Games Firefighters Play

They call it "Waterball" (click on the image to see it in its liquid glory). Apparently, a ball is attached to an overhead cable, so that it can slide back and forth. Teams, in a kind of waterhose-powered "push-of-war," compete to get the ball to other end of the cable. A simple enough idea for a game. Fun. Spectacular, even.

The contribution of a game like Waterball to our lexicon of playfulness can't really be appreciated until it's compared to other efforts to bring a little much-deserved fun to our community heroes.

Waterball is both fun and exacting, requiring the kinds of skills that are crucial to effective firefighting, yet putting them in a context that is clearly an opportunity for delight. As such, it's a paradigm for the design of any truly effective training game. May it be appreciated and much imitated.

Bernie DeKoven, funsmith