Bucket brigade. Gray versus Maroon team. Group 6 hockey in the gym. Yellow vs Green. Writing the Alma. Score updates. Kids screaming their heads off.

Man, I love Color War.

I love the idea that for four to five days every summer, kids get to put on the costume of really caring about this thing we all sort of know doesn’t matter, but also REALLY matters. Who wins hockey in the gym? Who has the best song? Which team takes it?

It’s clearly gamified. Clearly fun. Clearly measurable. Clearly awesome.

We want Color War to be competitive. We want kids going all out for it.

But Color War doesn’t happen every day of the summer.

And that’s the point.

The easy-to-measure stuff

I just read this book called The Score by C. Thi Nguyen that helped me get why I love games, winning, and also why it’s not the only thing. Metrics and scores are easy to capture, so they become more valued. What gets measured gets managed.

When something is easy to measure, it rises in perceived importance because we can see it so clearly. But it can also have this other weird effect, where a game gets value captured by the scoring system.

At camp, the measurable stuff includes all the structured activities. Soccer, basketball, softball, rock climbing, pickleball (new this year!), archery, dance, yoga.

Color War scores. Team standings. Who won what.

These are good. Kids should get better at things. Competition is awesome. I love winning, ask my brothers about Halo 1.

But at K&E we deliberately resist making everything about measurement.

The games that matter most at camp are the ones nobody keeps score on.

The games nobody scores

Carpetball. Mafia. Pass the pigs (you throw three pigs and bet on how they land). Poker. Magic cards.

These games still have rules. Kids still know who’s good at them.

The difference? Nobody writes it down. Nobody keeps permanent records.

The Score talks about how games create shared understanding without requiring measurement. We all agree on what we’re doing. We all get it in the moment. Then we move on.

Elan Lee, the creator of Exploding Kittens (and kind of the boss game creator right now) has this great quote: “The goal of great games is not to be entertaining. It is to make the people you are playing with entertaining.”

The goal of camp isn’t to have the most entertaining scoring systems for every game.

It’s to create containers where kids build the strongest friendships and the deepest growth , with games all the way in the mix.

What happens between the games

Playing mafia before lights out. Playing ping pong. Doing trick jumps off of the inflatable, new one this summer is going to be incredible. Carpetball before dinner.

They kinda get scored. They don’t get ranked.

They’re not optional add-ons to the “real” programming.

They’re the point.

The structured activities are the bricks. The informal games and the space between them is the mortar. The mortar is what holds it together.

If every day of summer was Color War, I wouldn’t like it and neither would our kids.

What camp actually is

When I think about the best version of camp, it’s not the best archery program or the most in-depth swimming lesson.

It’s not even the most competitive Color War (though I definitely want that).

It’s making a container for kids to build the deepest friendships with the most growth.

Disney World will always be better at entertainment. We’re not trying to beat Disney.

We’re trying to create space for all these different games to meet up together. And then leave room for the stuff in between.

To make Color War great, and to make plenty of space for all the games that bring kids together.

We got this,

Jack

Do you know a kid who loves games and needs a place like this?

Let’s get them to camp. Email me, I have a few things cooking to help more kids get to camp.

114 Eagle Pond Rd, Wilmot, NH 03287
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