Team Building Games

Engage (What you need to know)

• Ages

  • 13+

• Number of Participants 

  • 8. 

• Time frame 

  • 30 minutes 

• Necessary Components 

  • Toxic waste holder. 

    • It is a metal ring ( about 3-4 inches across) that has 8 pieces of rope tied to it that are each about 5ish feet long. 

      • You can add more string to increase the player count, as each player needs their own string. 

    • One can ((The toxic waste) can of peaches, pop, an empty can filled with rocks, could be anything that is round, contained, and cylinder shaped)

• Purpose

  • This game requires a lot of teamwork, communication, and coordination with a full group of people. As such it is an excellent way to build better relationships among a small group and increase their ability to work together through difficult circumstances. 

Demonstration / guide

Setup 

1. If your group doesn’t have a toxic waste setup, you can build one incredibly easily with the materials that were just shared above. 

2. Once you have that set up, you are going to lay the strings out flat and place the can of toxic waste sitting on the ring in the middle. 

3. Story. Instruct your participants that they are toxic waste removal specialists. And that they are transporting highly deadly toxic waste stored in that can. 

Game play

1. After going over the story, I tell my group that the only safe way to transport this can of toxic waste is by moving it at a distance, and that they can’t drop it, or get close to it. And they have to move it to a specific preset destination. 

2. Each person grabs one string. If tied correctly, when each person pulls on their string, the can should be lifted into the air by the pressure of everyone pulling at it from different directions. 

3. The group must now navigate across whatever space you are in, well keeping equal tension on all parts of the ring in order to not let one end slip and the can to fall off, thus losing the game. 

Optional extension. 

1. Hula hoop. Have a hula hoop that the group must climb through and navigate the toxic waste through all without dropping it. 

2. Stairs. This adds a massive amount of difficulty. 

3. Blind fold certain members. 

Explaining the requirements 

• Everyone must take hold of a piece of string 

• You are not allowed to get close to the can

• The can of toxic waste will kill you

• All of you must pull back gentle on your string in order to create enough tension to lift the can 

• Once it is in the air you must transport it to the toxic waste disposal area. 

• If the can drops at any point, the entire group must restart. 

Engage (What you need to know)

• Ages

  • 10 +

• Number of Participants 

  • 7+

• Time frame 

  • 20 - 60 minutes 

• Necessary components

  • PBC pipes  

  • Several marbles

• Purpose

  • This is a very quickly paced game that gets an entire group actively working together to solve a problem. It involves a decent amount of movement and cooperation among all who are participating in the game. The game is about participants being able to transport a marble nonstop from one side of the play area to another. 

Demonstration / guide

Set up. 

1. Decided the beginning and end of the course. It is important the beginning and the end are significantly further away than the length of all of the PVC pipes that you are going to be using (EX 10 feet of PVC Pipe, end should be 30 feet away). 

2. Cut PVC pipe into about 1 foot sections. 

3. Give each participant a PVC pipe. 

Game 

1. At the start line, you are going to place a marble into one person's PVC pipe. The goal is to now get the marble all the way to the finish line. 

2. If the marble stops at any point, the participants lose (To stop them from just balancing it in one person pipe)

3. If the marble falls on the ground then the entire group must start over. 

4. In an ideal world the entire group must work together in order to make sure that the marble is always moving, and isn’t moving too fast so it doesn't fall on the ground. 

5. The game ends when the marble makes it all the way to the other end. 

Optional extensions. 

1. Increase the distance between the start and the end

2. Mute the leaders of the group so other people have to take the leading role in the group. 

3. Add another marble. The difficulty gets increasingly more difficult the more and more marbles that you add. 

Explaining the requirements 

• Everyone gets 1 PVC pipe

• You must get from point A - to point B

• You are going to drop the marble at Point A into PVC pipe

• If the Marble stops moving they lose

• If the marble falls they lose

• If the marble doesn’t pass through everyone's PVC pipe before the end, they lose

• You will win the game if you make it to the finish line. 

Engage (What you need to know)

• Ages

  • 8+

• Number of Participants 

  • 10-20

• Time frame 

  • 10 - 30 minutes 

• Necessary components 

  • One poly dot for each player

  • A clear way to mark the beginning and end.  

• Purpose

  • This is the perfect game to both build team work, communication, and problem solving among nearly every age group and ability level of participants. It involves participants attempting to cross a space well only being able to stand on their designated poly dot spaces, and using teamwork and sharing to make it across. 

Demonstration / Guide

1. Have a distinct starting line and ending line with sideline barriers. This can be two sidewalks with grass in the middle. Tell the students that they are on a jungle adventure when you come across a river, filled with gators, on the bank of the river there are these magical turtles. 

2. You can use turtles to cross. However, because the turtles can’t multitask so when you are stepping on one, they can’t swim whilst standing (can’t drag the poly spots), but the turtles are very strong and can hold up to 2 people at a time or three feet if you want to make it harder. 

3. As you get your adventure crew ready, you see that the gators only attack turtles that aren’t holding any weight. So if you leave unattended a gator may sneak up and get them.

