Here are the rules of the exercise:

The objective is to make it through the Orange Grove safely and end with exactly 20 oranges.

The orange grove consists of acres and acres of oranges with three guard houses where each team must go to each guard house and ask for permission to gather oranges.

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The guards will grant permission to gather oranges, but each team must give the guard half of what ever they gather. The guard will take half of them but then give back one orange to the team.

The team will move onto the next guard house and do the same until they have gone to all three guard houses.

Again, they must go to all three guard houses and ask permission first, then gather oranges, then bring the guard back half at which point the guard will give them back only one.

After the last guard house the team must end with exactly 20.

They can not gather the same amount at each guard house, and must provide the receipt(s) from the previous guard house signed by the guard.

Only one team can approach the guard house at a time and must wait at a distance that you have determined until the guard house is clear of the last team. At this location they will wait in order of arriving since the first team finished wins, if this is the way you run the exercise.

You can decide on your own which team begins the exercise first, i.e., goes to the first guard house.

There are many combinations that you can use to arrive at 20 and that is the key to this exercise. They must work together as a team and as fast as possible. In most cases I have found that they over think the process. Putting a time limit on it or giving prizes for first, second and third, always increases the pressure.

Here is just an example of how the stations could go.

Guard House 1 - They could ask permission to gather 16 Oranges. They would go get the 16 and return to the guard house and give the guard 8 Oranges. The guard would give them back 1 Orange. This would leave them with 9. They would get a receipt that stated they gathered 16 Oranges at station 1.

Guard House 2 - They could ask permission to gather 8 Oranges. They would go get the 8 and return to the guard house and give the guard 4 Oranges. The guard would give them back 1 Orange. This would leave them with the original 9 plus 5 which equals 14. They would get a receipt that stated they gathered 8 Oranges at station 2.

Guard House 3 - They could ask permission to gather 12 Oranges. They would go get the 12 and return to the guard house and give the guard 6 Oranges. The guard would give them back 1 Orange. This would leave them with the original 14 plus 7 which equals 20. They would get a receipt that stated they gathered 12 Oranges at station 3.

They would then go to the final judge and be declared the winner.

If you choose you could not have any team win and just that each team must finish If you do this put a time limit on it to put pressure on them to work through it together for a solution.

You can replace the oranges with any object you wish all the way down to paper clips. The larger the object the more fun it is.

This will get people to have fun and think together. Most likely you will have people that step forward and take charge of their group.

At the end, discuss with the groups all together how they arrived at their solution to this problem. If you want you can have them appoint a spokes person. It will surprise you how certain teams find the answer. You will also find out who is good a math.