Fun Icebreaker Ideas & Activities

Author: OutlandSam

  • 3 Icebreaker Games That Use Drink Cans

    1. Tipsy

    Here’s a cool party trick: if you leave just the right amount of liquid in a tin can, you can balance that can diagonally, on its edge. We’re use that fact to play a quick relay race, one part drinking game and one part balancing act.

    You will need

    One unopened 330 ml drink can for each player.
    Tables or other surface in reach of all players. This is so they have somewhere to balance their drink.

    Set-Up

    1. Split the room into two teams.
    2. Have each team arranged into a rough line, so they know what order they will play in.
    3. Give all players an unopened drink.
    4. For both teams tell the players at one end of the line that they will be the starting players.

    Rules

    The starting players open their can, drink approximately three quarters of the contents, and then attempt to balance the can on it’s edge, as quickly as they can.

    As soon as a player has successfully balanced their can, the next player in their team can proceed to open their own can and attempt the challenge. This makes this game into a sort of relay race.

    The first team to get from the start of their line to the end, with the last player having successfully balanced their can wins!

    Now that you’ve got lot’s of empty cans, we can use them for the following games!:

    2. Sliding Towers

    Do you think you could slide an empty can across a table… using only your head? Race others for the title of fastest moving face.

    You will need

    • Six empty cans per player.
      Your noggin.
      An empty table.

    Set-up

    Place an empty can near the corner of the table. If two people play simultaneously, also put a can in the opposite corner. Each player will start in one of these corners.
    Nearby, but out of the way, place the other cans so you have stacks of two and stacks of three.

    Rules

    Each player must push the single can from their end of the table to the other end using only their head and face. They cannot touch the can with their hands, shoulders neck etc. or they must take the can back to the starting position and try again.

    When a player has successfully pushed their can to end of the table, they immediately pick up a stack of two cans, put them in their starting corner, and go again with the larger stack.

    After the stack of two, players progress onto the stack of three. If at any time the stack falls over, it is immediately moved back to the starting position and the player can try again.

    This game is a race! The first player to get the third stack of cans to the end of the table wins.

    3. Candelier

    Become an architect of dangerous structures in this game, where you build a large, structurally unsound inverse pyramid out of cans and paper plates.

    You will need

    • 15 Empty Cans Per player
      5 Paper Plates per player

    (If you don’t have enough cans to play with multiple players at the same time, do this game one player at a time, and time the results. The fastest player wins)

    Set-up

    Put the cans and paper plates in reach of the players.

    Rules

    • The challenge is to build the following structure:
      One can as the foundation.
      A paper plate on top of each level of cans.
      One extra can per level of top of the plates.
      Until you end with five cans on the top level, and a final plate on top.
      This creates a sort of wonky pyramid shape, with increasing numbers of cans alternating with paper plates.

    The structure may topple, but the players can always continue on from whatever is left. The first player to finish their “candelier” wins!

  • Tilt A Cup Game

    Build and hold onto an upright swinging tower of cups and balls. As the game progresses, this tower will become increasingly unwieldy, swinging unpredictably. You’ll have to use a steady hand to keep control of the tower.  Tilt that cup!  Catch the bouncing ping pong balls to win.

    This games uses elements of games like Moving On Up and Bouncer. You can play it as a solitaire challenge, as a competitive race, or in teams.

    You will need

    • 8 plastic cups per player
    • 8 ping pong balls per player

    Set up

    For each player:

    1. Put all cups together, one inside another, to create a compressed stack.
    2. The player takes hold of the stack of cups from the bottom.
    3. Put the 8 ping pong balls within easy reach.

    Rules

    Players create a tower of cups and balls by the following process:

    • They first bounce a ping pong ball on the ground, then catch that ping pong ball in their stack of cups.
    • When the ball is caught — the top cup in a stack now has a ping pong ball in it — the player takes the cup from the bottom of the stack and places it at the top. The new top cup is now sitting on a ping pong ball and has some freedom to move around.
    • Repeat this process. Bounce another ping pong ball and catch it in the top cup of the stack. Then move the bottom cup the top, adding to an increasingly wobbly tower of alternating cups and ping pong balls.

    Once a player has caught all ping pong balls, creating a tower where every cup is separated by a ping pong ball, with one final ping pong ball in the top cup, they have finished!

