Games for Parties

 

1     Ping-Pong Blow

• People: 15-100+
• Goal: fun, stress reducer
• Time: 20min
• Need:
  1. 1 Ping-Pong ball for every 8th person
  2. 2 long pieces of string
  3. Roll of cellotape
  4. Large floor area
• Method: Everyone lies in 2 even straight rows on their stomachs with their heads facing each other and about a 1m gap between. The pieces of string are taped in two straight lines under the chins of the players. The Ping-Pong balls are placed evenly in the middle space. 1 point awarded to the team each time they blow a Ping-Pong ball over the other teams line.
• Advancement: Add more balls.

 

2     Hand Slap Coordination

• People: 15-100+
• Goal: Participation
• Time: 10min
• Need: Large floor area
• Method: Everyone sits in a large circle on the ground facing in and leans forward placing their hands between the hands of the people either side. Explain one slap means carry on in same direction, double-slap means change direction. Make the first slap and try to see how fast things can go. If someone slaps out of sequence that person looses a hand. Once both hands are lost they're out of the game and everyone moves in closer until only 2 people are left.
• Advancement: Have more than one section of slaps going at the same time.

 

3     Secret Assasins

• People: 15-30
• Goal: Bringing acquaintances closer together
• Time: 30min
• Need: Everyone seated in a circle
• Method: Have everyone close their eyes and bow their heads. Explain to everyone as you walk around the room while their eyes are closed that you are going to tap 2 people on the shoulder and that those 2 people become the secret assassins and they mustn't let anyone else know. Ask the two assassins to open their eyes while everyone else keeps their eyes closed. Ask the two assassins to select by pointing 1(or 2) person who they have decided to kill. Tell the assassins to close their eyes and bow their heads for secrecy and then tell the whole group they can open their eyes. Announce to the group the person who has died. This person is now out and does not have to close their eyes anymore but cannot vote either. Everyone (including assassins) now nominates 3 people in the group who they think is the murder. Then everyone votes. The voted person is then out. If the voted person is the assassin, everyone is told and they carry on to find the other. Carry on round by round until both assassins are found or everyone is killed.

 

4     Pulse Murder

• People: 8-20
• Goal: Bringing acquaintances closer together
• Time: 20min
• Need:
  1. Darkened room
  2. Candle in the middle if possible
  3. A small folded piece of paper for each player with only one with an "X" on it
  4. A container to hold the pieces of paper
• Method: Everyone gets into a circle. Everyone chooses a piece of paper and secretly sees if they are the murderer(has "X" or not) before folding the paper back up and putting it back into the container. Explain to everyone that someone is the murderer and that only that person can start a set of pulses. Also explain that whenever anyone feels a set of pulses(hand squeezes from a person on one side(say 5 pulses) they are to pass it on to the person on the other side with one less pulse(pass on 4). If anyone feels one squeeze then they die(are out of the circle so the people either side then join hands). At any time that someone thinks they know who it is they can make an accusation. If wrong then the accuser dies. If right then move to the next round. Everyone holds hands with the people either side and begin.
• Advancement: Have more than one murderer

 

5     Bottle Grab

• People: 12-50
• Goal: Fun, participation
• Time: 20-30min
• Need:
  1. Large plastic bottle
  2. Large sized Coin
• Method: Get everyone into 2 even teams in 2 rows facing each other(seated on chair preferred, but ground ok). The GameLeader places the bottle at one end of the 2 rows and then stands at the other end holding the coin. The GameLeader explains that if the team is able to grab the bottle before the other then it moves one step closer to winning. Explain that everyone must have their eyes closed except the person from each team sitting on the end next to the GameLeader. Those two representatives must carefully watch the GameLeader flip the coin. As soon as they see a "head" they silently squeeze the hand of their team-mate and so the message is passed down by hand squeezes silently to ones sitting at the bottle end. As soon as they feel their hand squeezed they grab the bottle. If it is grabbed correctly then the winning teams player at the coin end goes and sits at the bottle end and everyone moves up one. The winning team is the one to do a full rotation.
• Advancement: Have the team move back one if a false grab is made.

