Literary Arcade Positions STATE PARK

TwainFest
Game & Event Instruction Manual
Overview

  • Due to the close proximity of volunteers and guests (many of whom are children under 12), the Literary Arcade booths will require mask-wearing for all guests and volunteers, regardless of vaccination status.
  • Volunteers will also be provided disposable gloves at their stations, for handling shared supplies.
  • Like a carnival midway each TwainFest game or event has its own booth. 


Never-Ending Stories 
(1 volunteer)
It takes a village to write a story.  Just add YOUR imagination. 




This is a collaborative writing project where any participant can add a paragraph to one of two stories.  Each story starts off with a Twain Fest opening paragraph in one of several 19th century genres (e.g. Dark Romanticism, Mystery, Gothic Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Penny Dreadful, Adventure).


The Project
      1.      This project can accommodate 2 collaborators at a time.
2.      A sign indicating the story genre hangs over each of the two writing areas.
3.      Each writing area consists of a roll of butcher paper that scrolls across the counter for the collaborator to write on, and continues up and to the back of the booth to a take-up roller.
4.      The first paragraph of the story is on the scroll AND on a sign that hangs over the specific genre.
5.      Each collaborator adds a sentence, or possibly a paragraph to the story, but NO MORE than what is accessible across the counter top.
6.      When finished the Facilitator cranks the take-up roller until a blank space in the roll fills the counter top.

COVID PRECAUTIONS: In addition to mask-wearing for guests and volunteers, follow these safety steps.
1. All participants should sanitize their hands (provided at the booth) before beginning writing.
2. After guests have added to the scrolls, volunteers should ensure the pens are capped and use disinfecting wipes to clean any of the pens that were used.



Fishing for Words
(1-2 volunteers)
The Tom Sawyer prescription for writer’s block.

Volunteers for this game should enjoy interacting with young children. This is a

very fun game for little ones but it is open to anyone.

There are two tubs of water, each containing floating ducks. On the bottom of each duck is a simple word – mother, kitchen, garage, etc.

The participant is given a bamboo fishing pole with a string and magnet attached. The child uses the fishing pole to ‘catch’ a duck and lift it from the water. (the magnets are on the top of the ducks’ head). 


Once the duck is out of the water, remove the duck from the line (the child might do this themselves) and turn it over for the child to read. Once the child reads the word ask them what it means. Once they have caught their duck, read the word and given a definition they get a prize.


There are children who play this game that are too young to read. If any child cannot read the word, please read it for them and ask them to tell you what it means. Another alternative is to ask them to identify the letters they know, then tell them what that spells.


If any child cannot read the word or give a definition they still get a prizeSometimes the parents will help them with the reading and/or definition. This is allowed.

COVID PRECAUTIONS: In addition to mask-wearing for guests and volunteers, follow these safety steps.
1. All participants should sanitize their hands (provided at the booth) before beginning.
2. After guests have caught their duck and played the game, the Facilitator should take the duck and fishing pole from them and set them to the side. 
3. Facilitators should then open the prize box and allow the guest to pick out one prize. Facilitators close the box after the prize is selected and the guest should sanitize their hands.
4. Before returning the duck and fishing pole to the game area for play, Facilitators should disinfect the duck and fishing pole.



Calaveras Jumping Frog
(2-3 volunteers)

Honoring the article that brought Mark Twain to fame, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, TwainFesters have the opportunity to launch a bean-bag frog using our special wooden catapult. 

COVID PRECAUTIONS: In addition to mask-wearing for guests and volunteers, follow these safety steps.
1. All participants should sanitize their hands (provided at the booth) before beginning.
2. Facilitators should be the only ones handling the bean bags frogs and place them one at a time in the catapult. 
3. Guests gets three turns pulling the catapult, seeing how far they can launch it.
4. Facilitators should then open the prize box and allow the guest to pick out one prize. Facilitators close the box after the prize is selected and the guest should sanitize their hands.
5. Before the next guest pulls the catapult, Facilitators should disinfect the catapult handle.




Frog Toss
(1-2 volunteers)

A junior version of the “Calaveras Jumping Frog”.  Young participants pitch bean-bag frogs through holes in the ozone.