    This is a great game for challenging your coordination. You not only have to bound the ball with one hand and catch it using the cups in the other, but the top cup will get increasingly further away from the hand that it trying to keep it under control. If you move the tower of cups around too quickly, or hold it at the wrong angle, it might fall apart completely, forcing you to start again.

    Variants

    To play this as a race, simply give every player a stack and their own ping pong balls. The first player to finish the challenge wins!

    The team variant has one player taking control of the stack of cups and another starting with all the ping pong balls. The player with the balls will be standing several feet away and throwing the balls to the player holding the cups. All other rules are the same.

  • Beer Pong Party Game

    What is it?

    Beer pong: the “national sport” of frat houses and party schools.

    Who can play?

    It is traditionally played by two or four people who enjoy beer and may want to get drunk. However, this game can also be enjoyable with a non-alcoholic beverage like juice or tea, and this fun game of dexterity can be altered for players of all ages. It just requires a little good aim and dexterity! 

    What will you need?

    • 12 or 20 plastic cups
    • One or more ping pong balls
    • A table, ideally 2 to 3 meters long.
    • Optional: Liqueur

    Set-up

    1. Find a table. Beer pong was conceived as a party night-alternative to table tennis, making use of the table tennis table found in a typical college frat house. Hardcore beer pong apostles will therefore insist that a “regulation” beer pong table is the same length as a table tennis table — 2.5 meters, or 9 feet. However, you can make use of any table longer than, say, 1.5 meters. A shorter table means an easier and shorter game.
    2. Take your plastic cups and put half at each short end of the table. Arrange them in triangles, pointing to each other. With six cups this means, on each side of the table, a row of three cups along the table’s short end; two cups in front of, and touching, those; and one cup again in front of those, similar to bowling pins.
    3. Fill all cups about 3cm deep with the alcohol of your choice. Or, for a alcohol-free version, put water or another beverage in the cups instead. Even some players wanting to drink alcohol will put water in the cups, and drink from a separate source, for hygiene reasons — the choice is yours.

    We will go over the simplest version of the game, with two players. Both players stand at their end of the table, behind their triangle of cups. Each player takes a ping pong ball. You are ready to play.

    Decide who starts

    The time honored method to determine a start player is as follows. Each player looks one another in the eye over the table. Eye contact cannot be broken. Simultaneously, the players throw their ping pong ball towards the opposite side of the table. If both players get the ball in a cup, or if both players miss the cups, go again until only one player makes a cup. That player goes first. 

    Basic Rules

    The basic play of this game is very simple:

    Players will take it in turns to attempt to throw their ping pong ball into one of their opponents cups. If successful, their opponent will take that cup, drink the contents (if playing with liqueur), and remove the cup from the table.

    The player who successfully removes all of their opponents cups in this way, wins!

    Further Rules

    Throws should be made so that the player’s elbow stays behind the edge of the table.

    If playing in teams of two, each teammate will get one throw each before play is passed on to other team.

    If both teammates make cups on their turn, they are given a bonus throw each before play is passed to the other team.

    When the last cup is removed from the table, the player on the losing side is usually allowed a rebuttal. This means they are allowed to keeping shooting at their opponents remaining cups as long as they don’t miss a shot. If they miss, the game is lost. If they manage to make all of their opponents remaining cups without missing, the game will proceed into sudden death. One to three cups are added to each side of the table. Starting with the player who would have been the winner before the rebuttal, players take turns to clear these final cups to decide a winner.

    House Rules

    Beer pong can be, and usually is, played additional house rules. The number of common variations is vast, but almost all players agree that whatever the house rules are at the establishment played at, visitors must abide to.

  • Picture Whispers Game

    The Picture Whispers game is sort of like Pictionary mixed with the Telephone Game. Picture Whispers actually has some advantages over Pictionary. First, all players get to draw at the same time, and then get to guess at the same time, in phases, which means more game for everyone involved. Second, the game concludes with each player revealing sequentially all stage of drawings and guesses in their notepad, sharing with the group a short, absurd story of misunderstanding, non-sequitur, and debatable artistic merit. This reveal is similar in effect to — and has all the hilarity of — popular group storytelling game Consequences, or this collaborative drawing game.

