Anyone wandering around Dartmouth in the heat this past week may have seen posters advertising “Duct Tape Wars” at St. Peter’s Church in Padanaram on Saturday, June 29.

As for what exactly that means, St. Peter’s Youth Leader Jen Oliveira explained: It’s a series of competitions between teams using duct tape, with activities like Duct Tape Roomba — where a team member is covered in tape, sticky side out, and tries to collect various objects for points.

“I was actually just researching online youth group events, like activities, and I found it,” Oliveira said. 

Other games on the day included taping a team member to a barn wall to see who will stay up the longest, holding a roll of duct tape out straight as long as possible, and making crafts like roses, wallets, and bookmarks.

Since last year, Oliveira said, St. Peter’s has started doing free youth activities nearly every month. 

But this is the first time they’ve gotten creative with duct tape.

Oliveira paused from judging the wall-taping contest between Team Blue and Team Chicken Nugget Masters to comment on how the day was going.

“So far, so good,” she said wryly. “You know, kids taped to the wall. It’s going great.”

After a heartbeat’s pause, she added with a laugh, “Willingly!”

Teenagers (and one parent) competed for points in teams of four, with the winning team taking home their choice of prizes from a table that included a book, a puzzle, color pastels, applesauce, a notepad, and a package of noodles.

Team Blue won the day with their strategy for Duct Tape Roomba — “Just roll around on it,” someone said of a deck of cards — finishing with 43 points as teammates peeled cards and duct tape off their contestant, 13-year-old Ben from Dartmouth.

His brother Kenny and his twin brother Tim were also participating in the wars. 

“It’s fun,” Kenny said of the event, after successfully taping his brother to the wall outside.