Five years ago, Wise Guys Events produced the first ever Med School Orientation Olympics for the USC Keck School of Medicine. Since then, those students have graduated: they had their white coat ceremony and they are now doctors… and we’re still running scavenger hunts.
That’s good news! Not just for us, but also for the patients in need of medical attention who will receive it from newly minted doctors… and not from us.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
But this milestone graduation go us thinking. Having run the Med School Olympics so many years in a row now, we’ve made some iterative improvements. Though the game was a success in its first year, I think it’s now really become a marvel. The game play experience is quite fluid, the interactions are managed skillfully, and there’s a lot of fun and chaos in a controlled environment. The players are bright and up for anything and I think we pack a lot into a short amount of time. Here are the top 5 qualities that make the Orientation Olympics such a success.
1. The action starts right away
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The players show up with zero idea what’s in store for them, but nonetheless eager to compete: remember, these are medical school students, and they didn’t get accepted to the program by being lackadasical. We don’t bog them down with a bunch of rules: we tell them they’re going to compete in a variety of challenges and each challenge is worth points. The object of the game is to be the team with the most points. Easy enough. Then we get started right away with the Beach Ball Blitz Bonanza, so from the very first moments of the game there’s a physical (but not athletic) strategic (but not slow) game that everyone can participate in.
The bottom line is, four minutes ago you arrived in this park full of questions and uncertainty, and now you’re all smacking beach balls in every direction. Could there be a better indicator that you’re in store for a fun day in the park?
2. The inter-action starts right away, and lasts all day
These photos are of players competing in Spaghetti Standoff, a game developed by R&D/Arkadium that we incorporate into the Med School Olympics. Teams of 2 are given a single strand of uncooked spaghetti; the object of the game is to be the last duo standing with your spaghetti unbroken. You’ve got to use your noodle in this one and push past-a your inhibitions.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The Med School Olympics game is played in several rounds; during a round, your team of 6 will compete against another team of 6 in a challenge, and complete a variety of solo games as well. In between each round, teams of 6 are lumped together into bigger groups of 24 and compete against another group of 24 players.
The bottom line is, while you get lots of interaction with the other 5 people on your team (the group you will eventually go on to dissect a cadaver with – but not on game day, thankfully), you also get a lot of interaction with other teams. So a sea of unfamiliar faces now become friends with a common memory, even if that memory is how they broke your spaghetti. All the evidence suggests that students with a sense of kinship and camaraderie will be more invested in their education, less likely to drop out, and more likely to go on to become a generous donor to the school after graduation. And it all starts with the laughter, the fun, and the friendship that began on the game they played on the first day.
3. Our team
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Wise Guys has a number of secret weapons. I can’t tell you all of them or they would just be weapons. But we are proud to boast about our helpers, the game moderators. Are warriors in yellow have all the answers and everything it takes to make sure the players are safe, comfortable, and having a good time, the whole time. Some of them have been with us since our very first years. We’d be lost without them.
4. Everyone has the chance to be the hero
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
A diverse array of challenges in the game puts a spotlight on the diversity of the teams. Speak another language? Know cheerleading moves? Kick butt at word puzzles? You’ll all have the chance to show off what you’re good at and impress your newfound friends and teammates at the same time.
5. The good kind of smart; the good kind of dumb
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Pictured above is a still from Page Turners, the between-the-pages scavenger hunt played in the pages of back issues of National Geographic. Each clue is tested and proven to be in at least 4 of the magazines. Each team has the same 6 magazines. The host calls out an item and a player must step forward with a magazine showing that item in an article or an ad, photo or illustration. The first team to have 3 people find it scores a point; the first team to 3 points wins. This is the good kind of smart: sharp eyes, memory, and collaboration are rewarded, but there’s no long build up and the game is over in minutes.
Below is Rock Star Paper Scissors, a variation on the old schoolyard game that gets everyone cheering until the whole park is yelling over one final match for ultimate supremacy. It’s the good kind of dumb: a simple game that everyone knows but when 200 people are chanting for you, it’s a memorable moment that lingers a long time.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![DSC_0225]()
6. Bonus thing: these GIFs. We call this game Purple Monkey Dishwasher, though you may know it by another name. In this game, one player picks an item off a card like “banana split” or “dethroned” and has to draw it. They pass it to another player who writes a guess of what they think it is. The next player draws the previous player’s guess and so on. But like in the schoolyard game Telephone, it doesn’t always pass around the circle correctly… see below!