    Play Picture Whispers with at least four players, and up to as many as you like, though as the game gets longer for every additional person in the chain, so if you have many more than ten it may be best to end the game after a certain number of passes (say, ten) rather than play all the way to the end of the circle. You could also split a large group into two smaller circles.

    Set-up:

    • All players sit in a circle, or around a table.
    • All players are given:
      • A small notebook or several small sheets of paper
      • A writing utensil.
      • Optional: Some item to be used as a bookmark, to mark which the current page is in case the notepad is closed, would also be useful.

    Rules:

    Each player will choose a word or phrase to write on the first page of their notebook. This could be an object, a person, a place, a concept, the title of a book or movie, or pretty much anything. Players are free to write something as sober, silly or lewd as they want — paying all respect to the company they are in, of course. Remember that some words are harder to express in pictures that others.

    Each player writes that word on the first page of their notebook, and passes their notebook to the player on their left. Be sure that nobody but the player on your left sees your notebook. Also be sure that nobody looks back through the notebook to see what was written or drawn by previous players.

    Now each player turns to the next page of their notebook, and draws an interpretation of the word they were passed. If the word on the first page of the notebook was “fairy”, you should now turn the page and draw a fairy, as best you can.

    Each player passes their notebook to the left again, looks at the drawing on the notebook they have just been passed from their right, and guesses what the word that inspired that drawing might be. Hopefully, the player who has just been passed a picture of a fairy writes “fairy”… but maybe that picture looks more like an “angel”, or “Tinkerbell”, or “Doctor Octopus”.

    Play proceeds in this manner, with every player alternately drawing a picture based on a work, or guessing a word based on a picture, until each notebook is passed back to its original owner (ie. the player that wrote the word on the first page).

    Now, in turn, each player reveals to the rest of the table, from the first page with the original word to the last used page, the contents of their notebook.

  • 3 Active Games That Use Pedometers

    If you have a few pedometers or activity trackers, try these games. They will give you an intense workout while they gives the audience an intense laugh.

    1. Bobble Head

    Players of this game are trying to cheat some ultra-high scores out of their pedometers while the pedometer is attached to their forehead. How do they get the pedometer to register points? They shake and nod their head like crazy!

    You will need

    • A pedometer for each player
      A way to attach the pedometer to the player’s head. Finding a sweat band for each player, and tying or taping the pedometer to it, is a good solution.
    • A timer.

    Rules

    Make sure all pedometers are rest to zero. Attach them to all players heads.

    On the signal given, start the timer and have all players shake and bob their heads as quickly as possible.

    After one minute has passed, all players must stop moving immediately. Each player removes the pedometer from their head, careful not to jiggle it and influence their score. The player with the highest number on the display wins!

     

    2. Temper Tantrum

     

    This game uses the same idea as above. This time players will have a pedometer on each ankle, but they must try and get the best score possible while lying on their backs. To everyone else, it will look like they are madly shaking their feet and gritting their teeth in a fit of childlike rage.

    You will need

    • 2 pedometers for each player.
    • A way to attach the pedometer to the ankles of the players. Some pedometers come with wrist straps already. If not, you may be able to put the pedometer in a player’s shoes or socks, or simply tape the device directly onto each of the player’s shoes.
    • A timer.

    • Rules

      Make sure all pedometers are rest to zero. Attach one to both ankles of every player.

      On the signal given, start the timer and have all players shakes their legs in whatever style seems practical.

      After one minute has passed, all players must stop moving immediately. Now all players can check their pedometers, adding up the score for each ankle The player with the highest total wins!

    3. Nervous Nelly

    This game requires the most pedometers — a pedometer on each ankle AND each wrist — but is probably also the funniest AND the most exhausting.

    You will need

    • Four pedometers for each player
    • A way to attach the pedometers to the player’s wrists and ankles.
    • A timer

    Rules

    As usual, make sure all pedometers are rest to zero. Attach a pedometer to both wrists and both ankles of each player. If you don’t have enough pedometers, play this game in turns and record each player’s score.

    On the signal, start the countdown. All players are trying to get the highest score on ALL pedometers simultaneously, by whatever method possible. That means lightning fast tiny steps on the spot while shaking your arms like they’re covered in spiders.

    After a minute is up, all players must stop immediately (and, if they’ve been playing this game correctly, they will certainly want to). The player will the highest combined total on all four pedometers is the winner!

