If you know me at all, or have been around me when I’m planning youth group, one of the parts that I always struggle with is coming up with games. I think it’s important to have a theology of play and I know that games can be fun and contribute to the formation of community, etc., etc., but when it all comes down to it, I really do not look forward to planning the games. So, as I was sitting around talking to Sarah about games this past Sunday, I thought I’d ask my Facebook/Twitter friends what they thought the all-time best youth group games were. I received about 30 people who mentioned games, and some came up numerous times. So, in order of most votes to least, I present you with the Top 20 All-Time Best Youth Group Games.
- Sardines
- Hide and Seek
- Mafia
- Grog (* see description below)
- 4 on a Couch
- King of the Couch
- Underground Church
- Manhunt
- Flip-it
- Rambo
- Fruit
- Scoot
- 4 Square
- Partner Tag
- Stupid Ninja Game (apparently too confusing to try and explain – if you want to know, we can try and find out)
- Ipod Idol (* see description below)
- Pudgy Bunny (aka Chubby Bunny)
- Belly Button War (* see description below)
- “Please Don’t Die” (* see description below)
- Ditch (* see description below)
Grog: You take apart a flashlight and hide the parts throughout the play area. One kid is the Grog, which is a monster that can freeze you in place by tagging you. Everyone has to work together to find the parts, assemble the flashlight, and shine it on the Grog to defeat “it.”
iPod Idol: One person has to sing the song that is playing in their earphones on their iPod and everyone else basically plays name that tune.
Belly Button War: Divide 2 teams, one color duck tape covering navel of one team, one color for other. Get the other teams tape.
“Please Don’t Die”: big game of keep away with 2 teams playing each other in the social hall. Winner had the ball at designated time
Ditch: 1 person is it, it starts like hide and seek. Everyone hides, then they try to “catch” the people who are hiding, who can move. Once you are found/tagged, you are also it. And last one to be found/tagged is the winner.
What about you? Do you have any favorite games that your youth group plays? Or what about when you were in youth group, do you recognize any of the games that I have listed here? Finally, what is not on my list that absolutely should be?
Related posts:
- A Theology of Play in Youth Ministry: What About Youth Group Games?
- How to make a Twitter Youth Group Newsletter
- Renew America Together Video by Youth Group
- Group Discernment: Watch the Spirit Show Up!
Share This Post:
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
The next list you should put together is of Inappropriate games that we can’t believe we encourage our kids play at one time.
Is the “Stupid Ninja Game” you’re referring to also known as Screaming Ninjas? If so, I will try to explain.
- Group stands in a circle.
- One person starts as ninja: raises hands (in prayerlike, karate-chop position) above head, and says “Hiyah!” as she brings them down to point across the circle at someone else.
- Pointed-at person becomes ninja: Says “Hiyah!” as he raises hands overhead. Pauses.
- The two people standing on either side of the ninja then karate chop (gently) with both hands, toward the ninja’s torso, and at the same time yell “Hiyah!”
- Then the ninja lowers his hands, yells “Hiyah!” and points toward another new ninja across the circle.
- This process repeats itself from step 3. Anyone who leaves out a step or drops the rhythm is out. He steps back and the circle closes the gap.
- When only two people are left, they have a yelling contest. Both people start yelling at the same time, and the one who can hold the yell longer wins.
If this is not the “Stupid Ninja Game,” then now you’ve learned an awesome new game!
Thanks for this great article! A similar fantastic game is “Yee Haw”–another circle game with yelling and enthusiastic participation!
