Gaga Ball vs 9-Square

Two legendary youth ministry games. One epic showdown. Will Gaga Ball’s chaos reign supreme? Or will the high-flying strategy of 9 Square take the crown? Stick around as we settle the score once and for all — and help YOU pick the ultimate youth group game!

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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Gaga Ball vs 9-Square
00:26 Pros & Cons of Gaga Ball in Youth Ministry
02:53 Pros & Cons of 9-Square
05:43 Making Your Decision

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TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Two legendary youth ministry games. One epic showdown. Will Gaga Ball’s chaos reign supreme? Or will the high-flying strategy of 9 Square take the crown? Stick around as we settle the score once and for all — and help YOU pick the ultimate youth group game

00:00:26:28 - 00:00:52:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Hey, everyone, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry show. Today we are going to be exploring Gaga ball versus nine square. And let's just imagine that you only have a limited number of budget. And you're making a decision between either Gaga Ball or nine square. What do you choose and why? And I got links listed down below for both of them so that you can make your purchase based on and after this video.

00:00:52:08 - 00:01:22:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So let's hop in. Gaga ball. What are the pros and the cons of Gaga Ball? I would say Gaga Ball is super fun. It's fast paced, it's upbeat. It's a good time for everyone who's involved. And one of the other pros in that is it's almost an unlimited capacity. I've seen it before in different youth ministry settings of run or like even camps where there's been what seems to be almost 50 kids all kind of flooded into the Gaga ball, center.

00:01:22:19 - 00:01:44:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
They're like, you can get so many kids now. The game does kind of take forever, but you can facilitate a game with a high number of students. And so those are just a couple of the pros of Gaga ball. I would say a couple of the cons would be, it does take up quite a bit of like floor space, like the footprint of a Gaga ball pit is pretty massive.

00:01:44:13 - 00:02:06:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so you have to commit a pretty large section of your space, a pretty large section of your floor to gaga ball in unless you get a, portable one. It's pretty permanent, and there's really nothing else you can do in that space. The other thing I'll say about Gaga Ball is, in my experience, it does tend to lean a little bit more middle school.

00:02:06:27 - 00:02:36:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It can get a little bit rowdy. And if kids aren't taking the game seriously or they're not getting out when they should, it can get a little bit chaotic kicking. It can get a little bit rowdy, and that's just something that you have to be aware of and something that you have to manage. If you look at the link that I posted down below though, however, I actually recommend an inflatable and deflate a bull Gaga ball pit because depending upon your space, especially if you have to tear it down, you can put it up every week with like just a blower.

00:02:36:13 - 00:02:54:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Think like, you know, moon bounce type style blower blows up and then it comes right back down. And what that also does is it gives you the flexibility to have it up when you want it, when you need it. But then you can also take it down when you don't want it or you don't need it there anymore.

00:02:54:13 - 00:03:22:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Let's talk about nine Square. What are the pros? The pros. Same thing is gaga ball. It's a super fun game. Like, it really is. But the thing that I think, makes nine squares slightly different than Gaga Ball is, there is a little bit more. Not a ton, but a little bit more strategy involved. I think it's, it requires a little bit more, strategy, a little bit more thought, than Gaga ball, which can be a little like once you get down to the end and Gaga ball, there's some strategy.

00:03:22:12 - 00:03:40:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But at first it's just kind of like, just get people out. But yeah, nine square, I think does have a little bit more strategy. Not to mention it's not as space consuming on your footprint as Gaga ball. Now it still is. Like, don't get me wrong. Like they both take up a fair bit of space. But they're both great.

00:03:40:14 - 00:04:02:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like free time. Get to get the games out ahead of time before youth ministry starts. Style of games. The cons to Gaga ball or I'm sorry, the cons to nine square are that you can only play with nine people at a time. Now, you know, in our context right now, like, nine square is more popular than Gaga ball.

00:04:02:02 - 00:04:21:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so, that line into the nine square, like arena, like it's always moving and that that doesn't seem to be much of a problem. And people will wait like several like, you know, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten people deep, to get in back into the game. But that is a con. Is that an Gaga ball?

00:04:21:04 - 00:04:40:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like up to like, 50 people, depending on the size of your pet. Can start in a game. Nine square. It's only nine at a time. The con, though, on the flip side, is that if you don't have nine to fill it on a regular basis, then it's also not quite the same. You're playing like four, you're playing like six, like, it's just it's not quite the same.

00:04:40:22 - 00:05:00:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like having the full nine, in my opinion, is really like the best way, to play nine square. And so if you're youth ministry was maybe struggle to fill nine on a regular basis or, you know, like there's just not nine kids on a constant basis on any given, you know, Wednesday night or Sunday that are actually going to happen in play, maybe it's not worth it for you.

00:05:00:10 - 00:05:24:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Maybe guy eyeballs more, you know, the way to go or something like that. Again, link down below for my nine square recommendation. And this is called Castle Squares. And the reason I like castle squares is just like the Gaga ball pit. It is portable and take down a ball as well. In our space we have a castle squares, and we have like a full nine square, like arena and the full nine square arena.

00:05:24:23 - 00:05:49:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's great. But we don't ever take it down. It's just it's too much of a pain to do that. But the castle squares instead of having, like, all the individual poles down, it only has the four on the corners. And then just up at the top, it uses straps to create your nine spaces. And so you know, I used to work at a church that I would set up the Gaga ball pit in the nine square pit every single week, set them up and then tear them down.

00:05:49:21 - 00:06:06:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I would I would set them up like middle of the day. We met on Wednesday nights, on Wednesdays, and then I would have our volunteers tear them down when it was over and put them back for me, at the end of the night. And so if you have the space and you have the budget, I would recommend, getting both of these there.

00:06:06:16 - 00:06:24:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
They're both fantastic. And they're also both very, like, nimble and portable. You're not going to be committing this corner of your room for the rest of your life to either be nine square, either be the Gaga ball corner. You can take it, then you can move it. You can share space with the rest of the congregation.

00:06:24:21 - 00:06:42:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then if it just comes down to like, you only have budget for one or the other, every context is a little bit different. The current context that I'm in right now, they would vote nine square, but the context that came from, back in Chicago, they would vote Gaga ball. So you kind of got to know your students.

00:06:42:00 - 00:07:01:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You kind of got to know your audience. I would say if you have maybe more high school audience, or a more strategy based audience nine square. If you have a little bit rowdier audience, a little bit more chaotic of an audience, maybe lean Gaga ball, and just make the decision kind of based on your context and based on your students.

00:07:01:04 - 00:07:19:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But like I said, links to both of these down below. If you're on the fence, if you're thinking about it, these are both two products that I have used that I recommend, and that really are good for both setting up and being able to tear down and leaving your space flexible for other things throughout the week. Hey man, I hope that this episode was helpful.

00:07:19:10 - 00:07:27:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Give us a like, give us a subscribe, share it with a friend. And until next time. And as always, my friends, don't forget to choose to stay hybrid.