4. The Participants will use the poly spots to move their team across the playing field.

5. As they cross, you as the guide must be vigilant to swipe an unattended poly dot. This encourages the participants to value their limited resources. 

6. The game ends when EVERYONE makes it to the other side. 

7. Oftentimes when they get close to the other side, the front participant will get too excited and just jump off their turtle followed by maybe one more person. Creating a perfect gap for you to take a lot of them. Potentially stranding someone, making everyone have to start over. 

Explaining the requirements 

• Everyone gets 1 poly dot (magic turtle)

• They must cross the designated space

• Only 2 people can be on one turtle 

• If a turtle is left without anyone on it, it will be taken by gator

• If a turtle is scraped across the ground or moved forward well when someone is standing on it, it sinks. 

• Your entire group must make it across in order to win. 

Engage, what you need to know. 

• Ages

  • 10+

• Number of Participants 

  • 5 +

• Time frame 

  • 10 minutes - 60 minutes

• Necessary components

  • A tarp, or very durable blanket  

• Purpose

  • This is a great introductory game to problem solving. The core of this game is very simple. A tarp starts on one side, and it must be flipped over to the other side. This engages those playing by making them problem solve as a group in order to complete a relatively simple problem that quickly turns more complicated. 

Demonstration / Guide 

1. The set up is very easy, as all you need to do is lay your tarp down flat. 

2. Story example. Your boat has been flipped, thankfully everyone on board was able to scramble their way onto its back. But now you are in a predicament, you must flip your boat back over without anyone falling off. 

3. Place all of the participants onto the tarp. 

4. They must now flip this tarp, without a single person falling off or stepping off of it. 

5. This sounds relatively simple. But gets incredibly complicated when you realize that really no one can step off of the tarp. Which makes it really hard as the area of tarp shrinks and everyone must jostle for a good position. 

6. The game ends when the tarp is fully flipped over without a single person having fallen off. 

Optional extensions. 

1. Silence the leader. There will often be a voice that grows the loudest, and that person could be silenced allowing for more leaders to shine. 

2. Blindfolds. This makes the situation harder to navigate. 

3. Smaller tarp, so that everyone must press closer together and work together even more in order to accomplish the task. 

Explaining the requirements 

• Everyone onto the tarp.

• No part of you can touch anywhere that isn’t this tarp

• You must flip the tarp without any part of anyone leaving the tarp. 

Engage (What you need to know)

• Ages

  • 10+

• Number of Participants 

  • Minimum of 10 

• Time frame 

  • 20-40 minutes

• Necessary Components 

  • Small square about 4 x 4 feet. 

    • Think fully covered pallet, VERY sturdy table, a board, ect. 

• Purpose

  • This game requires participants to get very close together. It has participants standing and interacting in very close quarters with one another. It requires a very high degree of cooperation in order for a group to be able to successfully complete this activity. 

Demonstration / Guide

1. The guide will need to lay out a platform or enclosed space of some kind that is much smaller than the group as a whole. The goal is to have the entire group standing on this platform with none of their feet outside of the platform.

2. Story to tell the group, “There has been a massive squall and our ship has been wrecked. This small piece of wood is all that is left. We need to get all members of our team on the box and out of the shark infested water! 

3. At the end of the challenge, everyone must be off the ground without any part of their body touching the ground. This will require every single participant to ram together, stack together, or hold together in a very small space. It involved everyone working together in order to accomplish a very specific task. 

4. Everyone must remain on the platform for 5 seconds. Participants cannot lie on top of each other or be on the shoulders or back of another. Facilitators should spot the group. To decrease difficulty, the 5 second rule may be removed.

Optional Extensions

1. Make it so the main leaders can’t speak. 

2. Decrease the size of the platform. 

3. Increase the amount of time that they must remain on the platform. 

4. Add a time limit. If they do it twice, give them 30 seconds to do it. 

Explaining the requirements

• Gather everyone together around the platform 

• Explain the story 

• Everyone must fit onto this small wooden platform

• No one's feet may be touching the ground

• They must hold that position for at least 5 to 10 seconds 

• No laying down and stacking on top of one another.

• They must now problem solve themselves through this difficult circumstance while working together with one another. 

Engage (What you need to know)

• Ages

  • 10+

• Number of Participants 

  • 5-12

• Time frame 

  • 30-60 minutes. 

• Necessary components

  • Two trees, or two poles that are dug into the ground.  

  • A lot of strings. 

• Purpose

  • This is a game that requires active engagement. Everyone is involved in getting the group through the web at some point or another, so no one is ever just uselessly standing off to the side. The goal is to get the entire group to lift, crawl, jump, and carry each other through an interwoven web. 

Demonstration / Guide

Set Up

1. You are going to run a string about waste height off the ground between the two trees. 

2. You now have at least two holes. You are going to continue to divide these holes in half, or quarters, if you can make it random, the better. The main goal is mostly to close all of the biggest holes. 

3. Once you have your web, at least sub divided into about a dozen different holes, you are ready to go. Although if you want to increase the difficulty, you can remove, or dramatically increase the holes (thus making them smaller). 

