De:Xufto is a signature Phantom Scouts camp every 4 years. Known to be a tough but fulfilling camp, many of us looked forward to joining it.

On the first day of the camp, I woke up early and prepared for it, eventually reaching school at about 7.40. Before the start of the camp, we talked to each other after a long period of being unable to see each other during the holidays.

At 8.30, we fell in and took attendance. Afterwards, we marked the start of the camp at the empty grass patch beside the primary school parade square. Shortly after, we started the morning inspection (a part of the camp that most of us dreaded), where we placed all our items on the groundsheet uniformly for checking. In a period of time (usually 3 minutes during the camp), we should be able to finish laying up all our items and adjusting our attire. Since we were not able to finish preparing for the morning inspection on time, we had to repack the items back into our bags and prepare for the morning inspection again until we were able to meet the time.

After about 2 hours, we finally finished the morning inspection and built our tents, shed and fences.

For lunchtime, we went to the primary school canteen and had rice and raisins together with some sides and fruits (this is what the average meal for the camp would look like). We were also given the chance to discuss the name of our patrol and design the patrol flag.

After lunch, we proceeded back to our campsite to continue with the planning of our patrol name and flag. Next, we were asked to go to the TK Low Hall where we could play some patrol games.

Game 1

For this game, we had to hold a t-shaped structure perpendicular to the ground. Afterwards, a member of the patrol will be lifted by the other members for him to hang his scarf on the structure.

For our patrol, we decided that I should be the one lifted. At first, I had difficulty hanging my scarf on the structure because it was a little too tall. After a few tries, I managed to hang my scarf on the structure.

Unfortunately, I was the only member who was able to be lifted because of time constraints. However, it was a good experience as we were able to work as a team for me to be able to hang my scarf.

Game 2

This game consists of a groundsheet. Members of the patrol will have to step on the groundsheet and find a way to fold it in half without stepping out of the groundsheet. Thankfully, my patrol leader knew what to do for this game, and we followed his instructions. In the end, we were successful in completing the game.

Game 3

This is a game where our patrol is supposed to cross a “river” using as little “rocks” as possible. To substitute rocks, small pieces of paper were used. We first chose 7 pieces of paper (as we have 6 people playing), and successfully crossed the river. Afterwards, we aimed to reduce the paper used by 1. Since we only had 6 papers, we had to stand on the same rock together. We had a great start but ran out of time to complete the game.

Game 4

Given spaghetti and tape, we were tasked to build the tallest tower compared to other patrols. At the top of the tower, we had to place a marshmallow on it. Firstly, we taped the spaghetti on the ground. Next, we added more spaghetti strands to make the tower taller. Upon realising the base could not support the weight of the tower, we added more tape and removed some spaghetti from the tower. When it was almost times up, unfortunately, the whole tower fell and we did not manage to build a tall tower in time.

Game 5

The final game is capture the flag. Each patrol is tasked to capture other patrol’s flag and protect their flag. If a patrol’s flag is taken away, they will not be able to respawn after getting tagged.

The game started well, but when I decided to take the other patrol’s flag, I did not take the pole of the flag together with it. Therefore, I failed to take the other patrol’s flag. Afterwards, we got our flag taken away, and we lost the ability to respawn. Caius, the last patrol member of mine alive decided to wait for a good opportunity to steal another patrol’s flag. However, when he decided to go for it, he was tagged.

After the fun-filled games, we proceeded to have dinner. We then used our scarf as a blindfold for the next game.

For this game, we were tasked to walk around the school and complete different tasks while having a blindfold on. With the guidance of our seniors, we were brought to a classroom where we were tasked to exit from the other door while blindfolded. There was a catch – we had to find our way through the nooks and crannies of the classroom.

Some tables and chairs guided us to the exit. After a while of us turning around in circles, our senior gave us a clue to follow the direction of the wind. Upon receiving the clue, we managed to exit the classroom.

Next, we were brought to another classroom where we felt different items and had to guess them. We easily completed the game and were then moved behind a row of tables. We were tasked to aim our shoes at the bottles positioned in front of us. One of us was able to take off our blindfolds and guide the rest of the patrol in aiming their shoes. However, we did not do that well as there was difficulty in telling the person aiming their shoe to shoot at the correct level.

Lastly, we were tested on our spatial awareness. When we reached the TK Low hall, we suddenly were told to fall in quickly while we were still blindfolded. However, I mistook their instruction and took off my blindfold, needing me to wear back my blindfold again. That limited the amount of time I had to follow my patrol to the correct area and caused me to not be able to fall in properly.

After the blindfold challenge, we then had supper and were able to shower. We prepared for sleep and returned to our campsite for sleep.

Sleeping Conditions

As it was the first day, we had difficulty sleeping. It was also raining intermittently causing our shoes (which were outside) and my patrol mate’s uniform (hung on a hanger outside) wet. Apart from that, our tent kept falling due to the rain and we had to get out of the tent to fix it.

Interested to learn more about my De:Xufto Camp experience? Click me to find out more!