.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![Wise Guys Events 1 on Make A Gif]()
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![Purple Monkey Dishwasher 2 on Make A Gif]()
A lot of prep, planning, and experience has gone into making this the best college orientation game out there. But don’t take my word for it: request a quote and bring us to your campus to see for yourself!
More photos from this game on our Facebook page.
That’s good news! Not just for us, but also for the patients in need of medical attention who will receive it from newly minted doctors… and not from us.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
But this milestone graduation go us thinking. Having run the Med School Olympics so many years in a row now, we’ve made some iterative improvements. Though the game was a success in its first year, I think it’s now really become a marvel. The game play experience is quite fluid, the interactions are managed skillfully, and there’s a lot of fun and chaos in a controlled environment. The players are bright and up for anything and I think we pack a lot into a short amount of time. Here are the top 5 qualities that make the Orientation Olympics such a success.
1. The action starts right away
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The players show up with zero idea what’s in store for them, but nonetheless eager to compete: remember, these are medical school students, and they didn’t get accepted to the program by being lackadasical. We don’t bog them down with a bunch of rules: we tell them they’re going to compete in a variety of challenges and each challenge is worth points. The object of the game is to be the team with the most points. Easy enough. Then we get started right away with the Beach Ball Blitz Bonanza, so from the very first moments of the game there’s a physical (but not athletic) strategic (but not slow) game that everyone can participate in.
The bottom line is, four minutes ago you arrived in this park full of questions and uncertainty, and now you’re all smacking beach balls in every direction. Could there be a better indicator that you’re in store for a fun day in the park?
2. The inter-action starts right away, and lasts all day
These photos are of players competing in Spaghetti Standoff, a game developed by R&D/Arkadium that we incorporate into the Med School Olympics. Teams of 2 are given a single strand of uncooked spaghetti; the object of the game is to be the last duo standing with your spaghetti unbroken. You’ve got to use your noodle in this one and push past-a your inhibitions.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
The Med School Olympics game is played in several rounds; during a round, your team of 6 will compete against another team of 6 in a challenge, and complete a variety of solo games as well. In between each round, teams of 6 are lumped together into bigger groups of 24 and compete against another group of 24 players.
The bottom line is, while you get lots of interaction with the other 5 people on your team (the group you will eventually go on to dissect a cadaver with – but not on game day, thankfully), you also get a lot of interaction with other teams. So a sea of unfamiliar faces now become friends with a common memory, even if that memory is how they broke your spaghetti. All the evidence suggests that students with a sense of kinship and camaraderie will be more invested in their education, less likely to drop out, and more likely to go on to become a generous donor to the school after graduation. And it all starts with the laughter, the fun, and the friendship that began on the game they played on the first day.
3. Our team
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Wise Guys has a number of secret weapons. I can’t tell you all of them or they would just be weapons. But we are proud to boast about our helpers, the game moderators. Are warriors in yellow have all the answers and everything it takes to make sure the players are safe, comfortable, and having a good time, the whole time. Some of them have been with us since our very first years. We’d be lost without them.
4. Everyone has the chance to be the hero
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
A diverse array of challenges in the game puts a spotlight on the diversity of the teams. Speak another language? Know cheerleading moves? Kick butt at word puzzles? You’ll all have the chance to show off what you’re good at and impress your newfound friends and teammates at the same time.
5. The good kind of smart; the good kind of dumb
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Pictured above is a still from Page Turners, the between-the-pages scavenger hunt played in the pages of back issues of National Geographic. Each clue is tested and proven to be in at least 4 of the magazines. Each team has the same 6 magazines. The host calls out an item and a player must step forward with a magazine showing that item in an article or an ad, photo or illustration. The first team to have 3 people find it scores a point; the first team to 3 points wins. This is the good kind of smart: sharp eyes, memory, and collaboration are rewarded, but there’s no long build up and the game is over in minutes.
Below is Rock Star Paper Scissors, a variation on the old schoolyard game that gets everyone cheering until the whole park is yelling over one final match for ultimate supremacy. It’s the good kind of dumb: a simple game that everyone knows but when 200 people are chanting for you, it’s a memorable moment that lingers a long time.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
6. Bonus thing: these GIFs. We call this game Purple Monkey Dishwasher, though you may know it by another name. In this game, one player picks an item off a card like “banana split” or “dethroned” and has to draw it. They pass it to another player who writes a guess of what they think it is. The next player draws the previous player’s guess and so on. But like in the schoolyard game Telephone, it doesn’t always pass around the circle correctly… see below!
.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
A lot of prep, planning, and experience has gone into making this the best college orientation game out there. But don’t take my word for it: request a quote and bring us to your campus to see for yourself!
More photos from this game on our Facebook page.
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