Clue 2013 - Game Info & Outreach Incentives

Each year, Student Ministries hosts a teen outreach event called the Clue Game. It's name is true to form: we plan a whole-church, live-action game inspired by the board game. Students work in teams to complete tasks around the church to gather clues in hopes of solving the mystery and winning the prize. From what I've been told, Clue was happening for at least a couple of years in our old Vancouver building... which means we've been doing it for at least 17 years! Each year, we plan a game with a different theme... we've done time travel, countries, and most recently, movies. This year we're going back to the roots of the game - our theme this year is Clue: Original Edition!

The concept is simple: volunteers run rooms around the church - dressing up, decorating, and then acting out their roles at the game. Students invite their friends and work in teams to gather clues. At the end of the night the teens hear an evangelistic message. The game, however, is NOT simple... it takes about 4 hours to play! I've seen clues as complex as laser beams shooting onto a miniature model of the church to show the kids where to go next! This year, students are dropped into the town of Bethany, where they must visit the townspeople to collect clues and learn the alibis of our six suspects who may have committed the crime: Miss Scarlett, Professor Plum, Miss White, Colonel Mustard, Mr. Green, and Mrs. Peacock.

Clue is our biggest outreach event of the year, but it can be pretty easy for our students to forget that. This year, we want to make it as easy as possible for them to invite their non-Christian friends, and as easy as possible for those friends to meet new people, get connected, and come back to other events throughout the year. So this year, instead of just collecting their contact info, sending out some plugs for upcoming events, and praying for the best, we're doing something far more strategic... planning our Friday night calendar strategically around Clue! We're packing three of our best outreach events into the same month as the Game so that our teens will have plenty of opportunities to invite their friends back.

Here's the calendar breakdown:

• Friday, Jan. 25: Make a Movie Night - teens work in teams to make a movie based on the night's theme. The videos are then edited and posted for everyone to watch and vote on for our upcoming Oscar party. This is a great outreach event because new students aren't overwhelmed in a large group and instead get to know a few other people around their own age. They also get to know our youth leaders and our building.
• Saturday, Feb. 2 - CLUE GAME - doors open at 5; game starts at 5:30. There is NO youth on Feb. 1 as we are setting up.
• Friday, Feb. 8 - Gross Night - easily my favourite event! It's a night of gross games and students always have a choice to watch or participate! We get a great turnout because it's a hilarious night!
• Friday, Feb. 15 - Alive! - we'll be planning an outreach sermon followed by small group time (great to get to know new people) as well as playing some icebreaker games.
• Friday, Feb. 22 - Youth Oscars - who doesn't want to walk the red carpet, look great, eat some food, watch some crazy videos (we show all the Make a Movies!) and possibly even win an award (yes, we do give out Oscars!)? This gives new students yet another opportunity to sit with some friends, laugh at each other, and maybe even get some recognition!

To make things even easier for our teens to invite friends, we've set up 3 initiatives for them to get the word out to as many people as they know! We don't want our students to settle for just inviting one friend and hoping they come... we want them to invite EVERYONE! Back when I was in grade 8 I brought 9 friends... it was so easy because the game is fantastic!!! If our students do even one of these three things, they get a reward in the game.

Here are the Clue Incentives this year:

• Pre-register your team - Signing a team up in advance makes the Clue Team's life a whole lot easier for planning and prepping. There's a catch though - you can only pre-register your team of 3-5 people if at least 1 of them have never been to youth before (with the exception of Make a Movie Night)! And no, this doesn't mean inviting friends who go to a different church... it means non-Christian friends. The reward? A 5 minute head start in the game. Last year we had 3 teams that were literally within seconds of winning first place... this reward can be a make or break in the game. Pre-registration runs from Jan. 13-27.
• Invite 2 new friends - all teams (3-5 people) who have at least 2 non-Christian friends on their team will get an envelope packed with extra help. Each team has an envelope to hold their clues during the game - but bringing those new friends means your envelope will have tips, a church map, and even extra money! This is a total time saver throughout the whole night! 
• Bring your friends to Make a Movie Night - sending emails after Clue isn't the best way to get your friends to start coming to youth regularly. You know what is? Getting them connected in a meaningful way! If you bring a new friend who has not been to youth before (and who is on your Clue team) to Make a Movie Night the week before, they'll a) get to know some of your friends pretty well, b) get to know at least 1-2 leaders and c) get to know our building (that helps during Clue!). If you bring a new friend who is on your Clue team, you get the biggest reward of all... the location of the first clue you need! Think about it... you could visit literally every room before you find the first clue (you must collect them in order) and that could take a ton of time. We've never given away a reward this big!

And finally, just to get you pumped, here's the trailer that Matt made: