Ages: 10 and up.  Recommend # of people: 6-15.  Messiness factor: No Sweat.  Materials Required: None.  Recommended Setting: Indoors.

Instructions:  Hodgy Podgy (also known as Hodgey Podgey and the Hodgy Podgy Word Game) is a simple yet very fun rhythm game.  A group of people stand in a circle, with everyone facing the center.  Choose a person who will start the round.  He or she starts to clap a relatively slow rhythm (slap both legs on the first beat, then clap hands on second beat, thumbs-up on left hand for third beat, and thumbs-up on right hand on fourth beat, and repeat the four beat cycle).  Everyone in the circle matches the rhythm set by the leader.  To start each round, the leader says (while clapping to the rhythm, one beat per word), “Hodgy podgy, hodgy podgy, hodgy podgy, hodgy podgy!”

The leader starts a sentence by saying any word on the one beat (for example, he or she could say the word “Big” as he or she slaps their legs on beat one).  The next person in the circle must continue the story by adding the next word in the sentence by the first beat of the next rhythm cycle (for example, the 2nd person could say “dogs,” so the sentence is now “Big dogs..”).  The third person in the circle must continue the story by adding the 3rd word in the sentence at the right time (for example, the person could say the word “eat,” making the current sentence “Big dogs eat..”).  The next person in line must continue the sentence.  Each word must make logical and grammatical sense when added to the sentence.  If a person wants to end the sentence, he or she says a punctuation word, such as “period” or “exclamation point” or “question mark.”  At this point, the next person in the circle starts the new sentence.

An example of a sample round of play would look like this (assuming there are 6 players in the circle):

• Player 1 (while clapping a 4 beat rhythm): “Hodgy podgy, hodgy podgy, hodgy podgy, hodgy podgy!”
• Player 1 starts sentence on beat one: “Big..”
• Player 2 continues sentence on beat one of next cycle: “..dogs..”
• Player 3 continues sentence on beat one of next cycle: “..eat..”
• Player 4 continues sentence on beat one of next cycle:
• “..yummy..”
• Player 5 continues sentence on beat one of next cycle: “..food..”
• Player 6 continues sentence on beat one of next cycle: “..when..”
• Player 1 continues sentence on beat one of next cycle: “..they..”
• Player 2 continues sentence on beat one of next cycle: “..are..”
• Player 3 continues sentence on beat one of next cycle: “..hungry..”
• Player 4 ends sentence on beat one of next cycle by saying: “..PERIOD..”
• Player 5 starts new sentence on beat one of next cycle: “They..”
• Player 6 continues sentence on beat one of next cycle: “..are..”
• Player 1 continues sentence on beat one of next cycle: “..very..”
• Player 2 continues sentence on beat one of next cycle: “..smelly..”
• Player 3 ends sentence on beat one of next cycle by saying: “..EXCLAMATION POINT..”
• Player 4 starts new sentence on beat one of next cycle by saying: “Bob..”

And the game continues, as players create silly stories together, word by word.

When a player makes a mistake (is unable to continue the sentence in time, or says something logically or gramatically correct) the round ends and he becomes the person who starts the next round.  This game offers lots of entertainment and is a little educational too!

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Ages: All.  Recommended # of People: 10-20.  Messiness Factor: No Sweat.  Materials Required: Blanket.  Recommended Setting: Indoors.

Blanket Name Game

Instructions:  The Blanket Name Game is a simple name recognition/identification game.  Go around the room and make introductions (share your name and other information such as your hobbies, major, etc. if desired. Separate into two groups and have two people hold a large, thick blanket separating the two groups so that neither group can see the other. When the blanket drops, the first person to correctly call out the name of the other group’s designated person wins the round (which typically means the loser of the round must leave the game, though if you prefer to avoid ‘elimination’ then you don’t have to do this).  The group may strike different humorous poses to distract the attention of other group’s person. As a variation, several people may be facing the other group with one person being chosen to call out the information of the other group’s people.

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Ages: 8 and up. Recommended # of people: 8-25. Messiness factor: No Sweat. Materials Required: None. Recommended Setting: Indoors.

