DaveTrenholm.com

Ok, so maybe there aren’t a million and one games, but there are a whole bunch. These are just a bunch of simple games I put together for a fun games night for my youth group.

Balloon Smack

One balloon is in the middle of the room. Everyone is divided into two teams and each person is assigned a secret number (between 1 & 6 or however many there are on each team). The leader calls out a number, the person from each team who was assigned that number must grab a pool noodle (on the floor in front of them) and try to smack the balloon against the opposite team’s wall. 1 point per smack. It up to you whether you allow ‘body’ smacks or not.

The Shoe Kick

Each person dangles their shoe on the end of their foot and with a mighty kick, tries to launch their shoe the furthest.

The Slurpie Run

This is a team relay. Each person has a straw. The objective is to suction a small paper square (2 inch square) to the straw and carry it to a pylon and back. If the paper falls, the person must suction it from wherever it falls and continue. First team with all their people through wins.

Pig

To prepare for this game, get enough brown paper lunch bags for about two per person. In each bag, place some sort of snack. You can use mini chocolate bars, mints, a potato chip, some breakfast cereal, a piece of a raw potato, three soup crackers, and whatever else you think of. Staple the bags closed. Divide your players into equal teams. Have them choose one ‘pig’ among themselves – this person should be willing to eat anything. Give eat team two dice. Once the game has begun, each member of each team will take turns rolling the dice. If they get doubles, their team stops all rolling and the person who rolled doubles runs to the center of the room and retrieves a brown paper bag. Once they have returned with their bag, the player will open it and must completely consume whatever snack is in that bag before their team can continue rolling. If the player is unable or unwilling to eat their particular snack, they can feed it to the pig. Once the snack is completely swallowed, the rolling resumes. The team who has eaten the most snacks by the end of the game is the winner. Continue reading »

At a “Computer Games” theme night at our youth group, we played this game in honor of the ol’ Minesweeper game. It was pretty intense and the kids really got into it.

Instructions

Make a small 6 x 6 grid (each square is about 1ft) marked by masking tape on the floor. In 10 of the 36 squares will be a mine (a ball or any other object that won’t hurt if someone steps on it) placed by the opposing teams. One person on your team will be blindfolded and must navigate through the minefield without stepping on a grid that contains a bomb (tape not included.)

They do this by listening to the instructions of one of their teammates. If they do step on a mined square, they must go back to the front outside edge of the minefield (escorted by one of their teammates). The time it takes them to navigate through successfully will be recorded. Once one person from each team has had their turn, the next person on the team will then be blindfolded, sent through the grid, and their time recorded.

When everyone on all the teams have gone through, the times for your team will be added together and the team with the fastest total time will be winners.

The objective of this team building exercise is simple – hard boil an egg. The catch is that it is to be boiled in the middle of a river. This is a great team building exercise that requires not only teamwork, but also ingenuity, perseverance, and some fire starting skills.

How It Works

Each team starts with one egg, one tin can, and one matchbook. They are given an area in which them must hard boil their egg. Usually the water should be about knee deep, but you can adjust the depth according to your location and your particular group. The deeper the water, the greater the difficulty – especially in moving water.

Continue reading »

For a totally new way to do pictionary, try blind pictionary. In this game, everyone has a pen and paper, and is blindfolded. The players must try to draw a picture that the leader describes to them one element at a time. For example:

1. Draw an island
2. Draw a palm tree on the island.
3. Draw some coconuts on the palm tree.

Each person tries to draw the picture as accurately as they can, without being able to see what they are drawing. You’re sure to get some interesting pictures.

In the end, each element has a point value. For example:

• If the trunk of the palm tree is touching the island, get one point.
• If the coconuts are actually on the tree, get two points.

The person who has earned the most points wins.

For a complete set of instructions, scoring criteria, and sample picture, download the Blind Pictionary.pdf.

Water balloons are a heap of fun on a hot summer’s day. But how do you avoid the chaos of a free-for-all? (Although that has it’s place, too.) If you’re looking for a water balloon game that has a little bit of structure and control, but still a whole pile of fun – here’s a water balloon game that is sane, safe, and yes, very soggy.

This game has its origins in a camp setting, so I’ll explain it in that context – though you can easily adapt it to fit your situation. Continue reading »