Well there is a game going around like wildfire and it is called ninja. you get in a circle with your group and there is a master and he says “bow to you r master” and everyone bows and then he says “strike a pose” and everyone does w/e ninja pose they want. the master starts and tries to hit either the person on his left or rights hand. it goes clockwise but you can attack left or right. when he attacks u can do a defensive move but only one and u can only have one attach move. you have to attack in one staright motion. you can jump far if you want it just as to be one fluent motion. if you hit/or get hit on the hands then you or whoever is out.
then there is the game called “street fighter”. u get in a circle and there is a master and he says the samer thing as from above. He/she turns to left and says “hi-you-cut” and the next person does the same to the other left person but you can shift and the opposite way if you say “tiger uppercut” and it goes the other way. u can throw it across the circle if you say “sonic boom!” and the person u send it 2 has to accept it or they can say “thousand hand slap” and it goes back to the person who threw it. u get out if u mess up.
We call it Nin-Jedi in central Iowa.
haha. I think all of our games are some variation of “Please Don’t Die.” our youth group really likes ‘Sock Wrestling.’ Basically wrestling and trying to pull a pair of tube socks off your opponent. Carpet burns are likely. Hide and Seek in the dark is also popular.
Adam could you provide descriptions of King of the Couch, Flip It, and Rambo? Youth group is only days away…
Human Tic Tac Toe
Set up 9 chairs in the middle of the room. Divide the kids into two teams (X team and O team)and number them off. Make sure each team is equal.
The referee stands in the middle and calls out numbers. When the kids number is called they run to the chairs, sit down, and indicate if they are X or O.
The first team to get a tic tac toe wins.
If requested, I’ll try to explain #15 :) maybe it’s already described somewhere on the internet.
thanks for posting!
my youth group is obsessed with ditch and sardines and i’m trying to find some new games that are more creative and interactive… i’d love to find some “non-competitive” games that are fun! i especially need ideas that work with the small group we sometimes have – 4-6 particpants… i like the grog idea!
i thought nobody was playing chubby bunny anymore due to choking danger???? it seems like a good idea to leave that one in the past.
and what’s underground church? as i’ve been looking for games, i saw a lot of youth group games that were about “communists” and “romans and centurions” and danger for christians reading the bible/meeting for worship (which i know are real concerns and difficult situations)- it didn’t seem to me the best educational piece to play a fun game with these weird political messages that come out being “us against them”
also, since i’m totally new to youth group games – could someone explain the couch games?
I’ll second the awesomeness of “Four on a Couch” and “Mafia.”
A similar game is called “Bob,” where players sit in a circle of chairs. Each player says their name, and that chair is assigned the person’s name. One chair is assigned as “Bob,” and this is the chair everyone wants to get into. The starting player begins by saying their name, then the name of someone in the circle. Whoever is sitting in the chair assigned that name must respond within 2 seconds with that name, then the name of someone else, and so on. There will be lots of “Bob! Sara!” “Sara, Ryan!” and so on. If a person messes up by not saying the right name, responding to their own name when they’re in another chair, or waiting too long to respond, they sit in the last place chair to the left of “Bob.” Everyone else behind that person then scoots clockwise one chair over, thus giving them a new name to remember. It’s a great game to remember names, takes zero setup, and can be played just about anywhere with anyone for any time.
Also, anything that involves those foam finger darts is ideal for junior high or middle school students. Give each player one or two darts, then play capture the flag, elimination, or anything else you can think of. Buying finger darts is totally worth it.
Thanks Adam, my group loves sardines (jr high), esp in the dark sanctuary. They also like sanctuary baseball. My high school kids love mafia and SPOONS EXTREME (see below)….
SPOONS EXTREME is basically the game of spoons on steroids. Instead of placing all the spoons in the middle of the table, you place them all over the room or even in other rooms if you feel adventurous. Once somebody gets all 4 cards, they run and the rest follow. Each go crazy and run all over the place looking for the spoons.
You can either hide the spoons but that usually takes forever. I usually just place them all over the room in visible sight.
too many google ads to read the blog
You wouldn’t believe how many churches I know of that have banned sardines because of the ‘purpleing’ that takes place during that game.
fortunately all my kids are perfect little angels and i dont ever have to worry about that. :)
shuffle your buns is one of my fav, no prep, low resource games.
i had to ban kiss and tackle at another parish. yup. and, eventually, lunge and lurch because someone always. got. hurt.
peace.
