Fun Icebreaker Ideas & Activities

Category: Medium Group

Icebreakers for medium groups. The following games work really well for a group size of 5-10 people. Check them out!

  • 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!

  • iSpy Wedding Hunt

    iSpy Wedding Hunt is a combination between the typical iSpy game combined with a scavenger hunt that can be played at a wedding. This game is ideal for a wedding since it incorporates large amounts of players. Each of the players photos can be given to the bride and groom at the end, so they have unique photos and angles of their special day.

    Guests are provided with a checklist of items and different types of photos to take. They will carry this list around the wedding reception and hunt for the perfect pictures. Participants use their cell phone cameras or provided disposable cameras at a wedding to capture the items on the list.

    iSpy Wedding Hunt Set-Up

    Create a printable checklist before the wedding reception assigning the different tasks and place on each table.

    Organize how you will group people based on the amount of participating guests.

    The checklist can include:

    Someone holding hands, twirling on the dance floor, different generations together, a new friend you met at the wedding, the bride laughing, your favorite guest’s outfit, something old, something new, something blue, something sparkly, a piece of cake, a selfie with the newlyweds.

    • Cameras can be assigned individually or within partners.
    • Create teams for the hunt.

    Materials Needed

    You will need the following items to play the iSpy Wedding Hunt:

    • iSpy Wedding Hunt checklist
    • Writing utensils
    • Disposable camera/cell phone

    How to Play iSpy Wedding Hunt

    1. Divide the guests accordingly—as individuals, into pairs or groups. Also, determine who will be judging.
    2. Pass out a pen, checklist, and disposable camera—if necessary—or take out your cell phone.
    3. Read over the created checklist.
    4. Take 20-30 minutes during the reception to find the items or have the hunt be continuous throughout the reception.
    5. Take pictures of each item to bring to the judges at the end of the game.
    6. Have a small prize for the winners such as an extra party favor.

    Variations

    • The checklist can be customized to the themes, colors, guests, and any other aspect of the wedding. You can have your guests finding specific objects such as a champagne glass or have them find actions and special moments to capture like the father-daughter dance.
    • The teams can be organized in pairs or larger groups.
    • At a smaller wedding, individuals can each have their own cameras and play on their own.
    • The allotted time can be shortened to 20-30 minutes or last the entirety of the reception to include photos from the whole event.

  • 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.

  • Who’s My Match?

    If you’re peanut butter, where is your jelly?  Which fictional police detective is the partner of David Starsky? Which royal is married to Kate Middleton? In this introductions game, the guests at your get-together take on the role of famous figures. Through the power of conversation they will figure out each other’s hidden identities, and try and find their match!

    This game will play everyone at the party.  Ten to twenty people or so will make for a good game — but it certainly works fine for larger groups.

    Set-Up

    1. As the host of the party, prepare a name-tag for each guest at your party by writing the names of famous figures from famous partnership on each name-tag. Both halves of the partnership should be represented on a name-tag. For example, you might have these eight name-tags: “Pinky,” (and his match) “The Brain,” “Beyonce,” (and her match) “Jay Z,” “Peanut butter,” (and its match) “Jelly,” “Romeo,” (and his match) “Juliet.”
    2. As guests arrive at the party, give them a random name tag. This is their hidden identity. You can try and give female identities to the women at the party and males names to men, but the game will be even funnier if you don’t worry about it!
    3. Tell the guests to read the name tag, then to put it in their pocket and not to tell other guests what is written on it!

    Play Who’s My Match?

    • As a player, the aim of the game is to find the guest who owns the name tag that matches yours. If you are Tom, you are looking for Jerry. You do this by talking to the other guests.
    • However — when answering questions about their hidden identity, players can only answer yes or no.
    • When asking questions players cannot ask directly ask about a character’s name. For example, questions like “Does you name start with a B?” or “Are you Beyonce?” are not allowed.

    If you think you have found your match, both players should go to an organizer to find out if they were correct or not. If you were correct, both players can now wear their name tags to show that they are “taken.”  This helps other players who are struggling to find their match. If you didn’t get it right this time, keep searching!

    Tips

    • When making the tags, throw some curveballs. A clever guest who gets the name Starsky might immediately know they are looking for Hutch, but you will make things harder for them if you also put in a similar pair, such as Cagney and Lacey. Now a question like “Are you a police detective?” isn’t so helpful.
    • Also, know your audience. You might want to focus on celebrity partners, or partners in literature, or partners in film, depending on the group you are organizing for.
    • When playing the game, ask other players about: their profession, their age, etc.

    The lovely advantage to this game is that it gets everyone at the party interested in each other. They know their partner is out there looking for them, and they just have to mingle to meet them. For this reason, it’s a real jewel at events where people haven’t yet met each other.

