Each game should take about 15 minutes, but could go longer or shorter depending on the group.

Game 1: News Team

The leader will ask for four volunteers to come stand up in front of the group. Each of these volunteers will be members of the news team, at the foot of Har Hertzl in front of a huge celebration honoring Israel’s 65th birthday. The leader should identify two anchors (who will stand in the middle), one weather person (who will stand to one side of the anchors), and one sports reporter (who will stand on the other side). The leader should inform the ‘audience’ that each of these news team members has a flaw. The leader should go one by one to establish (through suggestions from the audience) what those flaws are.  (Examples: this person is allergic to what? This person thinks he/she is which inanimate object? This person thinks this is not a news show, but what kind of TV show?, etc.) Once each news team member has been given a flaw, they should also receive a note card with one fact. These cards should be prepared ahead of time using the facts provided below (or your own Israel facts!). The news team members have to incorporate the info on their cards along with showcasing their flaws.

News fact: Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees.

News fact: Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.

Sports fact: Israel's Maccabi basketball team won the European championships in 2001.

Weather fact: In March of 2012 it snowed in Jerusalem for the first time in four years!

The leader should explain out loud that the anchors will begin and end the broadcast and at certain points pass the broadcast over to the weather and sports person, respectively, before signing off for the end of the broadcast. The leader should then say “3, 2, 1, Action!” and let the news team go!

Game 2: Party Quirks

Sticking with the ‘65th anniversary party’ theme, the leader will ask for 1 really brave volunteer. The leader will send that volunteer, who will be called the ‘host of the party’ with another staff member into the ‘sound proof booth’ (far enough away or in another room so that the volunteer can’t hear what’s going on in the space where the game is being played). The leader will then ask for 6 volunteers to come stand up front. Each of these volunteers will be guests at the party that the ‘host’ is throwing. The catch? Each volunteer has to be a famous person or inanimate object in Israel’s history. Get ideas from the audience. (Examples: David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Ilan Ramon, a bolt of lightning (as operation thunderbolt), etc.) Once everyone has their identities picked out, the host can come back in and mock ‘set-up’ his/her party. The leader will say ‘ding dong’ as each new guest enters. And the leader should not let the party get too crowded... space out the arrivals so the ‘host’ has some time to guess the identity of the guest based on the guest’s behavior.

*two tips for this game: either the ‘host’ should be an adult or staff member who knows enough to guess the guests when they come in OR this game should be played at the end of a period of time where the group has learned about different people in modern Israeli history.

Game 3: Quote Bubbles

The leader should ask for four volunteers. Two will stand in the the middle facing each other and be engaged in a conversation in nonsense language, making it up. Behind each person will be standing the ‘translator’ for that person. Every time ‘person A’ speaks, everyone will pause while the translator translates what ‘person A’ was really saying. Then the same for ‘person B.’  The leader will, after assigning roles, ask the audience for suggested scenarios by first asking for a location in Israel, then asking for a scene/conversation that could be happening in that location. A fun thing to do is to have the people switch positions and do a new round with new scenarios/locations from the audience but the same volunteers, just in opposite roles.

Game 4: Press Conference

The leader picks one volunteer to come stand up in front of the group. The volunteer will be speaking behind a podium (if you have a podium, awesome -- if not, no need). The volunteer is at a press conference and must deduce his/her own identity and the event being discussed from the questions posed by the audience/reporters. The volunteer must try to answer the questions appropriately and accurately. The subject of the press conference is a known figure making an announcement about a big event in modern Israeli history. (Options include: 1978 Peace Treaty with Egypt, Omri Casspi becoming first Israeli to join NBA team, Israel winning its first Olympic gold medal, Ilan Ramon enters space as Israel's first astronaut, or any other subject you might choose from the background cards). The questions should be pre-written on note cards. 

SAMPLE SCENARIO:

Cornell University partners with Israel’s world famous Technion University to create new Science University on New York City’s Roosevelt Island making it the first U.S. campus for an Israeli University!

SPEAKER: NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg

SAMPLE QUESTIONS TO BE WRITTEN ON NOTE CARDS (YOU CAN HAVE MANY MORE):

1. Mr. Mayor, what is so special about Israeli science and technology?
2. Mr. Mayor, does your city really need another university?
3. Mr. Mayor, will you have to build a new bridge from Manhattan for the students to access Roosevelt Island?
4. Mr. Mayor, Cornell has a great reputation. Why would it need to partner with a science & technology university from another country?

The Leader should have the volunteer guess as he/she goes along answering the questions.

Game 5: Israeli Themed Restaurant

The leader asks for 3 volunteers. Two will be seated at a table, one will be the waiter standing next to the table. The waiter will not have menus, but instead will have to recite the menu to the people sitting down who will have to decide on what to eat. The waiter will then go and come back with the food (leaving a little time for the diners to exchange small talk), and then the diners will have to describe the food they’re mock-eating in great detail. The food on the menu must all be Israeli food (cous cous, hummus, Israeli salad, falafel, rugelach, etc.)