  • Fun Physical Party Games

    Here are three games that have you and your friends using your bodies in unusual ways.

    Pass The Orange

    An orange, or a tennis ball, or a plastic bottle: grab one, and put it under your chin. Hold it there using your chin and neck, trapping it near your collarbone. Take your hand away. From now on, nobody in the room may touch the object with their hands until the game is won or lost.

    The group wins when everyone in the room has had possession of the “orange,” which means having it held under their chin, and it is then passed back to the starting player. The transfer must be made directly from neck to neck. You all lose if the orange is dropped, or anyone touches the orange with any other part of their body.

    This game gives your upper body a workout doing something it wasn’t exactly designed for. Everyone will be twisting and turning and rubbing cheeks in this fruity relay race. “Orange” you having a great time!

    Bend A Friend

    In Pass The Orange, you try and keep an orange from falling on the floor. In Bend A Friend, you are trying to keep yourself from falling on the floor — and this isn’t even a drinking game.

    To play, you will need an empty cereal box, and some scissors. Cut the flaps off from the box, and place it in a clear area, ideally one with a soft carpet.

    Each player can step up to the mark to attempt the challenge. They must pick up the cereal box with only their teeth. No part of their body except their feet may touch the ground, or be used for support. Your less flexible friends might quickly find themselves in trouble. Falling to the ground, or dishonorably giving up, means they are eliminated from the game.

    When everyone has had their attempt, those that succeeded proceed to the next round, which is the same as before but with an inch cut from the top of the cereal box. Continue with increasingly difficult rounds in the this way until everyone is eliminated. Those that picked up the smallest box are the winners. Those that fell over will be in good company, as everyone else will be rolling on the floor laughing.

    Suck and Blow

    From mouth to box, to mouth to mouth. This game requires a playing card.

    Put the card to your lips, and suck in air through your mouth. A mixture of the moisture on your lips and the suction of your breath should just, barely, keep the card in place there.

    Your challenge is now to pass this card to the next player. Of course they must only use the suction from their mouth to take the card. The person giving the card should blow a little to release the card. The confusion that results of somebody sucking when they should be blowing, or blowing too early, or blowing or sucking too much or too little, is part of what makes this game a laugh. And the innuendos, of course.

    Keep passing the card around in a circle until it is dropped, which eliminates the guilty player from the game. Everyone else continues, though they may be a little out of breath.

    When two players successfully make an exchange everyone else can helpfully tell the new card-holder: “You suck!”

    Variations

    Each of these can be played as drinking or forfeit games, where the person who drops the orange/touches the floor/releases the card must drink or take the forfeit.

  • 6 Skillful Silly Party Games With Ping Pong Balls

    6 Skillful Silly Party Games With Ping Pong Balls

    Want a great party? Check out these silly party game ideas — all you need are ping pong balls (also known as table tennis balls)!

    1. Junk In The Trunk

    You want to see your friends shake their hips, right? This is a game of vitality, constitution, and something that looks very much like twerking.

    What you need

    • An empty tissue box for each player.
    • Eight ping pong balls per player
    • Strong tape
    • Each player should wear a belt
    • Optional: Club music with a fast, heavy beat

    Set Up

    1. Use the tape to attach the tissue box to the back of each player’s belt. The box will sit just above the player’s buttocks, with the opening of the box facing away from the player.
    2. Put eight ping pong balls into the tissue box of each player.
    3. Have somebody not playing stand behind the players as the judge.
    4. Prepare the music.

    Rules

    All players should use the swinging and shaking of their hips to empty the tissue box of all ping pong balls as quickly as they can. This can take longer than you might expect. Cheering is encouraged to keep the twerkers working. 

    The first player to evict all balls from their box wins!

     

    2. Ponginator

    All the fun of bouncing ping pong balls without the paddles. This chaotic and fast paced game will have you bouncing balls into an egg box. It will leave a mess of balls all over the room, but you’ll be so focused until the end of the game you might not even notice.

    What you need

    • Ping pong balls. Lots of them! Each player should have a different colour.
    • An empty egg box. Check that vacant egg space will fit one of your ping pong balls.
    • A chair, stool or table for each player, plus one. Anything with with a hard flat surface will do. The final surface is to hold the egg box.