Screaming Viking

How to Play

Screaming Viking is an entertaining game in which people act out silly motions and make noises.  To begin, have everyone sit in a circle with one person in the middle. The goal of the game is not be in the middle at the end of the game. The person in the middle points at a person seated in the circle and then screams, “Screaming Viking! (or one of the other formations described below). One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!” While the person is counting, the person who was selected and the people directly to the left and right must form a “Screaming Viking” formation, described below.

If any of the three people (the person selected and the people to the left and right of that person) do not correctly respond in time (before the count to 10 is up) then whoever messes up must go into the middle. The appropriate response can be one of the following:

1. Screaming Viking: each person to the left and right of the selected person must make a rowing motion outwardly to the sides, while the person in the middle must place his or her fingers to the sides of his/her head with index finger pointed upwards, like horns. All three people must scream loudly.

2. Smurfs: the 3 of them interlock arms and sing the smurf song, “La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.”

3. Chia Pet: the three of them must act as a growing chia pet with hands lifting upwards. The 3 of them must shoud, “Ch-ch-ch-chia…”

4. Jello: the person in the center wobbles like jello, while each person to the side holds their arms out, forming a bowl. You can make up other appropriate responses — the sillier the better! The more enthusiastic and wacky you are, the more entertaining the game.

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Ages: 12 and up. Recommended # of people: Larger groups of 24+ people. Messiness Factor: No problem. Materials required: bingo cards prepared in advance and writing utensils. Recommended Setting: Indoors.

Autograph Bingo

Autograph Bingo is a fun way to help both new acquaintances and old friends discover facts about each other. The goal of this icebreaker game is to mingle and obtain the signatures of people who have the facts listed on their bingo card. Just as regular bingo rules, once a player successfully obtains a full row (5 in a row) on his or her Bingo sheet, whether obtained horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, he or she shouts “BINGO!”

Setup

Prepare a table with 5 rows and 5 columns (5×5), with interesting facts inside the boxes. These facts can include humorous or bizarre things. For example you can use facts such as:

• Speaks more than two languages
• Enjoys walking in thunderstorms
• Likes anchovies
• Has been to Alaska
• Has gone skydiving before
• Has more than three sisters
• Has gone without a shower for more than three days

 

Try to be as creative as you can. Like traditional bingo, you can mark the center square as a “Free Space”. After you are finished preparing the table, print out enough copies. You are ready to play!

Instructions for How to Play

Pass out pens and the bingo cards to each player. Explain the game along with the following rule: each person you talk to may only sign your sheet once (so that people can interact with as many people as possible). When everyone is ready, say “Go!” and begin the game!Once a player shouts “Bingo!” everyone returns to the center and the person must introduce the people who signed his or her sheet. If desired, you can ask each person to explain their fact.

The Autograph Game is a great way to learn humorous or unique facts about people. Have fun!

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Ages: 10 and up.  Recommended # of People: 20 and up (large groups work fine too!).  Messiness factor: Might break a small sweat!  Materials Required: None.  Recommended Setting: Indoors or Outdoors.

Giants, Wizards, & Elves

• For the giant, each person stands on their tippy toes, lifts up their arms, and makes an angry growling noise: “Roooar!”
• For the wizard, each person crouches a little bit, flutters their fingers as though they are casting a spell, and they make a magical noise: “Woooo!”
• For the elf, each person gets down very low on their knees, cups their hands around their ears, and makes a high pitched elf noise: “Eeeeee!”

Practice each motion together a few times.  Divide everyone into two teams and have them separate into opposite sides of the room. The game invovles several rounds.  For each round, the following takes place:

1. Each team forms a huddle and decides to become a giant, wizard, or elf.
2. Both teams then line up and face each other, about 5 feet apart.
3. The facilitator says “3..2..1..Go!”
4. Each team acts out the giant, wizard, or elf (whatever they decided to become).
5. As soon as they act out their character, the winner tries to grab the loser and pulls as many people over to their side as they can.  The loser tries to run away, back to their side, in order to be safe.  The winner of each round is determined by the following.The giant defeats the elf because giants “squash” elves.
   Elves defeat wizards by outsmarting them, chewing at their legs.
   The wizard defeats the giant by “zapping” them with a magic spell.
   Identical characters are a draw (no one wins).This process keeps repeating for multiple rounds until one team is entirely consumed (or when time runs out.)