I found directions to the stupid Ninja game. My youth group added their own moves that were hilarious.
ENJOY!
The Stupid Ninja Game is a party game, wherein 6—15 players sit (or stand) in a circle, each attempting to perform his or her own assigned “stupid ninja” move on cue, followed by the stupid ninja move of another player.
Ninja moves for real ninja moves google ninja pilot
The ninja moves are intended to be reminiscent of martial arts-style arcade games such as Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat; hence the name of the game. At the beginning of the game, each player chooses a move to physically perform, along with a short phrase to describe it, such as “,” “” or “Chop-chop to the Eyes!” Alternately, the move may be performed with a sound effect instead of calling out a phrase. Because the fun of the game is in the performance, the moves are often absurd or outlandish. There are no restrictions, and players may invent their own.
Some common moves:
* “Get over here” – reaches out with hand and grasps something and brings it in
* “Sonic Boom” – Cups hands near chest and hands separate as they go away from the body
* “Sir Yes Sir” – brings right hand up to eyebrow and down to side, then repeats, similar to a military salute
* “Eeeh”- Depicting a scared rabbit, puts both hands by ears, like scaring someone
* “Aah, aah, aah”- depicting grabbing opponents heart and throwing it down, thrust hand out, bring it back in, then thrust out again
* “Protein Rage”- depicting mixing a protein drink, player makes a rotation motion with both hands near knees, then on ‘rage’ pours it over their head
* “I’ll beat you with a stick”- puts both hands together and moves them downward simultaneously
* “Bless” – covers mouth and says ‘bless’ in a high, girly voice
* “I’ll bust you up” – raise right hand to about eye level and make fist, elbow pointing down; place left hand on right elbow and tap
* “Boom-sucka” – makes a fake gun with right hand, and thrusts hand downward
Objective
The objective is one of two variations:
Variation 1: Windsor (the most common)
If the game is timed, each player attempts to be seated at the “highest” seat at the end of the game. If a player makes a mistake, he or she moves to the “lowest” seat, and everyone behind them moves up one seat. The ninja move to be performed stays with the chair, not the player. Players switching chairs must perform the move assigned to that chair.
Variation 2: Hokua
If the game is untimed, a player who makes a mistake is eliminated from competition. The last player remaining wins. Since players don’t change positions in this case, they retain their move throughout the game, as well. Eliminating the second-to-last player may take quite a while, as play simply passes back and forth between two people. At this point, the performances usually become much more highly animated compared to earlier rounds, and the runner-up is eliminated because they are laughing too hard at the performance of their opponent.
Gameplay
The lead player initially yells out, “What time is it?!”, to which all the other players respond “Stupid Ninja Game Time!!!” The lead player then performs his or her own move, plus the move of another player of their choice. The person whose move was called out then repeats their own move, followed by that of yet another player. In this way, the players “pass” the play around the circle. Depending on the group’s choice, players may or may not pass the play back to the person who called their move.
Mistakes
The following are examples of mistakes that move players to the lowest seat (or eliminate them):
*Performing a move incorrectly.
*Not calling out the corresponding phrase correctly.
*Taking too long to initiate a stupid ninja move.
*Passing the play to a player who is already eliminated.
*Performing a move out of turn (believing another player’s move is their own).
The only game I’ve played in youth ministry that has NEVER bombed is Scatterball. I’ve played most of the others on the list, but there’s always been a time when they’ve fallen flat. Even sardines. Scatterball is foolproof. Here’s how it works:
1) Grab a round nerf ball, and play in a large open room like a gym. To start, everyone must have a hand on the ball. Establish boundaries outside of which players can’t roam. Throw the ball up in the air, and everyone scatters.
2) Somebody will grab the ball in the air or off the ground. When in possession of the ball, a player can take two steps — big steps, small steps, it doesn’t matter. No more than two steps. After two steps, the player must throw the ball — dodge ball style — at another player.
