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Unicorn Gladiators

Short Description

A classical gladiators variant where players juggle while wearing a kendama or horn-like prop on the forehead.

Group Size: 3 to 30 players
Difficulty: schwer
Material: Three clubs or another gladiators prop per player, plus a kendama or safer soft horn substitute
Duration: approx. 5-10 minutes

Game Description

Unicorn Gladiators is best understood as a twist on classical gladiators. The base game remains the normal gladiators format: players keep juggling, usually with three clubs, while trying to make the other players drop or lose their pattern. The last player still juggling wins.

The unicorn twist is that each player also wears a kendama, or a similar horn-shaped prop, on the forehead with the spike or horn pointing forward. This changes the game because players have to tilt their heads slightly back, which limits vision and makes normal gladiators movement much harder.

A player is out if they drop, collect, stop juggling, lose the horn, adjust the horn during active play, leave the arena, or use unsafe contact. The horn should be treated as a handicap and visual obstruction, not as a weapon. Players should still attack juggling patterns, not bodies or faces.

Variations

  • Use soft foam horns instead of real kendama spikes for public workshops.
  • Play with balls or flower sticks if clubs make the game too dangerous.
  • Use the unicorn horn only for finalists or very strong players as a handicap.
  • Add a no-body-contact rule where players may only attack props and patterns.

Safety Notes

A hard forward-pointing spike on the forehead is risky, especially in a moving gladiators game. For public or mixed groups, use soft substitute horns and forbid headbutting, ramming, face-level attacks and deliberate horn contact. The horn should make the game sillier and harder, not more dangerous.

Source

JugglingWorld - Juggling Games, section: Gladiators.

The JugglingWorld source describes a BJC 2011 Huddersfield game using a kendama worn like a unicorn horn. It does not spell out the full base rules, but in context this most likely belongs to the classical gladiators family rather than being a standalone horn-only duel.