 

6     Rock Sissors Paper Invasion

• People: 10-30
• Goal: Fun, participation, tire players out
• Time: 10-20min
• Need:
  • Chairs
  • Floor space
• Method: Create an "S" shaped course using chairs. Split everyone into 2 even teams and line each team up at each open end of the "S". Explain the goal is to make your way through the "S" until you can invade(tag) the other teams fort(the chair at the furthest end of the "S"). As soon as the signal is given the players at the front of each team rush down the "S" and will meet somewhere in the middle. They quickly have a short game of "rock scissors paper". The loser has to step aside(goes to the back of their teams line while the person at the front of the loosing teams line runs forward as soon as they see that they have lost), while the winner rushes on forward down the "S" until opposed again in the same manner. The game cycles on indefinitely with points being kept only for each successful fort invasion.

 

7     Find The Item

• People: 10-30
• Goal: Get guests to know each other
• Time: 10min
• Need:
  • A small item for each guest
  • A piece of paper for each guest with all items listed on it
  • A pen each
  • Tape and safety pins to attach the items
• Method: As each guest arrives take them aside and attach the item to a part of their clothing which is not to obvious or even partly hidden. At the start of the game hand out the paper and pens and explain that they have a few minutes to circulate and to write down the name of the guest who has the item. When the time is up tell everyone to stop and count the names they have collected the person with the most correct names wins.
• Advancement: Hide the items so that a bit more searching is required.

 

8     String Collectors

• People: 10-40
• Goal: Get people friendly with their partner
• Time: 5min
• Need: 50-300 pieces of string of different lengths(and colors)
• Method: Hide the string throughout the house before anyone arrives. Carefully select who will be working together as partners. Explain that the winning teams is the one which creates the longest piece of string by tying together lots of shorter ones in 5 min.
• Advancement: Have different colored strings with different points.

 

9     Bean Barter

• People: 10-100
• Goal:Get guests to know each other
• Time: 5min
• Need: Packages of 15-20 beans(rice etc) wrapped in gladwrap(do one for each player)
• Method: Explain to the guests that the goal is to barter with others and collect the most beans. As guests circulate they secretly put a few beans into their palm and close it into a fist. When they confront another player the other player asks "Odd or even?" Once they are told and if they guess correctly then they get to take the beans. If they guess wrong they give away the beans. Both players in the pair must be given a chance at the others beans before moving on to find someone else. The person with the most beans wins.

 

10     Knock The Orange(Pop The Balloon)

• People: 10-20
• Goal: Interaction between guests
• Time: 10min
• Need: Spoons and oranges for all players
• Method: Each player has a spoon each with an orange balanced on top. The goal is to knock the other persons orange off without loosing you own. This can be done in playoffs or in a group free for all.
• Advancement: Every player ties a balloon to their ankle and tries to pop others without loosing their own.

 

11     Find Your Name

• People: 10-50
• Goal: Interaction between guests
• Time: 10min
• Need:
  • Paper to tape onto the back of each player
  • Cellotape
  • Method: Explain that the players will have 10min to circulate and to ask other players a yes/no question about the name taped to their back. The GameLeader can suggest questions like "Am I male?" etc. In each interaction each of the two players should have an answer to one question each before moving on to ask someone else. When someone has guessed who they are they can sit down. Make sure you choose names that the person is likely to know. The names can also be chosen according to the theme of the party.
• Advancement: Give the first and last players a prize each.
• Adaptation: Use a newspaper product advertisement taped to the back instead of a name. Players engage in brief conversations which will drop hints to what it is without actually saying.

 

12     Ambidexterous Answers

• People: 10-50
• Goal: Interaction between guests
• Time: 5min
• Need: Pens and paper for everyone
• Method: Hand each player a pen and a piece of paper. Explain that the winner is the one who gets the most answers on their piece of paper. The restrictions are that no one is allowed to talk and that everyone has to do all writing with the hand they don't usually use. Questions can be written on the other side of the paper than the answers if easier. Questions can be as short as you want. In each interaction each of the two players should have an answer to one question each before moving on to ask someone else. The same question cannot be asked twice.

