I have come to love game playing at gatherings. Games are not only effective ice breakers, but they’re also great bonding experiences. You can learn a lot about people by playing games with them (like how competitive people can be, not that that’s a bad thing). There’s certainly a plethora of group games you can purchase, but I like the easy and free kind. With that in mind, I bring you 10 great group games for gatherings.
What ages can play these group games?
I’d say upper elementary aged kids and up would enjoy these games the most. Younger kids may be able to play some of them if they have help or are on a team.
What materials are required to play the games?
The “Emoji story” game is the only one that requires you print anything out. Other than that, you’d need simple items such as:
- Slips of paper
- Pens or pencils
- Spoons
- Deck of cards
- Container in which to put slips of paper
- Blindfold of some kind (bandana, scarf, etc.)
- Throw pillow (or some other kind of cushion)
- Different colored stickers (I use different colored round stickers used for garage sales. You can find those at the dollar store.)
What are these great group games for gatherings?
1. Never Have I Ever “move-ical chairs version”
Set up: Set up chairs in a circle so that there is one chair per person. Print out a list of “Never have I ever” questions for the host to ask.
Goal: Return to your original seat
Basic rules: Players sit in a circle. The host asks a “Never have I ever” question, such as, “Never have I ever traveled outside the country.” All the players to whom this question applies (meaning they have never traveled outside the country), get up and move to another chair. Play continues with the host asking questions, and players moving. The goal is to get back to your original chair. You can set a time limit for this game or limit the number of questions. Or you can play until someone makes it back to his or her chair.
You can print out a free list of “Never have I ever” questions at games4esl. com.
2. Fishbowl
Set up: Give each player 3 strips of paper on which they will write down a word, phrase, or short sentence. Players will fold the papers in half and place them in one bowl.
Goal: Guess the highest number of words correctly as a team
Basic rules: There are different variations of this game, but you generally play in three rounds with two teams. Players write down words, phrases, or sentences on slips of paper that they fold in half and place into one bowl.
For all three rounds, a player picks a word and tries to get his team to guess it according to the rules of the round. The player continues, attempting to get his team to guess as many of the words as possible in one minute. The first team passes the bowl to the other team which chooses the person who will give clues for that team. Play goes back and forth between teams until they have used all the slips of paper from the bowl. One point is given for each correctly guessed word or phrase.
Round 1:
Teams explain the words verbally, but can’t use any part of the word or phrase. For instance, if the phrase is “dog house.” you can’t say “It’s where dogs sleep.” It’s like the game “Catch Phrase.”
Both teams put all the slips of paper back into the bowl to prepare for the next round. After Round 2, all the pieces of paper are put back into the bowl for Round 3.
Round 2:
Teams can now only use one word as a clue. They can’t change the word until that phrase is guessed. For instance, with “dog house.” a player may say “canine,” but they can’t use any other words until “dog house” is guessed or time runs out.
Round 3:
This round is played “charades” style. Players cannot use any words, but can only act out what is on the slips of paper.
If you need further explanation go to https://gathertogethergames.com/fishbowl
3. Psychiatrist or Detective
Set up: None
Goal: The psychiatrist/detective guesses what ailment the group has collectively
Basic rules: Select one player to be the psychiatrist/detective. She goes out of the room so she can’t hear the group’s discussion. The group decides what “condition” they all have. For example, everyone feels compelled to scratch his/her nose when the psychiatrist/detective says a certain word, like “you.”
Once the group has decided on its condition, the psychiatrist/detective is brought back into the room to try to guess what it is. She can only ask questions that require a “yes” or “no” answer. The round ends when the psychiatrist/detective guesses the condition. Alternatively, you can set either a time limit or limit the number of guesses to end a round. A new round begins with a new psychiatrist/detective and a new condition for the group.
4. Emoji stories
Set up: Download and cut out the free emoji story cards from Bible Games Central. Divide into teams (4-6 people work best, but really any number of people are fine). Distribute cards to each team (I generally hand out three cards per player).
Goal: For teams to use all the emoji cards they have to tell a cohesive story.
Basic rules: You can play in two rounds with the same cards. In round 1, the stories have a happy ending. In round 2, the stories have a sad ending (I have the teams make up new stories, not just recycle the first story and tack on a sad ending). Teams take turns telling their stories by showing the emoji cards as they proceed with the story.
5. Aggressive spoons
Set up: You’ll need one to two decks of cards, depending on the size of your group. You’ll also need spoons numbering one less than the number of players (so if you have six players, have five spoons). Have players sit in a circle with the spoons in the middle. Deal out four cards to each player and put the rest of the cards face-down in front of you (the dealer).
Goal: Ultimately, you want to be the person with the last spoon left.
Basic rules: The dealer starts by picking a card from the pile. She will decide if she wants to keep the card or pass it facedown to the next person on her left. Each person wants to have four of one number/face card (like four “kings” or four “threes”). The dealer then chooses another card from the pile and decides whether to keep that new card or pass a card from her hand to the next person.
Play continues with each person picking up the card the person on his right discarded and passing a card to the person on his left. The person to the right of the dealer will be starting a new discard pile which the dealer will draw from when she runs out of cards
When a player collects 4 of a kind, he will take a spoon (trying not to let others see him take it). Everyone else tries to grab a spoon, until one person is left without one. That person is then out for the next round and one spoon is taken out. Play continues with one person getting out and one spoon being taken out per round. The game ends when one person is left with a spoon.
