Police Shut Down a 3,000-Person Game of Hide-and-Seek at Ikea

• An Ikea hide-and-seek game with 3,000 people was scheduled to take place in Glasglow, Scotland on Saturday, August 31.
• A Facebook post with the event details alerted the Ikea Braehead branch, which contacted local authorities.
• Ikea hide-and-seek games rose to popularity in Europe in 2014, but were later banned.

Ikea: The one-stop shop for everything home-related and also the ideal place for a 3,000-person hide-and-seek game. After all, the average store is about 300,000 square feet, while the world’s largest Ikea is 700,000 square feet, and honestly, it’s easy to imagine endless hiding spots. But unfortunately for one Facebook group, their planned trip to an Ikea in Glasgow, Scotland was cancelled after word got out about their Saturday event.

Five police officers were called to the Braehead branch and remained at the store until the evening.

“People are stopping everyone who ‘looks like they are here for a game of hide and seek,’” one person wrote on Facebook after stopping by the store, The Scotsman reported. The Ikea itself also had its own security personnel, and no incidents were reported.

Surprisingly, Ikea hide-and-seek games are actually more common than you may think—at least in Europe. The trend began in Belgium in 2014 and quickly gained popularity throughout the continent, with Ikea management initially allowing the events, according to The Scotsman. But only a year later, the Swedish furniture giant was forced to ban the events after they began getting out of hand.

“The safety of our customers and co-workers is always our highest priority,” said Rob Cooper, Ikea Glasgow Store Manager in a statement. “We were aware of an unofficial Hide and Seek Facebook event being organized to take place at our store today and have been working with the local police for support. While we appreciate playing games in one of our stores may be appealing to some, we do not allow this kind of activity to take place to ensure we are offering a safe environment and relaxed shopping experience for our customers.”

Follow House Beautiful on Instagram.