    Set-Up

    1. Place the egg box on one of your chairs/tables in the middle of the room.
    2. Place each of the other chairs an equal distance away from the egg-box, in a circle if possible.
    3. Give each player a bag, box, or bowl full of ping pong balls of one colour, giving a different colour of balls to each player
    4. Have each player stand behind one of the empty chairs/tables.

    Rules

    Players must bounce a ball off the chair/table in front of them so that it lands in the egg box. This is harder than it looks! Ping pong balls that hit the eggbox may tumble around like a rugby ball, and fall out onto the floor.

    All players play at the same time, and can work through their balls as fast as they like.

    The first player to land five balls of their colour in the eggbox wins!

    Tip: Consistency is key. You can’t control exactly how your ball is going to act if it hits the egg box, but if you hit the egg box more often than other players you’re more likely to get lucky. Find a technique that works for you and stick with it.  

     

    3. Bouncer

    This game uses the same bouncing mechanics as the game above, but the distances are shorter so players have more control over their ping pong balls. The skillful will prevail. It also takes up a lot less space, and does not require more than one colour of ball.

    You will need

    • A bunch of ping-pong balls for each player. Any color.
    • Four glasses for each player.

    Set-up

    1. Have each player stand facing the edge of a table.
    2. In front of each of them, about 40cm from the table’s edge, line up the four glasses parallel to that edge of the table.
    3. Give each player a bag, box or bowl of ping pong balls.

    Rules

    Players must bounce their ping pong balls off of the table’s surface and into the glasses in front of them. The ping pong balls must be bounced off the table before they go into the cup — they cannot be thrown directly into the cup.

    The first player to fill all of their cups wins!

     

    4. Whipper Snapper

    Here’s a fun use of a bath towel. If you ever tried to whip somebody in the school locker room, you know you can get a mean flick with a towel. Use that power to launch ping pong balls across the room into a goal.

    You will need

    • One tower per player.
    • A weight for each player. This is to hold one side of the towel down. A doorstop, dunbell, or particularly heavy book should do the trick.
    • Ping pong balls. Of course.
    • A box, bin or bucket for each player. These are the goals.

    Set-Up

    1. Lay down the towels on one end of the room.
    2. Hold down one end of each player’s towel with a weight.
    3. Place a ping pong ball on the other end of the towel, ready to be flung.
    4. Place the boxes, bins or buckets on the other end of the room, one opposite each towel.
    5. Players should kneel or stand at the end of the towel with the ping pong ball.

    Rules

    Players will fling the towels upwards and forwards to launch the ball towards the boxes.

     

    5. Puddle jumper

    Another nice quality to ping pong balls is that they float, and with a little force that buoyancy can allow them to jump out of the water. We can use that to play a game that requires a controlled use of a particular force that comes from your body. That force is the air expelled from your lungs, which we will use to propel ping pong balls from one glass of water to another.

    You will need

    • 6 glasses per player.
    • At least 3 Ping pong balls per player, and ideally a couple spare.

    Set-Up

    1. Fill each of the six glasses with water up to the top.
    2. We will set the glasses up in pairs: one where the ping pong ball starts, and another where it should end. The pairs should get harder as the player goes on, so we put them further apart. The distance between the leftmost glasses should be 10cm apart, the middle glasses should be should be 17.5cm apart, and the rightmost glasses should be 25cm.
    3. The three “starting glasses” should be in line with each other. Put a pnig pong ball in these glasses.
    4. Now you should have six glasses, in three increasingly difficult pairs, in front of each player, with a ping pong ball in each of the three glasses closest to the player.

    Rules

    Using only the power of blowing, each player must push the ping pong balls from the starting glasses into the target glasses. If you have spare ping pong balls, if a player’s ball misses the target glass they can take a spare ball and put it in the relevant starting glasses. Otherwise they will have to chase after the ping pong ball they just blew and use that instead.

    The first player to get ping pong balls in all of the target glasses wins!

     

    6. Blow Ball

    Another game that uses breath. You will be blowing some balls off of a dinner plate, while trying not to blow other balls. This one will require a gentle touch and a little thought about how and where you’re blowing.

    What you need

    • A dinner plate for each player.
    • Ping pong balls of one color. Enough to almost fill one plate, for each player.
    • Some ping pong balls of a second color. You only need three per player. These are the balls you want to stay on the plate at the end of the game.

