Shopping in IKEA can be an extreme sport in itself. But in the midst of these massive stores full of containers, furniture, and Swedish meatballs also lies a pretty great foundation for hide-and-seek. However, when you plan to have 3,000 people partake in such a game, you should expect some pushback, especially from law enforcement. That’s exactly what happened in Scotland when some party pooper cops stopped a major IKEA hide-and-seek competition.
According to The Scotsman, people planned this event on Facebook for a Glasgow IKEA. Apparently, using the big warehouse-type store for this game has been a trend in Europe for years. The newspaper reports that in the early days of this trend, IKEA allowed these events to happen, such as 32,000 Facebook users pledging a game in in Eindhoven, and 19,000 in Amsterdam. But by 2015, IKEA put a big axe on these fun times because it was just getting out of hand, as you’d expect, as the trend “has seen people hiding in fridges, under beds and in the firm’s big blue shopping bags. ” Well, those bags are really large. But imagine if you found the perfect bed in an IKEA catalog, went to the store to check it out, and discovered several pre-teens hiding under the sheets. And frankly, we’re a little confused by the massive setup: How many people hide? How many seek? Are they equal? And how can you tell which is which? Who wins, exactly?
So for this latest hide-and-seek endeavor, Complex reported that the store manager posted to Facebook, letting the thousands of people who’d signed up that the (highly unofficial) game wasn’t going to happen. According to The Scotsman, extra security and officers “throughout the afternoon, [so] groups of youths who looked like they were only there for the game were turned away from the shop.” Someone might want to check in all the fridges, though.