Quidditch Beta Testing

Life tip: when needing to beta test for Quidditch, it is surprisingly easy to get people to come over and help play.  Some set up for the match was required.  I went ahead and got the Quidditch posters laminated--just in case of bad weather, and also so that I can put them up a few days beforehand and not be worried they'll get ruined if it does rain.  They turned out awesome.  I also hung up a sheet behind the garage because--as we found out after we got done with the hoops--the sound of a bean bag thrown against a garage door?  LOUD.  I put it at an angle, so the bean bags will slide down and collect at the bottom, which (bonus) should make it easier to collect them at the end of each game.

Also made the snitch with spray paint and some thicker acrylic paint.  Not sure if I've made it textured enough to find--but fortunately, that's what beta testing is for!

Oh, and put up the Potions sign, which turned out looking pretty cool.

**UPDATE**

Phew.  Okay, so we did several hours of quidditch playing and just general beta testing around the house to see if there were any problems with anything.  The main problem I saw right away was that with robes/capes/costumes (which we dressed up in for...science) it feels like there are far more people in the room--just slightly more claustrophobic, and more importantly, more opportunities to knock stuff over.  So I feel like I need to go through and seriously dejunk anything and everything that could be knocked over at elbow height and below.  So that needs to be a huge priority (plus OH SOOOOOO MUCH cleaning). 

The quidditch itself was actually a lot of fun--definitely more fun with the right number of people playing and not just two of us trying to simulate a game.  A few snags in securing things for the quidditch hoops--lights, the sheet to muffle the sound on the garage door needs to be SUPER secured down, as it fell off about 3 times on each side.  But I know a way to fix it I think.  We figured out that the average game (aka, how long it takes to find the snitch) is around 3-5 minutes.  And we usually had to stop and gather up the bean bags maybe once or twice each round.  But it was kind of a nice break as it gave everyone a chance to rest a minute and figure out scores--kind of an intermission.  Going to take a few of the ping pong balls out as a few kept spilling out what with two people frantically searching through them blindfolded.  The sitting while throwing beanbags was a bit harder, but an equalizer in terms of height--no one has the advantage.  We all rotated through being a seeker (finds the snitch) and a chaser (one who throws) and a keeper (gathers up the bean bags).  We also discovered that with a good chaser, you can still catch the snitch, but lose the game.  There was one of us who was REALLY good at throwing the bean bags and while the other team caught the snitch, they won because they had made a LOT of points via the beanbags.  Everyone agreed it was an actually fun game and hopefully a lot of people will at least try to play.  

But tonight was really good--it gave me a chance to see people interact with the games and activities from a fresh perspective.  I've been working with and seeing all this stuff for so long that it's almost background noise; now I have a very good idea of what I need to change and prioritize in this last week.  Still a bit daunted by quite how much has to get done...but will chip away as much as I can and just keep going at it--I have a feeling this next week is going to go past at lightning speed!