Materials
Whiteboard & Dry Erase Marker
3 - 6 sets of small cards/paper. Each set has 5 small cards/paper labeled 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Sync up topics/questions (see the doc at the bottom of the page or make your own topics/questions)
Recommended Group Size
3 - 9 persons
Estimated Time
30+ minutes
Purpose
To see the similarities and differences people have with each other
Objective
Sync up with others as many times as possible
Procedure
Give each person a set of small cards/paper.
Have two people compete with each other each time while the others watch.
The other participants will then guess how many times the two people will be able to "sync up," which means they say the same answer. Their guess will be determined by one of the small cards/paper they put down (0, 1, 2, 3, or 4). These cards should be placed face down.
The facilitator should choose four topics/questions to say for that turn.
The facilitator will then read the first topic/question for the two people playing that turn to answer.
The facilitator will then say, "Ready, set, Sync Up!"
As soon as the facilitator says that phrase, the two people will then say their answers. If they say the same answer, they both get a point. If they say different answers, neither of them gets a point.
The facilitator will then finish the other three topics/questions to finish the turn.
At the end of the turn (4 total topics/questions), the other participants should flip over their small cards/paper. Any participant who guess correctly receive 1 point.
Rotate the people after every turn. See the rotation rules below.
Rotations
For this example, we'll use 4 people.
Turn 1: 1 & 2 Turn 4: 1 & 3
Turn 2: 2 & 3 Turn 5: 2 & 4
Turn 3: 3 & 4 Turn 6: 1 & 4
Variations
Size: 10+ persons
Instead of receiving points for syncing up with others, the participants get to stay in the game for successfully syncing up with their partners. This variation makes it possible to play Sync Up with larger groups.
Notes
The facilitator can also allow other participants to read the topics/questions for the two people playing that round.
Topics/questions can also include ones that make people do an action instead of saying the answer.