Playing the game

1. An example story. All the participants are part of an adventuring team that is going through a cave. They run into this spider web. 

2. If they touch any of the strings, the group, the whole group is swarmed by spiders and loses. So none of them can touch any of the web.

3. The spiders are actively closing the big huge holes. So once ONE person goes through a hole in the web, no one else can go through that hole. This will force the participants into using the ever increasingly harder and harder holes. 

4. Once the participants start getting to those holes, tjey are gonna have to lift each other upwards, help carry, or help each other jump through the web without hitting any of the web. 

Explaining the requirements

• You are all trapped on one side of the web

• You must make it through to the other side

• You can only use a hole in the web once 

• You CANNOT touch the web. 

  • If even one person bumps it, everyone must start over

• Participants are to help on another through the web

  • Especially important in the higher, or smaller holes that are difficult to get through. 

• The game ends once everyone has made it through the web. 

Engage (What you need to know)

• Ages

  • 10+

• Number of Participants 

  • 8-16

• Time frame 

  • 10-30 minutes 

• Necessary components. 

  • Whatever resources you happen to have laying around 

    • Examples, blocks, rope, hula hoops, chairs, and ect. 

• Purpose

  • To get a group of people to creatively problem solve together. This activity requires a high amount of nonverbal communication and cooperation between all of the participants involved. It is also very easy for it to devolve a little bit of controlled chaos which can help a group to learn and grow together. 

Demonstration / Guide

1.  Make one big circle of the participants, with all of your supplies off to the side. 

2. You are going to pull one of the participants off to the side, or put them outside the room, or just blind fold them. 

3. In the center of the circle you are going to build a structure. It could be completely random. Example, a blue block sitting on a chair with a red Hula Hoop leaning against it. Tell all of the participants who can see it, that their goal is to get the blinded person to replicate this structure exactly. 

   1. You can either photograph this particular creation if you have a phone 

   2. If you have the supplies, you can cover this version with a blanket or tarp, and provide the participants with an exact duplicate set. 

4. Once the original creation has been covered or destroyed you bring the blindfolded person back and into the circle. Their job is now to work with their team in order to recreate the original structure. 

5. Each person on the exterior of the circle can only say 1 word. So the entire group must work together in order to try and recreate it.

   1. Player 1. “Place” Player 2 “the” Player 3 “blue” player 4 “block” player 5 “on” Player 6 “the” player 7 “chair.” This continues on until the original structure has been replicated. 

Optional extension. 

• Multiple people pulled out to make communicating with them more challenging 

• More items. 

Explaining the requirements 

• Everyone gather into a circle

• Pull one person aside 

• Each person in the circle can only say one word

• Everyone must work together in order to try and replicate the original structure. 

• Build a random structure 

  • Ex, hula hoop with block in the center, and PVC pipe making a cross on the outside. 

• Take a picture of, or cover this structure. Tell the participants to memorize it. 

• Bring back the person kept to the side. 

• Pick a person to start with on the outside of the circle. 

• That person gets to start the game off by saying a single world that relates to the building of the structure. 

• Once they have said their word it moves to the person to their right. This will continue around the circle as many people say one word to the person in the middle.

• With constant one word instructions see if this blind builder is able to build an exact replica

Engage (What you need to know)

• Ages

  • 12+

• Number of Participants 

  • 3+ 

    • Separate into teams if larger than 10. 

      • Will need to double the resources. 

• Time frame 

  • 20 - 30 minutes 

• Necessary components 

  • At least 25 squares

  • Maybe more if you want the game to be more complicated. 

• Purpose

  • This game is designed to test participants' ability to communicate with one another and their team. It is a great way to get a small group of people problem solving together. As it pushes students to use their memory and their team working skills to cross a maze that none of them can see, and that they can only remember. 

Demonstration / Guide 

Setup

1. First all of the 25 (or more) squares are going to be laid out in a grid pattern. 

2. Then on a piece of (preferably graph paper) you are going to make out the path that you are going to be making the participants cross. Here is an example of what I mean. That is it for the set up.

Game play

1. First off I am going to give the participants the starting square. I would highly recommend doing this as it helps make directions less confusing. It can also be helpful to give the participants a story! Ex. They are trying to break into an ancient temple and must make it past the maze without triggering the trap. 

2. Participants can only step on “safe” squares that are part of the path. If they step on a square that is not on the path, they ‘die’ and must start over, and the next participant in line can go. 

3. The biggest aim of the game is to get the participants to work together to memorize the path through the maze. As one participant could theoretically do this by themselves with enough repetition and practice. Optional extensions include time limits, only being allowed to do so once. MORE SQUARES!

Explaining the rules

• The participants goal is to make it through this ‘blind maze’

• It consists of a series of squares, and there is only one way through 

• Participants are to form a line behind the starting square. 

• The first person steps on the square and make a blind guess on which square to step next. 

