The Forbidden Opal Playlist
Don’t forget your Spotify playlist! Click below to stream this month’s playlist to help set the mood for your second quest!
Challenge One: Extreme Memory Match
Story:
The trek to the temple was much easier this time, and because you and your partner have already shown your treasure-hunting prowess, the temple revealed itself instantly.
You both run up the steps (much easier the second time around) and enter the temple. However, it is nothing like you remembered! The first chamber is empty. The only thing you notice is that the glyphs you saw before are now scattered all across the temple floor.
To complete this chamber’s test, you and your partner must successfully match the glyphs and clear them from the floor.
This seems easy enough, however, a giant rumble occurs, shaking the entire temple. Bits and pieces of rock fall from the ceiling, blocking all available light. You each must work with little sight to complete the matches!
Instructions:
Set Up: Take the Glyph Cards located in your box. Discard the four “Action Cards” so that there are only glyph cards in the deck. Shuffle the remaining cards.
Draw four random cards and place them face up between you both. Split the remaining cards into two even piles, one for each player.
Each player must then take their pile and separate it into eight piles of two cards.
Objective: To get eight piles of pairing glyph cards in front of you before your partner.
Gameplay: When both players are ready, yell, “GO!” and begin. Players pick up one pile at a time, looking at the two glyph cards. Players can exchange one of the cards from a pile with one of the face up cards at the center of the table with the goal of getting matching glyphs - both design and stone type.
Both players play simultaneously and there are no “turns”. Each player plays as fast as they can.
Only one card can be exchanged at a time. If there are two cards in the center that you want, you must first exchange one card, then another. There must always be four cards in the center and two cards in each player’s piles at any given moment.
Each time you create a pair of glyphs, you must yell out one compliment about your partner. Once you have matching glyphs in all your piles, you must shout, “I LOVE ADVENTURE!” The winning player must then flip all their piles over to show that they have won!
Challenge Two: Into the Maze Again
Story:
As you both successfully match the last pair of glyphs, the next temple door opens. You both walk inside to find...more mazes!
Oh yes, another series of labyrinths for you two to complete. However, this room is different from the last. Instead of pure speed, you must use accuracy and teamwork to finish as fast as you can.
These mazes are filled with traps and deadends, and yes, the lighting is still very poor. So, instead of sprinting through the mazes, you each decide to take each other’s hand and make short bursts through.
Instructions:
Click below to download and print the three bonus mazes we’ve created for you. Choose which maze you’d like to start with. Decide who will be Player One and who will be Player Two, then start a stopwatch.
Once the time starts have Player One take a pen, place the tip at the starting point, and close their eyes. Very slowly, Player Two then must guide Player One’s pen by telling them which way to go. Once the stopwatch reaches 30 seconds, stop it. Then, switch roles and continue the stopwatch.
Continue switching every 30 seconds until you’ve reached the center. Once you do, take a moment to talk about what worked and what didn’t work during that round. Have you each come up with at least one thing that helped you get to the center and one thing that did not help, or even hurt your time.
Give each other a hug and a kiss and then get ready for round two!
Using the second maze, do the same thing as before, only this time, keep close attention to the things you each said that helped/hurt. See if you can get a better time as before. Don’t forget to encourage each other along the way!
Once you get to the center of the second maze, have the same discussion again. Do you feel like you did a better job the second go round? Why or why not? If there was a third round, what would you do differently?
Repeat these steps with the third maze.
Why are we doing this?
This is communication and conflict resolution at its finest! Every step and every corner turned in the maze is another opportunity to strengthen your communication skills.
Even if it takes forever to finish the maze, this activity is important because it help create a productive process to conflict resolution. Think of a time where you both either argued, or had to overcome a difficult obstacle. Did you ever stop and discuss the things that hindered those conversations and ways you could have been supported more?
For example, maybe one player gets loud and excited while giving maze instructions and the other player finds this nerve wracking and stressful. After the first maze, the second player might tell the first that they perform better with calmer instructions.
Or let’s say you both come to the conclusion after the first maze, that it makes more sense to utilize 15 seconds of your maze time mapping out visually where you want to guide your partner and the other 15 seconds actually telling them where to go.
Being open about these types of things when it comes to conflict resolution can help create a stronger relationship and can help you resolve problems more effectively as a couple.
Challenge Three: The Snake Pit
Story:
At the center of the labyrinth is a trap door leading to another room before. You can’t see what’s down there, but it’s probably 100% safe, right?
You both jump down the trap door and into the next room. This time, there is a crevice of light shining through the wall. Which would normally be great. However, the strands of light illuminate the room’s floor revealing your worst nightmare: you’ve landed in a giant pit of snakes!
You are somewhat lucky though. This is a room filled with Guatemalan Sleeping Vipers (not a real thing). These serpents spend most of their day sleeping. But they hate to be disturbed. In fact, if you so much as graze its body, it will wake up and strike with the most potent toxin on the planet, within milliseconds.
The door to the final chamber is just on the other side of the room. But in order to get there, you’ll need to quietly and accurately step across the floor without waking the vipers.
Instructions:
Decide who is Player One and who is Player Two. From your box, retrieve the three snakes and find something to blindfold your partner with.
Find the largest room in the house with the most open space. Clear everything off the floor and make sure there is nothing sharp or fragile in the way.
Have Player One put on the blindfold and stand on one side of the room.
Then, have Player Two take 10 pillows (or anything else soft) and scatter them around the room. Take your three snakes and place one of each on three random pillows. Make sure they are at least one or two pillows distance between them. Finally, have Player Two stand on the opposite side of the room from Player One.
