting Personal & Collective Well-Being

You can learn more about SEL and how it can support character education here.

There is no specific health & wellness perspective to this activity other than promoting the benefits of engaging in a friendly yet competitive challenge.

In a small way, you could argue that the focus required to interact and engage physically with others may speak to the benefits of having developed a set of supportive and healthy behavioural norms in advance. Or, if not, you could use these less-than-desired interactions or outcomes to explore what sorts of behaviours your group would prefer to see. For example, you could invite your group to reflect on the level of safety consciousness that was demonstrated during the activity and relate this to a set of observed impacts on others.

If you can think of more explicit ways in which Nerves of Steel could be purposefully integrated into a health and wellness program, please leave a comment at the base of this page.

• Eliminations: When one of the four seated people ends up without a seat, they are eliminated and a new person waiting their turn (on the sidelines) resumes the position of the one standing in the centre. Importantly, as soon as a seat is stolen, all other moves must stop and resume only when the new person is ready to resume their role in the centre.
• Minimum Moves: Measure success not by time but by the least number of moves to occupy all four chairs.
• Competitive Trials: Over the course of many rounds, measure success by the time it takes for an individual to sit and occupy all four chairs (remembering, they must return to the seat they start from.) Award the person who completes this task in the shortest time as the winner.
• More Chairs: Add one or two more chairs to add a little more action, but no more. That is to say, if you were to start with eight chairs, the distance from the centre to any chair is too great while the distance between neighbouring chairs is too small, ie not so much fun.
• Take a look at Commitment to enjoy another very similar frenetic spot-stealing activity.

There are many sports that require accurate timing, lightning-fast reflexes and the ability to read the play. These skills are not necessarily the exclusive domain of super-fit athletes, because we can all access these competencies at different times. Are you ready to test yourself…?

We’ve all played the fun children’s game of musical chairs where some poor soul always misses out on a seat. Well, this next game is a bit like that, but in this case, the number of seats stays the same…

Coupled with one or more reflection strategies, here are some sample questions you could use to process your group’s experience after playing this exciting, fast-paced game:

• What social cues did you observe or sense that indicated someone was about to move? Were you right?
• What sorts of signals did those who were sitting in seats use to swap positions?
• To successfully swap seats, what needed to occur?
• What were some of your most sneaky or successful stealthy moves?
• If you visited all 4 chairs, what do you attribute to your success?
• Do you see similar behaviours in other parts of your life? At work or in play?
• Do you think this form of competitive game is harmful, or just a bit of fun? Elaborate.