Reading through, one question kept popping on my mind: "Is it not an experiment with human subjects?". It seems at first as just an attempt at setting up a fun

Reading through, one question kept popping on my mind: "Is it not an experiment with human subjects?". It seems at first as just an attempt at setting up a fun game for the kids to play. But at some point it devolves into "Let's see how they can handle the challenges". Reminded me of Arthur cartoon episode, where D.W. and Emily were building a long-spanning town from blocks [1]. There they too became "hostages" to the project. All got "freed" from it thanks to the age-approptiate behavior of other kids. Not sure if the episode was inspired by this story, which appears to pre-date the cartoon. [1]: "Blockheads" https://arthur.fandom.com/wiki/Blockheads https://arthur.fandom.com/wiki/Blockheads