• If they get a safe square they get to guess again 

• When they get it wrong they go to the back of the line

• The next person steps up with the knowledge of at least one square that is NOT safe

• This improves their judgement of where to go next

• The participants in the line are encouraged to help their teammate making their way through

• The game ends when the participants reach the ‘safe’ square that is the only exit out of this memory maze. 

Engage (What you need to know)

• Ages

  • 11+

• Number of Participants 

  • 8-20

• Time frame 

  • 30 minutes

• Necessary components 

  • A rod, PVC pipe, Straight stick, or pole of about 3-4 feet. 

    • One for each participant. 

  • Exactly one of these should be a different color or distinct in some way. 

• Purpose

  • This is a very challenging game that requires a group to learn a high amount of cooperation and movement. It is important for all 

Demonstration / guide

1. This game was something that I learned from my brother who was taught it by a man from New Mexico. Well, my brother was in Iowa so he could use it for a camp in Wisconsin. So of course, it is called Minnesota Stick Shuffle. 

2. First you are going to gather everyone into one giant circle. Everyone should pick up a pole and place it in the dirt. One of the poles should be a different color from the rest of the poles. The goal is for the entire group to make an entire circle.

3. If a pole falls over, the entire group must go back to their original starting point. If the base of a pole shifts, this is also normally counted as a “slip” or “fall.” This is very difficult to do, as participants can only be holding onto one pole at a time. 

4. So, a participant must let go of one pole, and quickly move to the one to the right before it slips. All of the participants must do it all at the same time as they are a team, and if any of them slip, they must all restart. This requires them to use a high amount of communication to be able to know when they can switch. 

Extensions!

• You must pass your stick two people over. So instead of going to the stick immediately on your right, you must skip the stick right and go two over. This decreases the amount of time that participants have to move over. 

• Doing it in silence. This increases the amount of nonverbal cues that students must pick up on with one another . 

Explaining the requirements 

• Everyone gather into a circle 

• Everyone hold onto one rod at a time

• If any of the rods fall over, you must all restart 

• The goal is to get everyone back to the original pole that they started with

• You must communicate with one another to make sure everyone is in sync with one another. 

Engage (What you need to know)

• Ages

  • 8+

• Number of Participants 

  • 10 +

• Time frame 

  • 10-30 minutes

• Necessary Components  

  • Nothing is needed. 

• Purpose

  • This is a very fast and easy to play game. This allows your participants to learn a lot about one another relatively quickly. It puts small groups against one another that puts pressure onto your participants to try their best. It is also incredibly easy for this game to be expanded and changed to meet the needs of your current situation. 

Demonstration / Guide 

1. First split the entire group into two different teams. The more various lines I can get the better I know that this game is gonna run. 

2. The goal is for each one of the lines to be able to order themselves faster than the other line. 

3. So if there are 5 people in each team, I would ask them to "organize by height” and both lines would have to organize themselves from tallest to shortest. Whichever group is able to do it first, is the winner. 

4. Some optional questions that you can ask. 

   1. Birthdays (Bonus points if there are overlapping months, and they get the correct days) Number of siblings, shoe size, age, favorite subject, job, last initials, first name, favorite soda, and much more. 

5. This continues until the guide decides to end the game. 

Optional extensions. 

6. Games like this are incredibly easy and fun to extend! Here are some ways to do so.

7. Mix up the teams. 

8. Blindfold certain or all members. 

9. Make them do it without talking 

Explaining the requirements 

• Separate your group into two teams

• This is a race between the two teams to organize themselves as quickly as possible. 

• It's that simple!

Engage (What you need to know 

• Ages

  • 5+

• Number of Participants 

  • 8 - 20 works best 

• Time frame 

  • 5-25 minutes

• Necessary Components. 

  •  Exactly one less poly dot than the number of players you have. 

• Purpose

  • This is one of the easiest and most well known get to know you type of games. This version has been adapted to be played easier with groups of students and to allow this common kids game to flow better as a structured activity. 

Demonstration / guide

1. First is the set up of the game. Which for this one is pretty simple. I am going to layout my poly dots in roughly a circle. Ensuring that I have exactly one less than the number of people that are going to play. Before beginning to play I am going to ask everyone to go ahead and ask everyone to find a poly dot. 

2. Here I'm going to remember to always be appropriate and kind with their questions. 

3.  Now how this game works is the person standing in the center asks a question. “I Have tried lobster!” Everyone who is in the circle who has tried Lobster must not move to a different poly-dot. 

4.  This ends with one person not being able to find a poly Dot and now being the center.  this person now gets to ask the next question.  which could be something much more ordinary that causes everyone to move instead of just a few, like “summer is my favorite time of year.”

5. The game continues until the guide cuts it off

Explaining the requirements (Simplified 2nd person cheatsheet) (1 Page)

• Place poly-dots in a circle. 

• Leave one less than number of players 

• Place yourself in the center 

• Explain that if you ‘have’ done what the question asks, you must now find a new poly dot to stand on. 

  • Example: “I have worn blue jeans”

    • Everyone who has worn blue jeans must now move to different spot

  • Another example: “I have been to a summer camp.”

    • Everyone who has been to a summer camp must now move. 

