Bobble Heads requires some setup, but it's completely worth it. The first thing you need to do is get your hands on some cheap pedometers (just search Amazon for, "Basic Pedometer"). You can grab very basic ones for about $5 each. If you don't want to do that, there are plenty of free apps for your phone that can count steps. You're going to need one per player.
--SETUP
You'll also need something to secure the pedometer/phone to the person's head. A simple sweatband works great for this. Obviously, if you're using your phones, make sure they're attached securely because there's going to be a lot of bobbling!
This is the type of game where you'll need to pick your contestants ahead of time. Since their heads are going to show up on the screen, you're going to need a photo of their face so you can crop it out. If you have photo editing software, you're going to want to open the photo and cut out the head (leaving the background transparent). Then crop the photo so that the head takes up the entire file. Finally, save it as a PNG somewhere on your computer.
--CREATING HEADS
If you don't have editing software, we've got you covered! In the dashboard, just under, "Settings", you'll see a little message that says, "Need help creating heads from your photos? Click here". Click that and it will launch the Head Maker app.
Once the Head Maker app opens, you're going to click on the image icon in the middle of the screen. This will allow you to select a photo of your contestant from your computer. Once the image loads, it will create a green circle with a bunch of dots around it. This is called the, "Mask". Anything outside of the mask will be cropped out.
Use the scale buttons on the left to make the face almost fit the circle. You can drag the photo to position it where you want. Once you get the face in the circle, click and drag the dots to fit the mask around the head. You can check how it looks by clicking on the, "Toggle Preview" button to the right. This just hides the mask so you can get a better view of your results. Click that button again to bring the mask back so you can continue editing.
Once you've got the mask the way you want it, click on the, "Save" button to the right and save the PNG file somewhere on your computer.
--LOADING HEADS
At this point, you should have a folder on your computer that has some PNG files of people's heads. Keep that folder handy because we're releasing a bunch of games that can use those same heads!
At the bottom of the Settings panel, click on, "Add Heads". This will open a window that will allow you to select one or more of your png files. Once you do that, a box with each head will be added to the list. You can rearrange and delete these boxes to your liking. You can add more heads at any time.
Your changes won't appear until you click the, "Save" button at the bottom of the Settings panel.
--Setting the timer
Bobble heads uses a timer because we're seeing how many bobbles each person can get in a certain amount of time. We've found that between 30 and 60 seconds works best. You can adjust your timer by using the timer control towards the top of the Settings panel. Clicking on the top 3/4 of a number square will increase that number. The bottom 1/4 will decrease. Make sure you save your settings for them to appear in the game.
--Controls
The Control panel is laid out with some pretty simple buttons. You have buttons to start, stop, and reset the timer. You also have three buttons that control bobbling. The last two buttons will start and stop everyone at the same time. The "Toggle Bobbling" button will make each stopped head start bobbling and vise versa. This is useful when you want to do something where two groups switch between bobbling.
You can control individuals by hitting their corresponding number key on the keyboard. So if you want the second person to start bobbling, just hit the 2 key. If you want him to stop, hit the 2 key again. If you hit all of the odd keys, then use the, "Toggle Bobbling" button, it will jump between every other person as they start and stop bobbling.
--Gameplay
As I mentioned at the top, this is a game that requires some setup. You're going to want to make sure that your contestants are selected ahead of time and ready to go with their pedometers on their heads before you even start the game. Setting them up while on stage kills the momentum. Also, make sure each person has a basic understanding of how their pedometer works. Just let them know to make sure it's on and set to zero before they come on stage. Since they're all walking up together, the steps that get recorded are negligible and will cancel each other out.
Here's how I would handle everything as the host: "Hey everybody! We're going to bring up 4 our of favorite adult volunteers to play a game called, 'Bobble Heads!' Let's give them a round of applause while they make their way up here. (screen should come on with the game ready to go) Each person is wearing a pedometer on their head. Pedometers count every time you take a step. We're going to give them 30 seconds to bobble their heads and as fast as possible. Whoever ends up with the highest pedometer count is the winner! Let's get some music going! Ready! Set! Bobble!!!!"
Once the clock ends, each person can take off their pedometer to see their score. I'd then go one by one and have each person announce their number. To make it really fun, after each number is announced, have the lower number leave the stage. So if the second person is higher than the first, have the first person sit down. Then go to the third person and see if they beat the second person. Finally, give a drumroll for the reveal of the last person's number. A funny prize for the winner could be Asprin for the headache that they'll probably have :)
--Fun idea
If you want to score some extra points with your senior pastor, invite them to play this game with your students. However, ask what his score was first, then have everyone else just say that they got a lower number. Once you reveal your senior pastor as the winner, give them a bobble head of themselves as the prize. Just google, "Custom Bobble Head". You can get them made by just sending in a photo of someone. It would be a really fun time and they'll leave with a nice keepsake from the youth ministry!