3) If a player is hit by the ball and the ball then falls to the ground, the hit player sits down right where he was hit. BUT, he’s not out. He can still play, he just can’t move from his seated spot.
4) If a player is hit by the ball and catches it, then the throwing player sits down. Again, sitting players are not out, they just can’t move.
5) At any time sitting players can snag the ball if it rolls by, and they can throw it at standing players trying to get them out. Sitting players should be advised to work together.
6) The game ends when only one player is standing, or when time runs out (I like to limit games to less than 10 mins.).
The reason this game never fails is that a) it has all the action of dodge ball, but b) everyone is playing all the time, and c) even timid kids can end up taking down the macho players from a sitting position. Keep each game short by awarding “survivor status” to any kid still standing after 8 mins. and you have a fast paced, fun game that’s a real winner.
Thanks, We have an awesome themed night coming up, and I just wante dcray or different games. I like the sound of Scatter Ball and am going to give it a go.
We have a game that the kids always beg to play. It is called electric broom. Basically you grab the bin, and take the rubbish bag out. Balance a broom ontop of the bin. Everyone gets into a circle and hold hands (monkey grip is better). You want to get other people out by pulling them towards the broom. If the broom gets knocked noff the bin, whoever touched it is out (even if it was multiple people), or if there is a break in the circle the 2 people who broke it are out.
When people get out, you stop the game, then they reform the circle and reset the broom before resuming. The last person is the winner, although we usually just say the last 2. They love it. If you want a change, we taped glow sticks on it once for a fluro/glow in the dark night.
1. Dodgeball- i don’t know who loved it more, them or me.
2. Gauze jousting- two people. each person puts one thigh high panty hose over their head. the panty hose has gauze or a roll of toilet paper in the end of it to give it weight. the two people stand off spinning their heads to get the hose circling around and they try to entangle and pull the hose off of their opponent. person with hose still on head wins.
3. Bucket charades- everyone contributes a well known person into the bucket. you go through the bucket three times. first round as pictionary. second round as charades. third round as taboo. a round lasts until all the papers in the bucket have been done. two teams. each team has one person go for one minute to get as many points until they switch.
4. There isn’t really a name for this one, but it was a version of tag that involved being in a predetermined boundary within our downtown area (small town much like Livermore) and the person who was it was carrying a seriously over-sized stuffed animal. when they caught someone, they’d chuck it and the new it would have to grab it and go after folks. Hi-larious… for us and community members.
How come we have played almost none of these games?
My game is “Pong Ball.”
To play this game you need a foam tennis racket, a ping pong ball, and 4 short stools or chairs. You split into 2 teams. The one team is the batting team and the other is fielding. Thsi is an inside game. You have the batting team lined up against the wall while one player sits on the stool in place of home plate , they hit the ball pitched to them. You get 2 strikes then your out, 2 outs per inning. 5 innings are played. When the ball is hit you have to run and sit on every base you get to to make it count. The team at the end of 5 innings is the winner.
HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ninja Tag
Every one stands in a circle as big as possible while holding hands, when this is done they release hands, designate 1-2 people to be it, it is their task to tag either of their neighbours from above the waist to below the shoulder, but the catch is they are not allowed to move their feet.
When tagged you are now it and you do the same, tag either neighbour, tag backs are allowed.
The catch is if you move your feet, you are out, so if your tagged and your feet move your out, if you reach to tag someone and your feet move your out.
Also if your hand or any other part of your body touches the ground then you are also out.
When someone is deemed out, they leave the circle and you then reform it and repeat the game by choosing 1-2 more people to be it.
The last two people in the game are the winners.
