Around the Table

Equipment

• One set of Speed Stacks for every stacker
• One table for every four stackers

Setup

Place tables so stackers can easily move around the table’s perimeter. Place stackers four to a table with their cups downstacked in front of them and their hands resting on the table surface.

How To Play

On the ‘go’ signal, stackers upstack and downstack the determined pattern. Once all the stackers at a table complete the pattern, they move around the table to their right (counter clockwise) and begin stacking the next set of Speed Stacks. Stackers continue to stack and change positions around the table until you give the ‘stop’ signal.

Rules

• Make sure the proper stacking technique and patterns are followed.
• All fumbled cups must be fixed properly.
• Stackers may not pass each other.

Variations

• On the verbal ‘switch’ cue, stackers change their rotation and begin moving in a clockwise direction.
• Line a number of tables end to end and expand the ‘Around the Table’ stacking to accommodate a large group.
• Time the group using a StackMat after one complete rotation. One stacker starts and stops the StackMat after the single rotation.
• Use more sets of cups than the number of students. If a student finishes and the person in front of them is not finished, they can go around that student to the next available set of cups.
• Start with some sets upstacked and some sets downstacked. As players move around the table, they upstack cups that are downstacked and downstack cups that are upstacked.

Physical Distance Variation

Each students places their own cups in columns of 3 in a large square on the floor with each column about 5 feet apart on each side. When the teacher says, “Go,” the student goes to each set of cups and upstacks them and then goes back around the square again to downstack them. The teacher can have students time themselves or race a student at another square.