Why did I call this aggressive spoons?
Once a person is out, she gets to hide the remaining spoons in another location. This way, when someone gets 4 of a kind, he will run out of the room to find a spoon and others will do the same. When others get out, they can help hide the spoons.
6. Ducky Wucky
Set up: Place chairs in a circle, one less than the number of people playing. You’ll need a pillow or stuffed animal and a blindfold.
Goal: To guess the identity of the player at whose feet you are sitting.
Basic rules: One person volunteers to be blindfolded and sits in the middle of the circle, holding a small pillow or stuffed animal. The other players switch seats so he does not know who is sitting where. Once everyone is seated, he crawls around and uses his pillow to find a pair of feet. Once he finds a pair of feet, he sits in front of them and says “Ducky Wucky.” The other person, disguising his voice, says “Ducky Wucky” back. The guesser tries to guess the identity of the person. If he succeeds, he switches places with that person who becomes the new guesser. If he fails to guess the identity, he finds another pair of feet and repeats the process.
The reason for the pillow is so the guesser can’t feel what kind of shoes the other person is wearing as that will often give away the identity.
7. Four on a couch
Set up: Arrange chairs in a circle, having one more chair than there are players. You will also need a couch on which four players can sit. If you don’t have a couch, put four chairs together to mimic a couch.
Give players slips of paper on which they will write their names. If you have people with the same name, have them write their last names or the first initial of their last names. Have the players fold the papers in half and place them in a bowl.
Divide into two teams. I usually use two different colored stickers to tell teams apart. The circular garage sale stickers you can get at the dollar store work well. Or if you can play boys against girls or parents vs. kids, you won’t need stickers. Two members of each team need to sit on the couch.
Goal: To get four of your team members on the couch.
Basic rules: Each person draws a name from the bowl. It’s okay if they get their own name. This becomes their new identity.
Play begins with the person to the right of the empty chair. That player calls out the name of any other player, let’s say “Judy.” The person who drew the name “Judy” from the bowl gets up and moves to sit in the empty chair. Now the person to the right of the new empty chair now calls a name, let’s say “Rob.” The person who drew that name now moves into the empty chair. Play continues in this manner.
It’s important to memorize who has which name. This becomes particularly important when you want to move people on or off the couch. For instance, let’s say that “Judy” was on the couch. Since that person is not on your team, you want to remove her from the couch. If it’s your turn and you call out “Judy,” that person then moves off the couch and into wherever the empty spot is. Play ends when there are four members of one team on the couch.
You can watch a video of a group playing the game here.
8. The Dictionary Game/Balderdash
Set up: Print out score cards or use index cards or cut pieces of paper. Have paper and pen to keep score.
Goal: To get others to guess your fake definition for words, and to guess the correct definitions.
Basic rules: One person is selected to be the leader. She chooses a word from the dictionary and spells it so that players can write on their cards. The leader writes the correct definition on her card, while other players make up a definition that seems plausible and write it on their cards. They want others to guess their definition.
The leader collects the cards and reads through each one to ensure she can read each person’s writing. She also wants to make sure she doesn’t laugh when reading other people’s cards. This can be difficult as some are really creative and funny. No one should be able to guess by the way the leader is reading the cards which definitions are fake.
The leader reads through all the cards (including the real definition) once. On the second reading, people vote for the card they think is the real definition. As a strategy, some people vote for their own definition to get others to follow suit. The leader puts a tally mark on each card that someone guesses is the real definition.
Scoring:
One point is given for each guessed definition. For example, if three people guess “George’s” definition as the real definition, he gets three points. Two points are given to each player who guesses the real definition. The leader earns three points if no one guesses the real definition.
Play continues until each player has been the leader.
9. Press Conference
Set up: None
Goal: For the “VIP” (very important person) of the press conference to guess the identity given by the rest of the players
Basic rules: Choose one person to leave the room and to a location where she can’t hear the group. The group will choose an identity for the “VIP.” Have the VIP come back to the group. Players will take turns asking the VIP questions and she will have to answer to the best of her ability while trying to figure out her identity.
For example, if the group has decided the VIP is Mickey Mouse, you might ask questions like, “Do you have a high voice?” or “Do you like cheese?” The group tries to make the questions a bit tricky at first, then more obvious if the VIP needs help guessing. The round ends when the VIP guesses the identity correctly.
10. Head, shoulders, knees, and cup
Set up: Have players line up in pairs, facing each other with a cup equally distant from each player. You’ll need one cup for each pair.
Goal: Grab the cup before your opponent when the leader calls out “cup.”
Basic Rules: The leader calls out “head,” “shoulder,” or “knees” in any sequence. Players have to put their hands on the body part that is called when it’s called. At some point, the leader says “cup” and players try to grab the cup before their opponent can get it.
All those who successively grabbed the cup now pair up with another person to start another round. Those who failed to grab the cup are out of the game.
Play ends when the last pair competes and one person grabs the cup.
I highly recommend you try out these great group games at your next gathering. They are definitely crowd pleasers!
Free printable
I have a free pdf that describes each game. Subscribe below to snag this handy reference.
Here are some other game ideas you might want to check out:
10 Simple Games to Play Around the Table