One of the highlights of any day at kids camp is the WIDE GAME!

One of our favourites is a Mishewah original called Flabbergaster. The goal of the game is to catch one of the Runners, staff members carrying different coloured tickets. Sounds easy enough right? Except that each Runner is protected by two Swingers, guards carrying stockings or pantyhose filled with flour! If you get hit by one of the flour stockings, you have to freeze in place and call for one of our fabulous Flabbergasters, who wear crazy and colourful clothing, to come and save you exchange for doing a silly challenge. Watch out, sometimes we add rogue Swingers to make the game even more difficult!

Flabbergaster was created by Michelle and Vanje in 2003. We asked them about the origins of the camper favourite.

Vanje: “Michelle was the lead brain behind it.”
Michelle: “That would be the summer I was program coordinator (and the summer I broke my leg lol)”
Vanje: “I am pretty sure her original idea was flour in panty hose… it went from there.”
Michelle: “I found the basic game idea from a binder that my dad had from his Bible college days….the challenges was something I came up with, and having to dress up.”
Vanje: “We were all about the dress up!”
In the years since, various other staff members have had a hand in adding to and tweaking the game to become the staple we know and love today.
Vanje: “Naming some of the roles such as: golden egg, swingers and such was a later addition as we took Michelle’s idea and added some more rules to finesse it for our largest groups. I also took the game to other camps later on- so it has become a legit game!”
Michelle, who now lives out of province, remembers her summers at camp fondly: “The game evolved a bit in the following summers and I have no idea what it looks like now. I think its funny its become a staple of Mish…love that! Mishewah will always have a special place in my heart and be a part of me.”

There are less than five week until the Mishewah Jubilee Weekend, but there is still space for you to join us. Come celebrate 50 years of Camp Mishewah!