• This continues until the guide ends the game.  

Engage (What you need to know 

• Ages

  • 5+

• Number of Participants 

  • 20+

• Time frame 

  • 5-15 minutes (depends on group size

• Necessary components.

  • None 

• Purpose

  • This is a great brain break for a conference or a large group of people. It is incredibly simple and easy to understand and follow. Which makes it ideal for large groups of people. It is also very high energy. 

Demonstration / Guide 

1. I start by gathering everyone together and reigning over the rules of Rock, Paper, Scissors to make sure that everyone is on the same page of how to play. Specifically, it is supposed to go “Rock, Paper, Scissors, shoot” and you show your hand on shoot. There is no twist to this part. It is just the normal game. 

2. What makes it entertaining is what follows. Which is to say John loses to Jane. John now becomes Jane’s Biggest fan. He must follow her around and cheer her on, chant her name, hype her up as she plays rock paper scissors. 

3. Say Jane beats the next person who also had a “biggest fan” Jane now has a collection of 3 fans that are following her around and hyping her up. This continues until everyone in the entire game is on one side or another. The game of course ends when the last person wins the last round and everyone who was playing is now their biggest fan. 

Optional extensions. 

4. This game can go by very quickly, even with a large group of people. So I find it fun to play the game several times. Biggest statistically, it should be a completely different person/game every time you do it. 

Explaining the requirements 

• Gather everyone together 

• Explain Rock, Paper, Scissors, SHOOT!

• Each player finds one other person 

• They play until one person wins 

• The loser becomes the winner's biggest fan. 

• If a loser already has multiple fans, the fans and the loser join the winner. 

• Everyone is involved the entire length of the game 

• This continues until everyone becomes the last player's ‘biggest fan.’

Engage (What you need to know)

• Ages 

  • 5+

• Number of Participants 

  • 5+

• Time frame 

  • 3-15 minutes 

• Necessary components

  • None

• Purpose

  • This game is incredibly easy to play and can be done with minimal resources. Its primary goal is for you as the guide to be able to quickly learn everyone's names. In this game names are the main focus as a ball or throwable object quickly travels between people as you hear their names again and again. 

Demonstrating/ guide

1. First it is important that I get everyone into a large circle. I begin with a ball in my hand and introduce myself to the group. 

2. I then ask the name of the person directly across from myself. Once they answer by saying their own name, I would then call out their name and toss them the ball. 

3. This process then repeats for everyone, where the boss is tossed around the entire circle for the first time. 

4. Now I would explain we are going to repeat that whole cycle again, as fast as possible. At this point I would throw the ball and yell “JANE!” The ball then passes around the circle faster with each person calling out the name of the person across from them. The ball has made its way around the dorm in one full loop. At this point I have heard everyone’s names maybe once, probably not enough to remember them. The game ends after the 3rd or 4th around, allowing me to have heard everyone's names several times over. 

Explaining the rules

• Get everyone playing into a circle. 

• Introduce yourself

• Figure out name of person across from you

• You throw the ball across the circle saying that persons name

• Tell them to do the same

• They ask the name of the person across from them. 

• They throw the ball

• Repeat process each person throwing to a new person until the ball has made its way back to you

• Challenge the group to see if they can do it even faster 

• Ball travels around the circle again until it once again reaches you 

• You can continue to up the ante until the group achieves an arbitrary time limit depending on the size of the group. 

Engage (What you need to know)

• Ages 

  • 13+

• Number of Participants 

  • 10-40

• Time frame 

  • 20-60 minutes

• Necessary components 

  • A bowl and or hat. 

  • Slips of paper

  • Pens

• Purpose. 

  • The purpose of this game is to introduce potentially unfamiliar people with one another while also creating a space where peoples names are repeated again and again. One of the main benefits of this game is that the people who normally fly under the radar of a group will most often be forced into a position where they are brought forward. 

Demonstration / guide

1. First and foremost I am going to have everyone write their own name onto a thin sheet of paper. Once they have written their name the leader goes around and collects them into a bowl or hat. I give it a good shake. Once I have everyone's names into the hat I am going to read them aloud once. After having read all of the names out loud I am then going to fold all of the papers and shake them again completely randomizing them. I am then gonna pass the bowl around again and everyone has to draw out a random slip of paper. So John could end with Jane’s name, and Jane with Josphine’s name. This is where the game finally begins. 

2. Each participant is allowed to ask 1 question per round to try and figure out who the other person has. So Jane might ask John “Are you someone who really enjoys gummy candy?” John would use the information he knows about the person that he has to answer the question. It is like a real person, multiple player version of guess who. If you ask “Are you ____” the person answering only has to say yes if they are that person, otherwise they are allowed to remain silent. Any other question is completely fair game! 

3. If you guess the correct name. John guesses that Jane had Josphine name as her person, if he was correct and Jane did have Josephine as her person, Jane must now join John’s team. The two of them must then work together in order to bring more people into their empire. 

4. This cycle continues on, guessing more people and asking more questions, and more people join other peoples' empires until there are only two people left with everyone in the entire game on one side or the other. These last two continue to ask questions back and forth until one of them guesses the correct name and becomes the ultimate empire. 

