III: Fun Facts About Glow-in-the-Dark

Glow games have become so popular that they have inspired the minds of many people to find new uses and extremes of games that glow. From world records to imaginative new places to play glow games, here is the weird, fantastical, and unbelievable side to the glow you love.

A. WORLD RECORDS

Here are a few world records about glow games to surprise your friends with:

• The most people lighting glow sticks simultaneously was 4,394 people in Plaza de Bolívar, Bogotá, Colombia, on 24 November 2018. The lighting was a part of a festival bringing awareness to violence against women and to promote women’s rights.

• The biggest glow stick in the world was made of of plexiglass to be 9’10” tall and 7.87” around. A group called KNIXZ GmbH in Germany created and cracked it on June 29th, 2009. 
  
• The longest glow light sword game in slow motion to “Chariot’s of Fire” occurred on May 13tih in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. 81 members of the Union MBC Youth group played together as a part of their Friday Night Youth Ministries. Now there’s a way to play your glow games differently! 
  
• The longest chain of glowsticks ever made was 32,499 glowsticks stuck together by Unitymedia in Cologne, Germany, on March 21st 2017. Altogether that’s 21,298’ 11.01” long!!!
  
• The longest insertion of a glow stick into the nose – don’t try this at home kids – was 52 cm or 20.5 inches. Ew!

B. MOST UNUSUAL PLACES TO PLAY GLOW GAMES

Glow games aren’t just for your back yard – whether you’re looking to travel abroad or simply to learn about special places around the world, here are some of the most unusual or cool places to play glow games. 

BEIJING

In 2008, China created the National Aquatic Center, known as the Water Cube, for the Beijing Olympics and still glows at night. You can pay to go inside and see the pool or stay outside to play Glow Tag around the thousands of LED crystal lights bubbles. Alongside the Water Cube is the Bird’s Nest, or the Beijing National Stadium which also lights up orange at night in a shape like a bird’s nest. You can pay to walk all the way to the top of the bird’s nest and look down on the stadium, but maybe save the glow games for the ground!

NAMIBIA

Travel to the darkest skies in Namibia – the world’s least populated country. With endless stretches of orange dunes, you can travel via a rented four wheeler through deserted cities and starkly lit twisted sand forests. The Milky Way galaxy is at its finest stretching across skies so endless, you’ll feel like you’re playing a glow game on another planet. If you want to stay in the U.S., Death Valley National Park, California is your place to play beneath the darkest skies with a glow below to match the glory above.

FROM TENNESSEE TO INDIA: GLOWING WITH FIREFLIES

Join your glow games with natural games in the largest densities of firefly populations in the world. Travel abroad to Bhandardara, Maharashtra, India to find forests alight with an enchanting firefly glow. For U.S. travel, Elkmont, Tennessee’s forests are lit by the glow of many firefly colonies.

Aaaaand if you love fireflies, give our Firefly variation of Capture the Flag REDUX a try!

Select 1-2 players as Catchers who carry a lit orb. Everyone else becomes Fireflies and wear glow bracelets.

Begin the game by giving Fireflies one minute to hide. Once the time is up, Fireflies must flash their bracelets “on” at least once every 10 seconds while the Catchers try to catch them. They can stop flashing whenever a Catcher is within 30 feet of them.

Captured (tagged) Fireflies become bottled and must follow the Catcher in a line until all the Fireflies are caught!

C. GLOW WILD! HOW AND WHY CERTAIN ANIMALS AND PLANTS GLOW

Glowing isn’t just for people – long before the invention of light and glowsticks, animals and bugs that glowed in the dark ignited our imagination and wonder at the natural world, inspiring us to invent future sources of human light. Bioluminescence is light emitted by a biological creature and around 80% of all bioluminescent creatures are found in the world’s oceans. In fact almost every creature in the deep ocean glows in one way or another. Here are some of the coolest of nature’s glowing delights.

• BLUE OCEAN GLOWS
  Dinoflagellates or Blue Ocean Glows are certain species within over 2,000 protists species that emit a brilliant blue light. One specific species, noctiluca scintillans, is known as the “sea sparkle.” While attractive to humans, the glow can actually be a defense against predators. 

• GLOWWORMS
  Glowworms in New Zealand light up an incredible cave formation called the Waitomo Caves. While glow worms on their own are neat, these glowworms dangle from the ceilings of the cave in stunning color spectrums of blue-green bioluminescence. Travelers from all over the world gather to wonder at the marvel of these glowworms unique to these caves.
  
  
• THE FIREFLY SQUID
  The Firefly Squid, watansenia scintillans, is found on the shores of Japan in glowing arrays. While only a tiny three inches, the gatherings of the squids on the evening emits a wavering blue light across the coastline. The lights both fend off predators and lure fish into their maws with the light emission. During mating, these squids light not just a part, but their entire bodies to attract a mate. A darling size with a big light, the firefly squid is the firefly of the ocean.

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