This two-day activity is similar to a gigantic, school-wide game of tag, only it involves no running and a lot of detective work.
Each participant, who signs up for the game and pays the $1.00 fee to play, will be given the name and picture of another participant in the Mission Impossible event. This information is contained on a single mission card that each player receives when the Mission Impossible event begins. Each player’s mission is to find the person on the mission card and show the found person their picture, and say, “Mission accomplished!” Once this is done, they both must approach a cop (teacher) and have the cop sign the mission card as a witness. The found person must now hand over the mission card containing the name and picture of the person that they were looking for. This new card gives the successful catcher another mission to pursue.
The object of Mission Impossible is to track down and find as many people in the two-day period as possible, without being caught yourself. Once the event has begun, it will cost new participants $2.00 to play. Those students who are caught can also rejoin the activity for $2.00. The winner of Mission Impossible is the person who finds the most students (who has the most signed mission cards in their possession) at the end of the two-day period without being caught themselves.
Teachers receive a personalized police badge and are eligible to play in the teacher’s game of Mission Impossible that follows the students’ event. As cops, they are also asked to ensure the safety and success of the event. They are required to take mission cards away from any students observed not obeying the rules of the event. These confiscated mission cards are then returned to the Mission Impossible headquarters where they can be repurchased by others wishing to play. The mission card pictures can be made from photocopies of the mug shot books that are used for yearbooks or done on a digital camera. Classes are not to be interrupted by players in the event, as the searching must take place during lunch and between periods. The event can be made harder by not including the picture of a participant on the mission card, but the time for the event must then be extended. This is a great event to let the whole school act as spies and discover new people in your building that they haven’t met before.
You can run some Mission impossible challenges for those students who have been caught or those who are wishing they had joined in.