Human Search
Engage, Connect, and Teach Peace
Human Search is an interactive, peace-focused game designed for classrooms, communities, and team-building settings. Players alternate between two phases:
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Peacetime – Players connect with others by completing a scavenger hunt of personal traits (e.g., “Find someone born in a different country” or “Find someone with a different favorite food”). Each connection earns a point, marked with a signature.
Wartime – Players engage in quick rounds of rock-paper-scissors. The winner crosses out one of the opponent’s earned points.
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Phase Changes – A group leader announces when to switch between Peacetime and Wartime. Players must immediately stop and follow the new phase when it’s called out.
A good starting rhythm is 60 seconds of Peacetime followed by 30 seconds of Wartime, but this can be adjusted as needed to suit the group and energy level.
Sample Scavenger Hunt List
Names:
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Find someone whose first or last name begins with a different letter.
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Find someone with a different number of letters in their first or last name.
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Background:
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Find someone born in a different year, month, or day.
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Find someone born in a different city, state, or country.
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Find someone who lives in a different neighborhood, city, state, or country.
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Find someone whose ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation differs.
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Find someone who speaks a different number of languages or a different language at home.
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Appearance:
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Find someone who's wearing differently colored clothes or shoes.
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Find someone with a different hair color or hairstyle.
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Find someone who's not the same height as you.
Favorites:
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Find someone whose favorite food or dessert is different.
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Find someone whose favorite book, film, or music differs.
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Find someone whose favorite holiday, season, or weather is different.
Schedules:
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Find someone who wakes up or goes to bed at a different time.
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Find someone who eats breakfast, lunch, or dinner at a different time.
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Find someone whose class schedule, job, or sport differs from yours.
Networking:
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Find someone who works in a different field or has a different specialization.
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Find someone who works for a different company, department, or team.
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Find someone whose dream job is different.
Why war?
If you only lose points during Wartime, why go to war at all?
That’s the point.
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Human Search is a simulation of peace and conflict. In peacetime, we build connections; in wartime, we risk losing what we’ve built. This tension is intentional.
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Use it as a spark for reflection after the game:
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What did war feel like?
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Why did you fight?
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What does this say about real-world conflict?
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​Interested in more peace-building tools and resources?
Human Search is featured on TeachPeaceNow.com — explore more ways to build empathy, connection, and understanding.