    Set-Up

    1. Put the plates on a table, chair or stool. You will want to move to get to all sides of the plate. If you have to use a large table, put the plates in the corners of the table to make it easier to move around them.
    2. Fill the plate with ping pong balls, including the three balls that are a different colour to the rest.
    3. Players take a deep breath.

    Rules

    The aim is to blow all ping pong balls off the plate, except the three different-colored balls. If one of the different colored balls comes off the plate, it must be placed back on the plate before the player can continue blowing the other balls.

    The first player to be left with only the three different-colored balls on their plate wins!

  • Botticelli

    Botticelli is a strategic question game similar to other guessing games like 20 Questions. One player takes on the role of a famous person whom all players know reasonably well (when this game was conceived Sandro Botticelli, the Italian renaissance painter of The Birth of Venus, must have satisfied this requirements, hence the name of the game). Questions are asked to work out who this celebrity is, but with some quick thinking and general knowledge the choosing player can avoid answering the questions directly. This makes the game a little more tactical and complex than other guessing games, and great for long car journeys. Botticelli can be played with only two players, or as many as you can fit in a minivan on a road trip.

    Set-Up

    • One player, the chooser, privately chooses a famous figure/celebrity to take the role of. Let’s use Heath Ledger as an example. 
    • They announce the first letter of the celebrity’s name. If the person is best known by their second name or by a pseudonym, the first letter of that name can be used instead. In this example, the chooser tells the rest of the group that the person’s name begins with “H.”

    Play

    1. The other players take turns to guess other characteristics of the chosen person. They should first think of a celebrity for whom the answer to their question is “yes”. For instance, a question might be “Are you an actor?” and the asking player might have the name “Halle Berry” in mind.
    2. The chooser has the opportunity to make a counter-guess of sorts, to avoid answering the question. The are trying to guess the name that the question asker had in mind. The player would say “No, I’m not Halle Berry,” in which case the question asker confirms that was the celebrity he was thinking of, and the game continues. The chooser has therefore successfully avoided having to tell the group that his character was an actor. Note that at this point the player does not answer the question directly, but attempts to dodge it by answering a question that wasn’t asked.
    3. Let’s say that the player guessed incorrectly: they said “No, I’m not Harrison Ford.” At this point the question asker replies “I was thinking of Halle Berry.” Now, the question asker can ask a question (either the same question as before, or something different) that the player has to answer directly, with a yes or no. This way players can gain concrete information. 
    4. The player might not be able to suggest an alternative celebrity that fits the question. If the player doesn’t not know any other actors whose name begins with H, they say “I don’t know who you’re thinking of.” Now, as above, question asker can ask a question, and the player must answer it directly, with a yes or no.
    5. When the player has answered a question directly, the next player in order can ask a question that can be answered indirectly by the player, as in step 1, and the game continues.
    6. As more information about the celebrity is confirmed, the list of potential correct answers are narrowed down, but it might also become easier for the chooser to make a counter-guess.
    7. On their turn, a player can directly guess the name of the celebrity. If they are correct, the guessers win. If they are incorrect, their turn ends.

    Trivia Variation

    Another way to play this game is for the players to ask general knowledge questions that have answers that also begin with the first letter of the chosen celebrities name. For example, “What was the last state to join the USA?”. If the player knows the answer —Hawaii — the other players keep asking questions, but if the player is stumped, the question askers can ask a direct question about the celebrity, as above.

  • The Energy Game (Hands of Power)

    The Energy Game is a drama class warm-up exercise. One player starts by making a sound and a motion, such as a raising fist and growling, or spreading out their arms and roaring. In turn, each player amplifies the energy of this action, as it gets louder and louder around the group.

    Play the Energy Game

    • Everyone stands in a circle.
    • The first player makes a sound and a motion. For example, they might put their hand up and say “Umm”, or wrap their arms around themselves and shiver, or hide their head and whimper, or shake their finger and sigh. Everyone should be at ease doing whatever action and sound they feel like. This is an opportunity to be creative, but part of the beauty of the game is that the player who has the difficult job of starting things off only has to do so in a small and inconspicuous way. From here, things will only get louder.
    • The player to the right mimics the sound and the action of the first player, but they must increase the energy level of the action. The sound must be louder, and the gesture must be exaggerated.
    • Continue around the circle, with each player adding more energy. When everyone has had a turn, the starting player must do the action/sound combo once more at the highest intensity yet, to finish off the round.
    • Another player starts a new round with a new sound and gesture.