    When two players have found their match, ask them to pose as the people on their name-tags for a funny photo that you can put online. 

  • The Bests

    Perhaps you have seen those TV game shows where two team of friends or family members nominate people in their team to participate in a number of challenges. If you have ever thought it would be fun to try that out, The Bests is the game for you.

    What sort of skills will you be tested in? How about the longest stare? The quickest at looking up words in a dictionary? The fastest at walking backwards? Yes, this is a quirky game of unusual challenges. From the list of many challenge suggestions below there will be something for everyone, and even if you team loses, the pure silliness of it all will still keep things fun. This makes The Bests equally excellent for a laugh among friends, or to break the ice around strangers.

    This game works best with groups of 8 to 20 players of any age.  For extra large groups, choose a smaller group of volunteers to play at the front of the room while everyone else watches.

    Set-Up

    • As the organizer (who will not be playing) gather some or all of these items: paper cups (six or more), a dictionary, a coin, a tape measure, chewing gum, a tennis ball, and/or a stopwatch. Check the list of challenges below to find out how you will be using this strange assortment of items! You can also come up with your own challenges, and if so make sure to get hold of any equipment you will need. Also get a pen and paper to record the results.  Randomly put players into groups of four or five.

    Play

    The organizer should start each round by announcing the first part of the name of the challenge.  For example, he or she could say “The measurement..” but don’t announce what is being measured quite yet! For example, for “The Fastest Cup Stacker” round, simply announce that this round is for “The Fastest.”

    Each team now puts forward one of their players to compete in the round, who they believe will be “The Fastest…” though they don’t yet know what they need to be the fastest at! Every player needs to be picked once before anyone is chosen to participate in a second round.

    When you have a player from each team for this round, reveal the full title of the round and explain how to play.

    Give all players the equipment they need, and, if needed, tell them when to start. Meanwhile, you should referee the round to determine who wins.  The winner of the round gets one point for their team.  When all challenges have been completed, read out the scoreboard in reverse order, finally announcing the winning team. Then break out the champagne!

    Challenges List

    The quickest… at finding a particular word in the dictionary.

    The biggest… head circumference.

    The fastest… at walking backwards.

    The longest… time you get a coin to spin with one touch.

    The strongest… at speed arithmetic (ask 10 math questions, and the team who gives the fastest correct answers most often wins the point).

    The best endurance… in a staring contest.

    The shortest… time it takes to sing the Alphabet song.

    The widest… bubble blown with bubble gum.

    The greatest… at stacking paper cups (they must stack a pyramid of 6 cups, then put all the cups together again, in the shortest amount of time).

    The tallest… throw with a ball that is caught (both players have a chance to throw the ball into the air and try to catch it — the highest throw that is also caught wins).

    The most… hair.

    … and feel free to make up your own crazy rounds, too!

     

     

  • Word Association Game

    Thinking is all about making connections in the brain. Reveal something about how you and your friends think using this simple Word Association game of making connections between words!

    Play Word Association with a small group of two to eight players. It works nicely as a conversation starter, a car game, or as a drinking game.

    How to Play Word Association

    Everyone sits in a circle.  The first player, chosen randomly, says one word out loud.  The next player, in clockwise order, has to quickly say a word that has some connection with the previous word. What counts a connection is down to the parliament of players to determine: if somebody doesn’t like a connection, they can challenge it, and everyone votes on whether or not to allow it. In the event of a tie, the word is allowed.

    A player is eliminated, or takes a forfeit, if any of the below happen:

    1. They take more than three seconds to make a connection.
    2. They repeat a word that has already been said in this game.
    3. They are challenged and loses the vote.

    Eliminated players can still make challenges and cast votes.  The last player standing is the winner.

    For example, one sequences of words might be:

    • Jumper
    • Athlete
    • Javelin
    • Greek
    • God
    • Jupiter
    • Planet
    • Pluto

    At this point one player makes a challenge, on the grounds that Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Scientists are outnumbered at the table, and the word is allowed, so play continues clockwise.

    • Hades
    • Hercules
    • Hero
    • Spiderman
    • Marvel
    • Batman

    Another challenge: a player protests by pointing out that Batman is not a Marvel superhero. Pop culture justice is done, and the vote goes against the player. That player is eliminated, and a new round starts with the next player in order.

    Creative connections and creative challenges are encouraged. Don’t take this game too seriously. Just let the ideas flow and see if you don’t find it interesting or funny!

    Psychology of Word Association

    Famous psychologist Carl Jung speculated that how somebody responds in a word association exercise might reveal something about their character.  