Explaining the requirements 

• Everyone writes their name down on a slip of paper

• That paper is placed into a bowl

• The bowl is mixed up 

• Every name is only read aloud once. 

• The bowl is passed back around the circle 

• Each person draws a random name of a different player

• The main game begins 

• One person can ask any other person in the circle any “yes or no question”

  • Ex “Brown hair?” Ex “likes Fruit?” Ex “Is in 9th grade?” Ex “are they _?”

• If the guesser is wrong, the question moves to the person to their right.

• If they are correct when guessing the other player's identity, the other player joins their ‘empire’ and is now out of the game and must aid the person who guessed correctly. 

• The guess then passes to the person to the correct guesser right. 

• This pattern continues until 2 empires remain 

  • As in, every player in the game is now on the team of 2 people. 

• The game ends when one of the last two guesses the other person's identity. 

Engage

• Ages

  • 4+

• Number of Participants 

  • 3+

• Time frame 

  • About a minute added per participant. 

• Necessary Components  

  • alliteration  meaning “when two things have the same first letter or beginning sound.”

• Purpose

  • One of the best ways to learn all of a group's names on the first day. It involves hearing every participant's names repeated multiple times throughout the entire course of this game. Personally speaking, it is the most effective and somewhat frustrating way to learn everyone's name. 

Demonstration / guide

1. First I pick the theme of the iteration, this could be emotions, feels, animals, ice cream flavors. Then I gather everyone into a circle. For this explanation I am going to use animals. 

2. As the guide I am going to start, I am going to go last. So starting with the person on my right, they will now introduce themselves, “John Jellyfish.”

3. Here is the rule where it gets long, and what makes it super effective for learning everyone's names. Because when we pass it on to the next person, Jane must say the name of everyone that came before she can introduce herself. So Jane would say “John Jellyfish, I’m Jane Jaguar”

4. Then she passes it on to Jake, who must now say “John jellyfish, Jane jaguar, I’m Jake jackal” 

5. This ends with me as the guide, who must now be able to name every single person in the group and finally introduce myself. 

Explaining the requirements

• Pick the alliteration 

  • Animals, emotions, adjective, trees, ect

• Start with the person to your right as a guide 

• This person says their name their alliteration 

• The next person must repeat the name and alliteration  of every single previous person. 

• Player 1 says player 1’s name

• Player 2 says, 1 and 2

• Player 3 says 1, 2, and now 3. 

• Player 4 has to say the name and alliteration  of 1, 2, 3, and now themselves. 

• This continues on until it reaches you the guide, who must now say the name and alliteration of every single person in the circle. 

Engage (what you need to know)

• Ages

  • 13-25

• Number of Participants 

  • 10 -20

• Time frame 

  • 10-30 minutes 

• Necessary Components  

  • 1 chair for every person

  • 1 Beach ball

• Purpose

  • High energy game that requires that really engages young adults in an intense back and forth action. It involves sabotage, some competition, and a willingness to scramble for a ball. This game is all focused on creating a high energy fun around throwing a beach ball around a circle. 

Demonstration / guide

1. First is a wide clear space and a set of chairs to be able to make a circle of chairs. Once the circle is made, there will be one less chair than the number of people playing. So assuming 15 people are playing, there will only be 14 chairs. This game is essentially “Monkey in the middle” 

2. The person in the middle’s goal is to get the ball by any means necessary, the people around the edge's goal is to stop the person in the middle from getting the ball. Sense everyone is sitting, the person in the middle has a massive advantage. They have complete freedom of movement as opposed to the rest of the people playing. 

3. The exterior people in order to keep the ball away from the person in the middle must continually pass the beach ball around the circle. Either by throwing it, rolling it, or chucking it as hard as they can. If the person in the middle gets a hold of the ball, the last person who was touching the ball is now in the middle. 

4. This hopefully creates situations where the ball is launched out of the circle, either because nobody caught it, or someone failed to catch it. The last person who threw the ball must now scramble over the chairs and their fellow circle mates in order to try and get to the ball before the person in the middle can. This action is where the game gets its titular name of death ball. This game could theoretically go on forever. However I recommend cutting it off when you can tell the energy is dropping. 

Explaining the requirements. 

• Create a circle of chairs

• With one fewer chair than the number of participants. 

• One person is selected to be in the middle 

• The circle must stop the person in the middle from getting the ball 

• The person in the middle must get the beach ball

• If the middle person gets the ball, they take the seat of the last person to touch the ball. 

• The last person who touched the ball is now in the middle. 

• Make sure they know they do not want to be in the middle

Engage (What you need to know) 

• Ages

  • 13 - 25

• Number of Participants 

  • 10 - 30

• Time frame 

  • 10-20 minutes 

• Necessary Components 

  • Beach ball 

    • Dodgeball can be used too if you want to make it more competitive. 

• Engage (Purpose)

  • This game is designed to get everyone up on their feet and throwing a ball around. It puts everyone into a big circle with a very clear goal so everyone is working together while being face to face. It is also just fun to try and throw a ball at someone. 