PS in order to tag someone it is acceptable to reach over and place your hand on their foot for support as long as you dont touch the ground and the MUST be tagged between the shoulder and the knee
THE NOODLE GAME – (aka duck, duck, goose for teenagers)
Circle of chairs 15-40
chair in the middle with a funoodle
one student gets the noodle and goes around and chooses a somebody
to whack. 1/2 of a noodle works best. we limit whacking to the knee.
the one with the noodle must set it back on the chair and get to the persons seat before they get the noodle and whack them back. player one is still it if whacked (anywhere)
before they sit down. if they get to the chair safe, the whackee is now the whacker.
add more noodles as the game goes on, don’t allow the same people to get hit over and over. we also do a knock down drag out version where the whackee can tackle the whacker. pray for safety and enjoy- our YG all time favorite game.
what are these games???
4 on a Couch
King of the Couch
Underground Church
Flip-it
Rambo
Fruit
Scoot
Thank you to everyone for the wonderful comments and ideas. When we play games in youth group, I try to make sure that they fit the theme or the objective of the evening. It is a blessing to be able to encourage plain old fun that is also pointing back to the message we are trying to get across. These kinesthetic learnings help the youth to remember the experience and connect it to the purpose of the evening.
My question: As a youth pastor who serves youth with disabilities, both physical and mental, are there creative ways to incorporate disabilities into the games mentioned here? I am all about full inclusion and have a hard time adapting many of the games mentioned above for those who are physically and developmentally disabled.
Thanks!
Actual Candy Land
Have a Candy Land Tournament but every time someone pulls a character card that moves them forward they get piece of candy. When they get a character card that moves them backwards or land on a “Lose-A-Turn” spot they lose candy. Put a large pile of Candy at the end that the person who wins receives.
There is nothing funnier then seeing students get upset over pulling a Plumpy card.
There is a game, that was brought to New Zealand by two young Americans, it is called Ninjoshka. It was my belief that they invented it. But I have heard about this game called Ninja, which seems to be the same. Does anyone have information about this game? I want to know: how long it’s been around, the exact rules (and variations), and who created it. If anyone knows that would be awesome.
Here are the rules for Ninjoshka:
A group of people start in a close circle and rub their hands together and do a build up: HiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiYA, and in the “YA” you jump back and get into your fighting position (it can be anything you like). Someone is chosen (this usually takes place before the game begins) to start, and they have to hit somebody’s hand or foot, with their hand or foot. They only have one movement, if they attack someone and miss, it is the person they attacked’s turn. If you hit somebody’s hand/foot, that person is out, and you get another turn. The winner the last man standing.
Any questions please feel free to ask, it is a epic game.
Here are 2 more games (feel free to change the names of the characters to fit your group).
Murder (aka extreme Mafia):
get in a big room like a fellowship hall and have the kids pic playing cards. There should be only one King, and one Ace and the rest hbe number cards. The person who gets the Ace in the murderer & when the lights shut off they have to go around and slide their finger across thbe throats of anyone they find. When someone gets killed they fall to the floor and lay there untill somone notices them and shouts “dead body”. When that happens the lights flip on (dead bodies are moved out of the way where they can’t talk) and the person with the King steps forward, they are the sheriff. The sheriff can ask the group 3 yes or no questions before they acuse someone of being the murderer. If they get it wrong, the lights go back off and the game continues. If the sheriff gets killed, the mafia wins.
Kissing Rugby: this is a boys vs. girls or men vs. women game. All the girls are given Letters, and the guys are given Numbers. Then a guy sits in the middle of the room; he is unable to protect himself at all. He calls out a letter and a guy will come out & stand over him to protect him. Then he calls out a number and a girl comes out to attack him. The girl has to try to kiss the guy who called out the numbers, and the boy he called out to defend him has to try to kiss her before she can kiss the guy on the ground. All players are on thier knees (it best to play over something soft like matresses). If thbe defendor kisses the attacker 1st, then that person has to be in the middle (so if the girls lose, then a girl is in the middle) and they switch calling a Numhber or Letter depending on their gender. A fun way to play is for the girls to wear bright red lipstick.
{ 3 trackbacks }