    Each player will naturally unleash the energy with a little of their own personality. This, combined with the increasingly absurd exaggeration and volume of the actions, can make for a very funny game. To outperform their peers each player will put aside any self-consciousness and be able to simply shout and show-off a little.

    When everyone has had a chance to be both loud and quiet, the group will be both more at ease with, and more receptive to, themselves and each other. This exercise gets endorphins flowing and smiles showing.

    Bonus Exercise: Hands of Power

    When your vocal cords have been stretched, take up this leading and following exercise for a different style of play. Also regularly deployed at the start of a drama lesson in schools, Hands of Power is a game of trust and awareness and is fun for all ages.

    Play

    • Make up pairs of players.
    • One player, the leading player, holds their hand in front of the other player’s face, so that the second player’s vision is obscured. The leading player starts moving around the room.
    • The second player must follow the first so that their face follows the first player’s hand. With a large group and lots of pairs moving around, this can get quite chaotic, and their are both concentration and trust elements to this game. It is the leader’s role to guide the follower safely around the room!
    • The leader might want to try raising their hand low and high or twisting their palm to see how their partner reacts.
    • After a minute or two, have the players switch roles in their pairs, so the leader becomes the follower and vice versa.

    There may be no winners in these exercises, but they’re still great fun.

  • The Priest of the Parish

    The Priest of the Parish is a call and response game, popular in youth groups across the world.  The game warms up player’s vocal cords, legs, and memory muscles.  It also goes by other names, including The Prince of Paris.

    This version of the game can be played with very large groups, even over one hundred (arranged into teams).  It can also be played individually with groups of ten or so. In both games the players must remember the script. One of the goals is to speak in unison with your team-members, fostering a sense of team spirit.

    Set-up

    1. Arrange the players into teams. There should be an equal number of teams. Five to ten players is a good team size. For example, six teams of five would work for thirty players, and for one hundred players pick ten teams of ten.
    2. Have all players stand in their teams in two rows a few meters apart, facing each other, so that each team faces another team.
    3. Give each team a number or name.

    The script

    • The organizer starts the round by stating:
      “The priest of the parish has lost his thinking cap. Some say this, and some say that, but I say it was Team [X].” (where [X] is one of the team names).
    • The announced team stands up, and that team and the organizer now follow this script:

    Team: “Who me sir?”
    Organizer: Yes you, sir.
    Team: Couldn’t be, sir.
    Organizer: Then who, sir?
    Team: Team [X], sir.
    Organizer: Team [X]?

    The newly team accused now has the same conversation with the organizer, and so on.

    • If a team speaks out of unison, fails to stand up, or if a team stands up when they should not have, that team is moves to one end of their row, and the other teams in their row move up to fill the gap.

    The goal of the game is to be as far from the “loser’s end” of the rows as possible — though don’t take this goal too seriously. The game is really about getting everyone speaking up, rushing and getting excited, making mistakes, and having a few laughs.

    Variations

    Many variations can change the dynamic of this game in interesting ways.

    If playing with individuals, you don’t need to gives numbers, but can just refer to everyone by name. This makes it a nice introductions game, as everyone must remember each other’s names.

    The script can become more complex, making it harder to remember and therefore easier to make mistakes. This is great when playing as individuals, instead of in teams, as the challenge of remembering the script and not getting tongue tied replaces the challenge of speaking in unison. One such more complex script that has been observed includes the following line in place of saying “Team [X], sir”:

    “I [player name], with an honorable flick to the front, do hereby accuse [another team or player]”. The player would additional salute as they say “an honorable flick to the front”. Failing to recite the accusation exactly prompted raucous cries of “Objection!” from the other players.

    Another variation, when playing in teams, would be to have the names or numbers assigned to the positions in the row, not the teams themselves. For instance, the third team in the row would start the game as team 3, but if they make a mistake and moved down the row they would become team 1, and two other teams would move up and their numbers would also change. The new challenge here is just to remember what your number is, and everyone will find great amusement watching the odd player jump up when it isn’t their turn because they forgot their number. Or when almost everyone in a team jumps up, but leaves one inattentive player sitting!