One step at a time, Player Two must guide Player One across the “Snake Pit” room so that they end with a kiss from Player Two. However, if they run into any pillow (which represents snakes), they get bit. If a player gets three bites, they must start over.
You also must guide your partner so that they bend over and pick up each of the three snakes without running into the pillows with their legs.
Once Player Two has successfully guided Player One across the room, switch roles. This time, Player One organizes the snake pillows.
Why are we doing this?
Throughout life’s journey together, you need to build trust with one another. Trust is something that is hard to build and easy to break and each of us has our own timeline when it comes to trusting another. Simple activities like this can help you build that trust for each other (while also working on your communication skills)!
Challenge Four: Race to the Forbidden Opal - Double Date Edition
Story:
You’ve done it! You’ve reached the final chamber leading to the opal. This room looks almost exactly the same as the last time. However, from a distance, you hear something odd - it’s the sound of another adventuring couple, poised to snatch the opal for themselves!
You must quickly get to the opal before the other couple. But beware, the temple’s final chamber does still have its tricks and traps!
Instructions:
To play this game, invite another couple over to play “Race to the Forbidden Opal - Double Date Edition”.
Use the same instructions as in your box, only this time, each player draws a cursed card. Then, each individual player creates their own path away from the opal (four total paths).
The only additional rule is that when you draw an action card and it says to surrender gems to your partner, instead, surrender them to the other couple (you can choose who to give the gems to).
The couple with the most combined gems at the end of the game wins another double date planned by the other couple!
Family Date Night Activity: Forbidden Gem Bath Bombs
Plan a family hike to a nearby trail in search of some hidden gems! While on your walk, have each person search for the coolest rocks they can find!
While you walk and when you get home, have each person think about what “powers” their gem represents. Have fun and get imaginative! You can also turn them into little rewards for the kids. For example, one stone may represent an extra story at bedtime or one might give the power to choose any dessert they want for their next meal.
Once you get home, wash your magical stones and allow them to dry. Then collect ingredients for your very own Forbidden Gem Bath Bombs!
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup of Baking Soda
- ½ Cup of Cream of Tartar
- ½ Cup of Epsom Salt
- ½ Cup of Cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
- ¾ Teaspoons of Water
- 2 Teaspoons of Your Favorite Smelling Essential Oil
- Silicone Rock Molds
- Food Coloring (We suggest more earthy tones - brown, green, and red - to make it more realistic)
- Your Stones
Directions
Mix all your dry ingredients together. Separately, mix your wet ingredients together (minus the food coloring).
Add drops of your wet mixture to your dry mixture slowly and in small portions at a time, continuously stirring. Continue until you can pack the combined mixture tightly in your hand. If needed, add tiny bits of water at a time to get the perfect consistency.
Add your food coloring to your mixture.
Tightly pack your mixture into your rock molds and press one of your Forbidden Gems (the stones everyone found) into the center. Continue to pack until the entire mold is filled. Set aside for about 2 days to fully compact.
Continue making bath bombs as a family until all the stones have been used.
You can use these bath bombs for bath time and to get the little ones excited about what treasures they might find!
Date Night Dessert Recipe: Forbidden Opal Cookies
Letters from the Founders:
Just like many of our relationship’s events, this recipe looks a lot easier to take on than it really is. Yes, royal icing - a formidable foe! But, just like those adventures we face together, a little patience and teamwork go a long way!
<3 Michelle and Tyler
Founders, Crated with Love
Ingredients:
- Egg Whites from 3 Large Eggs
- 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
- 4 Cups of Powdered Sugar
- A Roll of Refrigerated Sugar Cookie Dough
- Food Coloring (Light Green, Pink, and Light Blue)
- Edible Silver Flakes for Baking
- Oval Cookie Cutters
Instructions:
Roll out your cookie dough and use your cookie cutter to make your opal-shaped cookies. Bake according to the directions on the packaging and allow to fully cool once baked.
While your cookies are baking, add your egg whites and vanilla to a large mixing bowl. Mix on high until frothy.
One cup at a time, add in your powdered sugar (better if sifted first). Mix on low until sugar is fully mixed in and then mix on high for 3-5 minutes. The icing should be glossy and should form small peaks.
Add a spoonful or two of your icing mixture into three separate bowls, making sure you have enough white icing left over.
Add your food coloring to each smaller bow so you have one bowl of blue, one bowl or green, one bowl of pink, and a large bowl of white.
For best results, take two spoonfuls of the white icing and transfer it to another bowl, adding a little more powdered sugar to thicken it up. Place in the fridge to harden slightly. This will be your cookies' “border icing”. Royal icing is meant to “flood” the cookie, so you need a border to make sure the royal icing doesn’t flow over the sides of the cookie.
Add a border to all your cookies. To frost, “flood” a cookie with white icing. Add a few drops of each colored icing and swirl the colors together with a toothpick. Finish by adding your silver flakes on top.
Allow the icing to cool and harden and serve while watching your favorite adventure-seeking movie!
Relationship Focus: Staying Adventurous
Adventure lives everywhere when it comes to your relationship. It doesn’t matter if you are traveling the world or spending a quiet night in, staying adventurous isn’t about what you do, it’s a frame of mind.
An adventurous relationship is one that welcomes new experiences and growth. It’s one that is always looking for ways to create memories and to learn more about one another. It means switching things up and trying new activities to grow closer together.
Adventurers do what others are not willing to do and go places that seem difficult. How can you both be more adventurous within your relationship?