    The connections of ideas, feelings, memories and knowledge in somebody’s brain all influence the word associations that occur to them. So, the questions is, why would one person’s first thought when they hear the word “cat” be “companion,” and another person’s as “claw.” Does that indicate a difference in a person’s feelings or experiences with cats? 

    What about how long it takes somebody to respond? One suggestion Jung made was that a fear of embarrassment at revealing their first thought was behind. But then, some words are just harder to make connections with.

    Feel free to interrupt the flow of the game to offer your off-the-cuff psychoanalysis of other players. As long it’s light and playful this game can be the source of many amusing observations. And it might even get you to ask questions about yourself, and how you think about things.

  • Zip, Zap, Boing

    A quick thinking game like Hot Potato without a ball. Kids play it on the playground, drama students play it as a warm-up exercise, and party-goers play it as a drinking game.This versatile little distraction has many variations, each named differently after the words called. Most start with Zip; Zip Zap Zop, for example. The hard to pronounce Zoom Schwartz Profigliano is a related game.

    Both of the versions described below are best played with groups of about ten or more.

    Zip Zap Zop

    This most basic version of them game isn’t very challenging, but will get a group moving and using their voice, and get them used to paying attention and responding. It’s great for the start of a class!

    Set-Up

    Everyone stands in a circle.

    Rules

    1. The first player claps their hands, says “Zip”, and points at another player in the circle.
    2. The player that was pointed to must immediately clap and point at someone else in the circle (including the previous player), saying “Zap”.
    3. The third player continues the pattern, this time using the word “Zop”.
    4. The pattern of words repeats, going: “Zip”, “Zap”, Zop”, “Zip”, “Zap” etc.
    5. If anyone hesitates or says the wrong word, they take a strike.
    6. Three strikes and a player loses, which ends the round.
    7. Try to play the game with some speed to increase the chances of a mistake.

     

    Zip Zap Boing

    This variation ups the difficulty. Instead of going through the words in a predetermined order, the player’s choose which word to use, and each has a different effect. Here is one way to play it:

    Rules

    • If a player wants to choose the player to their left, they point and say Zip.
    • If they want to choose the player on their right, the point and say Zap.
    • If they want to choose the person that just pointed at them, they say Boing without pointing.
    • Each time another player is selected in this way, it is their turn to quickly Zip, Zap, or Boing.
    • If a player hesitates or doesn’t respond when it is their turn, they get a strike. If a player’s word doesn’t match where they are pointing, they get a strike. The first player to three strikes loses, and the game ends.

    After a round or two, mix things around and up the confusion by changing the rules: now, when a player Zips or Zaps, they DON’T point, and when the Boing, they DO point. Everyone’s brain will get twisted into knots trying to relearn when to point and when not to, and the players to either side of the current player will have to be really paying attention because they have to rely on the words rather than the motions to know when it is their turn.

  • Bango Card Game

    Bango brings some of the atmosphere of the Bingo Hall to the family table. It is a very simple card game that can be played with children of almost any age. Play for counters, coins, or candy in a game of pure luck, where the toddlers can have the thrill of claiming victory over their elder siblings and parents.

    This game should be played with between three and ten players using two decks of cards, and more decks of cards can be added for even more players to join in (the more players, the better) until you’ll need a hire a hall and an announcer of your own.

    Set Up

    1. Two packs of cards are used, but are not mixed together (therefore to avoid confusion it is better to choose decks with different colored backs). Shuffle both decks separately.
    2. A dealer is decided. One classic method is to deal out cards one at a time to each player, face-up. The first player to be dealt a jack is the dealer. Retrieve the cards and shuffle that deck.
    3. All players put in an equal stake in whatever currency is being played with, to make a winner’s pool.
    4. The dealer deals out five cards to each player, including himself, from one of the two decks. This deck is now put to one side: it is not used until the next round begins.

    Play

    1. The dealer takes the second deck of cards and draws one, placing it face up in the centre of the table and announcing the name of the card.
      If any player has the duplicate of that card in front of them, they turn in over, face-down.
    2. The dealer continues to draw and announce cards, the other players turning over cards that match announced cards, as above.
    3. The winner is the player that turns all five of the cards in front of them face-down. They proudly shout “Bango!”, and have the glory of claiming the pool of winnings.

    Playing with more than ten people

    There are only 52 cards in a deck; not enough for eleven players to have five cards each. If playing with more than ten players, take a third pack of cards. Shuffle two of the packs together. The resulting deck is the one that will be dealt out to players. The other regular-sized deck is where cards are announced from.

    It is possible for there to be duplicate cards face-up on the table. When this a card is also announced by the dealer, all players that have the matching cards turn them over. As such, it is also possible for two players to win simultaneously. If one player has two identical cards and that card is announced, they turn over both of their cards.