Samurai

About

Samurai is a standing circle warm-up built on a simple three-part sequence: one incoming chop, two side chops, then a redirect. Players hold their palms pressed together, arms straight — the sword — and pass energy around the circle with large, committed movements and a sharp vocal shout. Everything is big and fast; the sound is as important as the action. Because each move requires three players acting in precise sequence — the sender, the receiver, and both neighbours simultaneously — no one can switch off. Full group attention is the only way the game works. The shout is not decoration: it grounds the physical action and warms the voice at the same time, making Samurai as useful as a vocal exercise as it is a focus drill. All movements stop just short of contact. The "sword" never actually touches anyone.

How to Play

1. 1

   Players stand in a circle, palms pressed together, arms extended straight in front — the sword position.

2. 2

   One player starts by making a broad downward chop toward any other player in the circle, shouting "HA!"

3. 3

   The receiving player immediately raises their joined hands straight up, shouting "HA!"

4. 4

   The two players standing on either side of the receiver simultaneously chop inward toward the receiver from their sides, each shouting "HA!". No contact — movements stop just short of touching.

5. 5

   The receiver, hands still raised, now chops toward any other player in the circle, shouting "HA!". This begins a new sequence from step 2.

6. 6

   Continue until the facilitator ends the game.

Variations

• -Elimination: When a player makes a mistake — wrong move, missed cue, late reaction — they step out of the circle and the game restarts with the remaining players. The circle shrinks until a champion remains.
• -Vowel cycle: Instead of always shouting "HA!", players cycle through the five vowel sounds: HA, HE, HI, HO, HU. Each new send advances to the next vowel in sequence. If any player calls the wrong vowel, the game restarts from HA. This layers a memory and attention challenge on top of the physical game.