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. Click on over to the World Firefirefighters Games. Take a look at the games they play. There's a great variety - from poker to ping pong to snowboarding and wrestling. This is all good - inviting just about anyone to participate. On the other hand, only a couple of the games have anything to do with firefighting. And those that do, like Toughest Firefighter Alive, are much more like contests than they are invitations to fun.

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.