Variations

Other variations of this game exist - or you can make up your own.  Be creative!

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Ages: 10 and up. Recommended # of People: 5-6. Messiness Factor: No Sweat. Materials Required: None. Recommended Setting: Indoors.

Telephone Charades

How to Play

The Telephone Charades Game (also sometimes called ”Charades Down the Line”) is an icebreaker/stationary game that is a hilarious blend of the classic “telephone down the line” and “charades” game.  This group game is fairly simple to play. Select five to six participants and ask them to leave the room. The audience chooses an action that is specific, silly, and obscure to act out (e.g. “a nerd’s romantic first date”, “washing an elephant”, “going skydiving”, etc.). Once the clue has been decided, bring in all the participants and instruct them to face the right side. The moderator reveals the clue to the first person, who taps the second person on the shoulder and acts out the topic using charades rules (no talking allowed, no noises). The second person then taps the third person and acts out his or her understanding of what was acted out. This continues until it reaches the last person in line, who must guess what the action is. This game is funny because the action mutates and changes based upon each person’s interpretation of what is going on, often leading to confusion and silly motions.

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Great photos of group games in action in Nepal.  These folks sure look like they know how to have a great time!

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Ages: 12 and up. Recommended number of people: 7-200 (group sizes of 10 are ideal). Messiness factor: Might break a sweat - (close proximity - hope you’re not claustrophobic!). Materials required: None. Recommended setting: Both indoors or outdoors.

Human Knot Game

Goals of the Human Knot Game:

• Team building and communication
• Problem solving
• Ice-breaker or get to know others better

Setup for the Human Knot Game:

This game is versatile in that multiple group sizes can play. Form groups of about 10 people each. Have each group standing, facing towards each other, in a circle. Each person should be standing shoulder to shoulder. First, instruct everyone to lift their left hand and reach across to take the hand of someone standing across the circle. Next, have everyone lift their right and reach across to take the hand of another person standing across the circle. Make sure that no one is holding hands with someone standing directly beside the person.

How to Play the Human Knot Game

To play, the groups must communicate and figure out how to untangle the knot (forming a circle of people) without ever letting go of any hands. If you wish, this icebreaker can be played competitively, in which the facilitator says “Ready.. Set.. Go!” and has all the groups race to become the first group to finish. If any group member lets go of a hand (breaks the chain), then the group must start from the beginning, or you could impose a penalty/punishment for that person (e.g. wear a blindfold).

This game typically takes 15-30 minutes to complete. You can impose a time limit if you wish to make the game more challenging. When you are done with the Human Knot activity, you can ask some debrief questions if you wish, such as “How well did you group work together? What strategies did your group adopt? How did it feel to solve the game?” etc.

Variations

To increase the difficulty level, you can either (1) blindfold some of the players or (2) require that the game be played silently (no talking).

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Ages: All. Recommend number of people: Groups of 3-12. Messiness factor: No sweat. Materials required: A large bag of M&Ms or any candy with multiple colors (e.g. Skittles).

M&M Game

This icebreaker is a simple way to help people introduce facts about themselves. It’s very flexible and adaptable - and (if you have a sweet tooth) delicious too! The M&Ms Game goes by other names: the Skittles Game, the Candy Game, the Color Game, among other names.

Setup

Pour M&Ms or any other multicolor candy into a bowl. Have everyone in the group grab as much or as little as they like from the bowl. Make sure that no one eats their candy right away.

How to Play

For each piece of M&M candy they took, they will have to answer a question, depending on its color. For example, you can designate:

• Red candy: favorite hobbies
• Green candy: favorite foods
• Yellow candy: favorite movies
• Orange candy: favorite places to travel
• Brown candy: most memorable or embarrassing moments
• Blue candy: wild cards (they can share anyone they choose)

 

You can be creative and choose any questions you think would be fitting for your group. The facilitator will then call out the color topic and everyone will go around the room sharing 1 answer per M&M. As an example: if you chose two red pieces of candy, you will have to name two of your favorite hobbies. After the individual has shared that color with the group, he/she may then eat their candy. Continue to go around the room until each color topic has been shared. (This game was provided by LeeLee1433. Thanks LeeLee!)

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