IKEA has banned people from playing hide and seek in its stores after several Facebook-organised games amassed tens of thousands of participants . More than 19,000 people have signed up to participate in a game at an Amsterdam IKEA store and another 32,000 at a shop in Eindhoven , forcing management to ban the event citing safety concerns . The bizarrely popular events were inspired by the success of a game held in a Belgium store last year in which 500 adults participated and were discovered hiding in fridges , cupboards and underneath piles of soft toys . More than 32,000 people were planning to play a game of hide and seek at an IKEA store in Eindhoven next month , forcing management to ban the game . File image used . In banning the game , Ikea spokesperson Martina Smedberg told Bloomberg it was simply too difficult to control . She said : 'We need to make sure people are safe in our stores and that 's hard to do if we do n't even know where they are . ' The carefully orchestrated games had begun spiralling out of control - its burgeoning popularity has already spread to the Czech Republic and Australia where more games are being organised . The cancellation of the games , which were to be held in April and May , has now left participants scrambling to find alternative shopping mall and retail locations . The idea of using an Ikea store for an adult game of hide and seek has been mooted for years , given the furniture stores ' abundance of adult-sized hiding places . An organiser of last year 's Belgium game , Elise De Rijck , told Bloomberg this was because the stores were like an 'extremely large living room ' .
IKEA has banned adults from playing hide and seek in its furniture stores . More than 32,000 people joined a Facebook event to play it in Eindhoven . Score: 6