 

13     Personal Bingo

• People: 10-40
• Goal: Get guests to lighten up
• Time: 10-20min
• Need: A semi-large piece of cardboard for each player drawn up with 9 squares
• Method: After handing everyone a card ask them to go through their pockets/purse etc and pull out 9 items(one for each square on the card). When everyone is ready the GameLeader chooses someone to start. This person holds up one item off their card and calls it out to the group. All players who have a matching item can remove that item from their card. When a player achieves the pre-selected pattern(like a straight line, four corners etc) they yell out "Bingo".
• Advancement: Award small prizes.

 

14     Sentence Mixups

• People: 20-50
• Goal: Get players to meet each other
• Time: 20min
• Need: At least twice as many cards as their are players. Each card has a word written on each side. Lots of small edible prizes(lollies).
• Method: Hand out one card to each player. Explain that they are free to mingle with anyone else but that the goal is to create sentences by combining the word on their card with other players. A sentence must have at least 5 words. As soon as a sentence is formed and passed give each person a small prize, take the old cards and hand out new cards. Players keep continually mixing until the time is up(or the prizes run out). The easiest way to make the cards is to write out full sentences and then take those words and put them onto cards(be sure to add extra linking words like a, of, the, but, or etc.
• Advancement: Use letters on the cards instead of words. The goal then is to form words of 5 or more letters.

 

15     Name Bingo

• People: 24+
• Goal: Get players to know each others names
• Time: 10min
• Need: A pre-drawn up card for each player. A pen for each player.
• Method: As each player arrives get them to sign in by putting their name on a piece of paper. Mix these papers up in a bowl. Hand out the cards. Count the number of players and make sure that the number of players exactly matches the number of squares on each card(fill any spaces with the word "Free"). Next get all players to circulate and to get each others signatures in the squares on their card. When everyone has filled up their cards start a normal game of bingo calling out the names in the bowl.
• Advancement: Award small prizes.

 

16     Dictionary

• People: 5-10
• Goal: Pass the time and get every one thinking
• Time: 20mins
• Need: A very large dictionary and pens and paper for everyone
• Method: Be sure everyone (including Game Leader) has 2 pieces of paper and a pen each. One piece is for writing down definitions and the other for keeping score. The Game Leader finds a hard word in the dictionary and first checks that no one knows it. Then everyone is given 2 mins to think up a convincing definition for that word. The Game Leader writes down the proper definition on his piece of paper and mixes it in with the ones collected from the other players. The Game Leader then reads out each definition and people vote on the one they think is the real one. If a player finds that a person vote for the defintion that they made up they get a point. Play it for a few rounds.

 

17     War

• People: 9-16
• Goal: Get everyone to know each other
• Time: 20mins
• Need: A largish room
• Method: Split all the people up into 3-4 countries (groups) of 3-4 people each. The groups should be of the same size. Each country chooses a name and a leader. The Game Leader chooses a country to begin. The country confers between themselves and chooses a country they are going to go to war with. They also secretly choose a member of that country and whisper it to the Game Leader. The Game Leader announces that " country wants to go to war with country" and gives them 3 seconds for someone in that country to stand up. The Game Leader shapes his hand into a gun and points it at the person. If it is the person that was selected the Game Leader says "Bang" and that person is out, and they get another turn. If it wasnt that person the Game Leader says "Click" and it goes to the next county's turn. The last remaining country wins.

 

18     Observations

• People:10-20 10-20
• Goal: Fill Time
• Time: 20 mins
• Need: Room, Pens and paper each
• Method: Get everyone in the room and give them a minute to observe the room. Then have them all go out for a minute and change some of the things in the room (move a chair, change the time on a clock etc). The player that records the most changes wins.
• Advancement: Can also be done on a tray.

 

19     Familiar Noises

• People: 10-20
• Goal: Fill Time
• Time: 20 mins
• Need: Room, sheet, Pens and paper each
• Method: Set up a sheet at the front of the room with a collection of objects behind it. One by one, make noises with each object (e.g. zip, egg beater etc) while hidden behind the sheet. The player that records the most correct object names wins.