Ikea forced to ban hide-and-seek in Dutch stores after massive campaign to stage games

Scandinavian furniture giant Ikea might seem like the perfect place to play hide-and-seek but the store has been forced to take a stand and ban the increasingly popular practice in its Dutch franchise.

A series of hilarious images have been posted on social media accounts across Holland, after tens of thousands of Dutch men and women signed up on Facebook to participate in mass-stagings of the children's game across the country.

An IKEA Australia spokeswoman said the game raises security issues for customers and workers.

"The need to play and have fun is part of the IKEA culture, and togetherness is a guiding principal of the way we conduct our business," she said.

"At all times IKEA must be able to guarantee a safe environment therefore we encourage people to play Hide-and Seek at other places."

A similar thing happened in Belgium last year, with a store in Antwerp allowing hundreds of people to participate in a game for a local woman's 30th birthday.

At the time, social media was flooded with pictures of the most creative hiding spots that participants could find inside the giant furniture and homewares shop.

But if you want to hide out - there are rules, with participants reportedly encouraged to hide in displays and semi-open areas.

Bathrooms and employee-only areas off limits, under the guidelines.

A time limit of one hour is set, after which time all participants converge on a central meeting spot to repeat the process if willing to.