Demonstration / Guide

1. First I gather everyone together and have them form a circle. Then I will randomly select two people to come and stand in the middle circle. One of them is now the president and the other is the President’s body guard. 

2. The president is not allowed to their feet whatsoever. They are now completely rooted in place. They are allowed to duck, dodge, cower, cover, but they must stand in the same spot in the exact middle of the circle. If they are hit by the ball at all, they are ‘killed’ and go and join the rest of the circle. 

3. Which leads to the body guard. The body guard must “Protect the president” they are allowed to move around, and take shots for the president. They can jump in the way, block with their body, hands, feet, ect. If they catch the ball they must throw it back out into the rest of the circle. If the president is killed, they become the president. 

4. The circle. The circle's only goal is to try and hit the president with a ball. The person who succeeds in hitting the president with a ball becomes the next body guard and must protect the new president. The game continues on in this pattern until I decided to call it. Some optional ways to make it harder are to introduce a second ball or restrict the bodyguards area of movement. 

Explaining the requirements 

• Gather everyone in a circle 

• Select one president to start

• Select on bodyguard to start

• The president cannot move their feet

• The bodyguard must protect the president and can get hit by the ball 

• The circle must toss the ball around the circle to circumnavigate the body guard and try and hit the president. 

• The person who does successfully hit the president becomes the bodyguard

• The bodyguard becomes the president 

• The game continues on in this manner until the facilitator ends it. 

Engage (What you need to know)

• Ages

  • 5+

• Number of Participants 

  • 7+

• Time frame 

  • Depends on the number of participants. Assume 1 minute per person. 

• Necessary Components 

  • There are no necessary components

• Purpose

  • This is a game that can be whipped out and played at a moment's notice. It is really good at filling an awkward gap in time. It’s quick, it's easy to get the hang of and explain to new players. Get ready to hear the sound “Ye Haw” a lot!

Demonstration / Guide

1. Movements include “Ye Haw,” moves it in one direction. For the sake of fun it's very important that you get people into the “Ye Haw,”  stance as well.  If you do not know what this looks like,  wide stance knees bent,  one arm swings across in a fist as a person loudly yells “Ye Haw!”  I normally have it go around the circle one full time with this just singular instruction so everyone gets used to passing the sound effects along to the next person.

2. “Wow there.” Stops the Haw and moves it in the other direction. Recommend hand gestures throwing up both hands like a shield. Say the “Ye Haw,” was moving clockwise,  with this command the “Ye Haw,”  begins to go counterclockwise.  Now it is very easy to get to a situation where one person is in the middle,  and both people on either side use “Wow there.”  This is where the next command comes in.

3. “Pew Pew.” People are expected to make finger guns and point at somebody across from the circle from them. They then shoot the “Ye Haw,” across the circle. This makes it so it is impossible for the game to get trapped in one spot. Anyone can use “Pew Pew” at any time. 

4. Last to discuss here, “There's a snake in my boot!” Everyone in the current direction of the Haw must jump to ‘Avoid the snake that's traveling around the circle’ until someone yells “Got em!” and then the game continues on with the normal “Ye Haw”  moving in the normal Direction.  there are of course others that you could add,  or just make up on the spot.

Explaining the requirements 

• Gather everyone into a circle.

• Explain “Ye haw” 

  • A person loudly yells the words “Ye Haw,” 

•  The person on their right must then also copy

• This continues until it has made its way around the circle.

• “Wow there”  

  • A new command that reverses the direction.

•  “Pew pew.” 

  • A person makes finger guns and shoots “Ye Haw,” across the circle.

• “Snake  in my boot.”

  •  everyone in the current direction of the “Ye Haw,”  must jump one after another in the same way the “Ye Haw,” travels around the circle. Until someone yells: 

•  “Got 'em!”

  • Stops the jumping 

Engage (What you need to know)

• Ages 

  • 10+

• You will need 

  • A large group of people

  • A loud voice

• Participants 

  • 10+

• Time frame 

  • 5 minutes to whenever folks get bored

• Purpose

  • This game is to serve as an ice breaker for a large group of people that might not know each other to get a little bit more comfortable with one another. It is an easy way to get big groups of people up and moving and interacting with one another as a fast brain break. It is meant to be high energy and loud in order to provide a break or a fun activity to the others around. 

Demonstration / guide 

1. First I gather everyone together into a large group. It is very important that I cover the rules before anything else. The first instruction is that of “Mumble Mumble.” Participants will make pinching hand gestures with both hands and say “Mumble Mumble” at least three times to another participant before having to move on to another person. The goal of the “Mumble mumble” is to keep the group moving and constantly confused. As in, a person should constantly be in a moving position so that they are face to face with a different person constantly. This is when the rest of the actions of “Mumble Mumble” come into play and why it is important that a large group that is constantly moving.

   1.  Here are the five standard call outs I use, however if you are feeling creative you can always add more. 

2. For One Person is mumble Mumble, hands up like a crab. 

3. Two People. “CROWS NEST” One person stands tall, and looks through ‘biniclores’ and the other kneels directly in front. 

