Skip the Sevens
Count round the circle. Every seven is a clap instead of a number.
The room counts round in order, but any number with a seven in it, or divisible by seven, becomes a clap. It falls apart somewhere in the twenties and the room has to start again, which is the enjoyable part rather than the failure.
Circle up. We count round, one number each. Any number with a seven in it, or that divides by seven, you clap instead of saying it. Get it wrong and we start again from one. Nobody is out.
A room needs to concentrate together on something small, and you want quiet focus rather than noise.
Props: None
Run this when…
If none of these is your room, pick another.A group who need settling and focusing
Before anything requiring close attention
A small team with five minutes to spare
How to run it
Written to be glanced at mid-room, not memorised.
- Circle up, seated or standing.
- Explain once: sevens in the number, or multiples of seven, become a clap.
- Start at one and go round in order.
- When somebody slips, restart at one cheerfully — the restart is the game.
- Once they get past thirty, speed it up.
- Stop while they are still trying, not after they have finally managed it.
Running it well
Only the host sees these. Participants never do.
- Restart briskly and without comment. A room that feels blamed for the restart stops trying, and a room that finds the restart funny will go again five times.
- Do not let anyone count for the person whose turn it is. The pause while they work it out is where the tension lives.
- Speeding up is more effective than adding a second rule. Two rules at once turns concentration into confusion.
Watch out for
Space, safety and the traps worth knowing before you start.
- Nobody moves, so it works in any space, but being the person who breaks it is exposing — the no-blame restart is what keeps it safe.
- Over about twenty-five people the wait between turns gets long. Split into two circles and run them side by side.
Already seated
Nobody has to stand for this one.
Already seated. A circle of chairs or even a row works exactly the same.
On a video call
The cards work as they are. This is what changes about how you call it.
Call the next name in gallery order rather than going round a circle. Everything else is unchanged, and it is one of the better call activities because it is entirely sequential — nobody ever needs to speak at the same time as anybody else.
Run it yourself
Free for thirty days, no card. Put it on the projector and step through it — nobody in the room needs a phone.
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- Where
- Remote or in person
- Props
- None
- Big screen
- Required
- Teams
- Individual only