Provide everybody with a small slip of paper and a pencil,
and then sit them round a table. " Scouts," you say, " I
have here a glass jar half filled with haricot beans. I am
going to give you one minute in which to guess how many
there are." On the expiration of the allotted time the glass
jar is taken away and a hank of ribbon is placed on the table.
" I now want you to tell me how many inches of ribbon
there are," you say.
One minute again is allotted. You
next produce a large pat of butter and request the competitors to state the number of ounces it weighs. Lastly,
you exhibit a book and ask your company to estimate the
number of pages in it. This done, you count out the beans,
measure the ribbon, weigh the butter, and examine the book.
You now check the figures and find out who is nearest to the
correct answer in each case.
It usually happens that a different person is first in each of the four sections. For these four
individuals a final guess should be provided. Take two or
three packs of cards, shuffle them together, remove a certain
number of cards, and spread the remainder in a rough
heap on the table.
The final winner will be the one who can
tell most accurately the number of cards in the heap.