Available to local scout groups, outdoor clubs or anyone interested in practicing degree bearing with a compass, the District’s new course is ready.  Originally devised by Allan Foster and described in the book Be an Expert with Map and Compass by Bjorn Kjellstrom, the Schoolyard Compass Game consists of eight stakes placed fifty from a center stake at different compass bearings. To play the game, each participant will need an orienteering compass, a pencil, and an instruction card. The card specifies at what marked stake to start and gives instruction to follow five compass bearings from marker to marker around the course. If your group is larger, run the participants in sections.  When ready to start, each participant goes to the marker that has the letter that corresponds to the starting point of his or her instruction card and proceeds according to the instructions. The player copies down on the card the letter on each marker on the route. When finished, each player turns the card over to the judge. The six-letter code produced, beginning with the starting-stake letter, is then checked against the correct letter sequence.  A 100 foot pace count is also available.

Schoolyard Compass Game Participant Instruction Cards