COVID PRECAUTIONS: In addition to mask-wearing for guests and volunteers, follow these safety steps.
1. All participants should sanitize their hands (provided at the booth) before beginning.
2. Guests get three tries to get their frogs through the hole. 
3. Facilitators should then open the prize box.
4. Guests must then sanitize their hands before reaching into the prize box.
5. Facilitators close the box after the prize is selected and the guest should sanitize their hands again after making their selection.




Rope Tying
(1-2 volunteers)

With our Master Rope Tie-er's assistance, children will learn the knots it takes to make a real rope.

COVID PRECAUTIONS: In addition to mask-wearing for guests and volunteers, follow these safety steps.
1. All participants should sanitize their hands (provided at the booth) before beginning.



TwainFest Book Emporium
(2-3 volunteers)

Hundreds of donated books will be displayed on shelves in two booths. One booth will display exclusively children’s books.  The other will handle all other books.
Guests will be able to pick out 2-3 books to take home with them, free of charge.

COVID PRECAUTIONS: In addition to mask-wearing for guests and volunteers, follow these safety steps.
1. All participants should sanitize their hands (provided at the booth) before entering.
2. Only 3 guests are permitted into the booth at a time.
3. Parents should be instructed to assist their children with picking out books and to limit touching books.
4. Guests may take a book from the shelf and, if they do not wish to take it, will place in a "go-back" pile.
5. After making their selections, guests should sanitize their hands again.
6. Periodically, Facilitators should take the books from the "go-back" pile and disinfect them, then return them to the shelves.





Vote in the Election of 1872
(2-3 volunteers)

It's 1872! Uylsses S Grant and Horance Greeley are the front-runners. Participants can cast their vote for President... IF they can pass a Literacy Test.


You are disqualified from voting if:

-You cannot pass the test
-You are a woman

COVID PRECAUTIONS: In addition to mask-wearing for guests and volunteers, follow these safety steps.
1. All participants should sanitize their hands (provided at the booth) before beginning.
2. Guest should walk up to a marked X on the ground in front of one of the facilitators to receive their instructions, literary test, and pencil.
3. Guest then should take their test off the the side and complete it.
4. When they complete their test, they should return to the other end of the table for the other Facilitator to grade their test and, if they pass, receive their ballot to vote.
5. After guests have completed the game, they place their used pencils in a special container.
6. Periodically, Facilitators should sanitize all pencils and return them to the "clean" container.



Wheel of Fiction
(2-3 volunteers)


  • The game will have 3 chairs set up 6 feet apart. A family or couple can play as a "team" but they must stand behind the one seated member and maintain social distancing. Feel free to be a busker and call out to the crowd "Come play the Wheel of Fiction--everyone can play, win tickets to get books, it's like Wheel of Fortune meets hangman without the violence, fill in quotes one letter at a time. Let's get ready for the wheeeeeeeel oooooof fictioooooon!"  
  • One volunteer (let's call them Volunteer A) will be the wheel spinner and writing in the correct letters on the clue sheet. The other volunteer (Volunteer B) will flip over letters as they are guessed.
  • Volunteer A spins the wheel once to find out which author.  Go draw the quote for the author in the box (take a look to see that it is correct). Pin up the clue in the red frame and show Volunteer B the answer so he/she can run the alphabet.  Hold the clue in your hand in a way that no one else can see (except your partner as needed).  Read the Quote with the blanks in it to the crowd.
  • Guests then take turns guessing letters, with the volunteers flipping over the guessed letters. If they guess correctly, they can keep guessing letters until they get one wrong. Then it is the next guest's turn. The guest who guesses the entire quote wins in the game
  • Remind people that only those sitting in the chairs can answer and only when it is their turn. We often get whole families playing with the little kids guessing letters too.

COVID PRECAUTIONS: In addition to mask-wearing for guests and volunteers, follow these safety steps.
1. Facilitators will open the prize box for the winning guest.
2. Guests must then sanitize their hands before reaching into the prize box.
3. Facilitators close the box after the prize is selected and the guest should sanitize their hands again after making their selection.

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