4. Three people. “Row the boat!” Two people link arms and a third stands in front of them with both arms collapsed to make the prow of the boat. 

5. Four people. “Captains table!” two people stand face to face, and on their left and right stand another two people to create a square. They then pretend to eat off of the table. 

6. Five person group. “Walk the plank!” Five people stand in a line. If it is over 5 people, or under 5 people, I would eliminate the entire. If someone is not able to find someone or you aren’t able to make the group, that person or set of people is eliminated. I as the runner of the game can pick which callout to do in order to control the game. If I want it to last 10 minutes I’ll try and get more people out, if I want it to last longer I’ll do longer ones. 

Explaining the requirements

• Get the group to be quite 

• Get into large blob

• Explain the 5 separate actions 

• 1. Mumble Mumble 

  • Students repeat “Mumble Mumble, Mumble” to one person and move on to a new person.

• 2. Crows Nest

  • One person kneels, the other looks out. 

• 3. Row the boat

  • Participants link arms and make a boat

• 4. Captains table 

  • 4 participants stand in a square facing inward and pretending to eat

• 5. Walk the Plank 

  • Exactly 5 participants stand in a line

• If someone can’t make a group they are out

• The game ends when everyone but one or two is left. 

Engage (What you need to know)

• Ages

  • As long as both people are roughly the same height and weight it doesn’t really matter.

• Number of Participants 

  • 2

• Time frame 

  • 0:30 seconds to a few minutes. 

• Necessary components 

  • Covering of safety terms

• Engage (Purpose)

• This is a very short game that can be used to settle an argument between two people. It is quick, it's fun to watch, and it's an easy way to get kids or young adults energized as they play sword fights back and forth. 

Demonstration / guide. How I describe the game is very important it is that this is for fun! Now, the rules! Two people clasp their right hands. Place their left behind their back. And stand face to face, arms fully extended. 

1. The Hands clasped should be done so that the thumbs are sitting on the top of each other. The pointer fingers should be fully extended. 

2. Once your fencers are ready, without letting go, without using your left hand, and only hitting anywhere (legs, arms, chest) above the other person's elbow, you must poke them. With each person trying to poke the other, and trying to stop the other a lot of fast paced shingans ensue. 
   

Explaining the requirements 

• Each person clasps hands 

• Pointer fingers extended 

• The other hand extended behind their backs

• They attempt to poke one another. 

• They cannot knock the other person to the ground 

• Game ends when someone is successfully poked

Engage (What you need to know) 

• Ages

  • 5+

• Number of Participants 

  • 10+

• Time frame 

  • Depends on group size. 10 people, 5 minutes. 100 people in 20 minutes. 

• Necessary Terminology  

  • None

• Purpose

  • This game is used to engage large groups of people interacting with one another in an entertaining manner. It focuses on high levels of movement, making sound, and really playing it up around people. It can also serve as a good ice breaker or time killer especially with larger groups. One of the few games that works better the larger the group of people is. 

Demonstration / guide

1. This game follows for the most part the rules of rock paper scissors. Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, paper beats rock. The twist of this game is that every time you beat a level, you advance upwards in evolution. Starting with phase one, everyone begins as an egg. 

2. Phase One egg. Participants are to make a circle over their head and yell “Am an Egg!” Because eggs can only play other eggs. So you will have to find another egg and challenge them to rock paper scissors. If you win, you get to move onto phase two! 

3. Phase two, baby chick. Participants are supposed to shove their hands in their arms pits in order to make wings and continue to stay crouched. As a chick you are expected to make “Cheap cheap” sounds and challenge another Chick. Similarly to eggs, chicks can only challenge chicks. Because you are only allowed to challenge someone of the same rank as you. This pattern repeats throughout the entire game. Now you might be asking ‘what if I lose’ well if you lose, you go BACK to being an egg, if you lose as an egg you just stay an egg. However  if you win this round you can evolve to phase 3.

4. Phase three chicken. You can now stand up and use their hands to flap and make wings. Challenge another chicken and win to move onto phase four. 

5. Phase four Roaster. Clasping both hands together stretched out front and standing tall they make “Doodle doooo!” 

6. Phase five, the Dinosaur. (yes I technically know this is ‘deevoling’ but it's fun) At this stage the participant lifts their hands above their head and makes roaring sounds. This is the final stage, as soon as one Dinosaur beats another dinosaur, the game is over and that person is crowned the victor. 

Explaining the requirements 

• Gather large group 

• Explain rock paper scissors

• Explain phase one Egg

• Explain if you win you go to phase 2, a chick

• You can only challenge someone of the same rank 

• Phase 2 chick becomes phase 3 chicken. 

  • If they lose they go back to being an egg

• Phase 3 to phase 4 rooster 

  • or if loose goes to being an egg. 

• Phase 4 to phase 5 dinosaur 

  • Or if they lose they go to an egg. 

• Phase 5 dinosaur challenges another phase 5 dinosaur 

  • The winning dino becomes the winner of the game.