Sneaky Cards: Staff Morale Booster

From Megan Kneifl, YMCA Camp Kitaki, Program Director

Every year as we turn the corner at the mid-point of our ten-week summer, the support staff at Kitaki begin to incorporate what we like to call “sparklers” — games, activities, or prizes to help boost staff morale and incorporate a different element of fun into our weekly rhythm. Secret pals, Password- or Assassin-style games, raffles, Root Beer Fairies (late-night root beer floats!) have all been past favorites. After reading about the original Sneaky Cards game online, I suspected that adapting them to a camp environment would be a win! Sneaky Cards incorporates random acts of kindness, joy, or growth opportunities as a “mission” to be completed by the holder of the card.

After barrel-rolling onto the stage at staff meeting singing spy theme songs, I introduced the game and each staff member received their first sneaky card to complete. True to their name, working on a sneaky card mission should not be public knowledge, and any other people involved in the completing of a task (such as creating a secret handshake) should be unwitting accomplices unless the card states otherwise. After a mission is completed, it terminates in one of three ways: returning the card, passing it on, or leaving it in a location as designated on the card.

Staff were welcome to work on more than one sneaky card at a time but were encouraged to not have more than two or three on their person. Some cards can be completed multiple times, like the group doodle or holding the door for someone, where other cards were more long-term missions such as smiling at everyone you come across for 24 hours, or creating a shampoo hairdo the next time you shower. Players kept track of the sneaky cards they completed in whatever way worked best for them. I debated implementing a sticker or tally station where they could mark their completed cards, but decided an honesty system was the less-stress way to go.

The staff at Kitaki had a blast playing camp sneaky cards! I introduced the game on Monday, and by Saturday the winning counselor had completed 77 missions. We had check-ins at staff meetings throughout the week, which encouraged some friendly competition. I happen to be a crafty person, and created hand-made gifts for the top 5 winners which I worked on in public to help build excitement for the game. Playing for most of the week felt like a good expanse of time to play- with over 100 cards we were never lacking for new missions. Staff still seemed energized to play by the end of the week, and many included their campers in on the completing of their missions, so like a good “sparkler” it sparkled for everyone. We’re considering playing sneaky cards with our counselor-in-training program later this summer, and I look forward to seeing what enthusiasm they bring to the game!

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