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LEADING GAMES
There are three aims to leading games…
 To have fun.
 To build community.
 Develop individuals.
Top ten tips!
1. Assess risk.
2. Be sensitive to each individual playing the game.
3. Be inclusive.
4. Know the game really well.
5. Have fun.
6. Be confident but flexible.
7. Be extravagant with points.
8. Include competition if it makes the game more fun.
9. Choose your game carefully.
10. Carry useful equipment with you.
Top games books
Play it & Play it again – Wayne Rice and Mike Yaconelli, Youth
specialities, Zondervan.
Games 1,2,3 – Youth Specialities, Zondervan.
Everyone’s a winner – Ruth Wills, Scripture Union.
Theme games – Lesley Pinchbeck, Scripture Union.
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Top 10 games with young people
1. Jelly baby chat
Make sure you buy enough jelly babies for everyone to get at least 2/3
pieces. When you start playing, tell each player to take 2/3 jelly babies
and remind them NOT to eat any of them… yet! Point out to the players
that each different colour of jelly baby means something. If you have a
board/screen, write what each colour means. Feel free to change what
you want them to share, but here are a few favourites:
Green – best ever holiday
Black – last film you watched
Red – where would you most like to go in the world
Yellow – best food
Orange – what animal would you like to be
Pink – what frightens you
2. Wizards, Giants, dwarves
Divide your group into two equal teams. Explain that this game involves
three different characters – Wizards, Giants, and Dwarves. Each
character has a different action: Wizards – waving a pretend wand; Giants
– stretching up in the air; Dwarves – crouching down low. In the game
wizards destroy giants, giants destroy dwarves, and dwarves destroy
wizards.
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In their teams, they must decide which character they are all going to be.
This needs to be done quietly so that the other team cannot hear what
choice they have made. Once both teams have made their choice, they
turn and face each other in two straight lines. On your command they
must perform their action to the other team. The team which has the
superior character wins, and must chase the other team to a designated
line or wall. If they catch any of the retreating team before they reach
their “safe zone”, they swap teams. If both teams choose the same
character, then they regroup and choose again. This game can be played
as a “best of 3/5”, or until one team is emptied of members!
3. Tray duelling
Divide the group into two equal teams. Get them to line up facing each
other, sitting on the ground or chairs. There needs to be 3 or 4 metres
between the teams. Each team needs to be allocated numbers. Before
the game, make a stick out of rolled up newspaper held together with
sellotape. You will also need two plastic trays (these need to be
lightweight so as not to injure any of the participants, but tough enough
not to break when they hit the ground!). One tray and one stick are
placed at either end of the playing area.
When a number is called, both players with that number come forward.
They pick up the stick in their dominant hand and the tray with the other
hand. The tray must be balanced on their fingertips. They then must hop
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on one foot and attempt to knock their opponent’s tray to the ground
using only their stick. This game is lots of fun but requires enthusiastic
and careful refereeing. It is great to see players who may not succeed in
other traditional games winning a duel in this game!
4. 1-100
This is a great game for a small group of 6-8. The game is played around a
table. Give each player a blank sheet of paper. Place the dice and the
pencil in the centre of the table. Players take turns to throw the dice. If a
player throws a six then they pick up the pencil and begin to write
numbers 1 to 100 on their sheet. While they are doing this the remaining
players continue to pass and throw the dice. When a six is thrown, the
player who throws it can “steal” the pencil from the player who is writing
the numbers and they then begin to write the numbers 1 to 100 on their
sheet. If a player throws a six again they continue writing their numbers
from where they were interrupted the last time. The first player to reach
100 wins.
5. 1,2,3,4 (Finger grabbing Game)
This is a sitting down circle game. On the count of 1, everyone slaps their
right knee. On the count of 2, everyone slaps their left knee. On the
count of 3, everyone puts their Right Index Finger in the air. On the count
of 4, put your left hand hovering above the person to your left’s finger.
On the word “Go”, try and grab the person on your left’s finger, while
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trying to stop the person on your right grabbing your finger!! This game
may sound complicated, but it is not!
Alternative: On 1= raise finger, 2= hover other hand flat above
neighbour’s finger, 3= try and grab.
6. Big Buckie
The group (8 people, or as many are playing) sits in a circle. The Leader
(Big Buckie) names the chairs: Buckie 1, Buckie 2, Buckie3… with the last
chair in the group being known as Wee Buckie. Leader and group starts
game off with chant of, “BBBBBBBBIG Buckie… Oh Yeah… Big Buckie, Big
Buckie, Big Buckie”. Start four beat clapping rhythm of your choice
(suggestion of slap thighs, clap, click right fingers, click left fingers)... while
clicking fingers of right hand, leader says “Big Buckie” on clicking fingers
on left hand leader selects other player by saying Buckie (and the relevant
number of the person they have selected), e.g. “Buckie 6”.
While maintaining the rhythm, the game continues by Buckie 6 following
similar instructions as above clicking right hand fingers saying Buckie 6
followed by clicking fingers on left followed with (say) Buckie 3. When
the rhythm is broken, or a person makes a mistake, they become Wee
Buckie. The group moves round and changes to the respective number of
the chair they are sitting on and the game restarts with the leader saying
“BBBBBBBBIG Buckie, Oh Yeah Big Buckie, Big Buckie, Big Buckie.”
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The object of the game is to NOT become Wee Buckie, but Big Buckie.
7. Hey Harry (equipment required: lipstick/marker)
Sit group in circle. The leader starts by saying to the person on their left:
“Hey Harry!” 2nd person replies, “Yes Harry!” 1st person: “Tell Harry!” 2nd
person then turns to the 3rd person and says: “Hey Harry!” and repeats.
Encourage this to go quickly – it is imperative that leaders are strict with
the language used as this causes mistakes. When a mistake occurs, that
person has one spot of lipstick applied to the back of their hand. They
become known as “One Spot”. The game then continues with person A
saying, “Hey One Spot!” Person B replies, “Yes Harry”, Person A replies,
“Tell Harry!” For each mistake made, you add one additional spot of
lipstick.
Alternative: (Elimination)
Rather than using lipstick, have group place hands on their own knees.
When a person makes a mistake, they become known as “One Hand”,
and place one of their hands under their leg. The game continues. If the
same person makes consecutive mistakes, totalling three, they are
eliminated from the game, i.e. “One Hand”, then “Two Hands”, then out.
8. Pictionary
All you need for this game are some sheets of paper, and some coloured
pens. Cards are made up with suggestions of what to draw written on
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them. People from each team take it in turn to pick a card, and then
draw what it says. They are given a minute to do this and, during this
time, their team are allowed as many guesses as they want. If their team
cannot guess what it is, then the other team are allowed one guess.
Points may be awarded for how fast someone guesses what is being
drawn.
9. In a tangle
Group stands in circle and each person puts left hand in the circle and
takes hold of another person’s left hand. Each person then puts their
right arm in and does the same again (to a different person). The group
then must try and untangle themselves back into a full circle, without
letting go of each other’s hands.
10. Splat!
The group stands in a circle. The leader of the game pretends to put a pie
in one person’s face and says “Splat!” That person ducks down and the
two people either side have to try and “splat” each other like the leader
“splatted” the original person. The person who reacts slowest is out and
sits down.
This person then doesn’t exist in the game anymore. The game continues
until only 3 or 4 people are left. However, if the person the leader
“splats” doesn’t duck down quickly enough, then they are out
themselves.
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Top 10 Games with children
1. A What?
Everyone sits in a circle and the first person starts off by passing an object
(the more innocuous the object the better) to the second person and says
‘This is a carrot’. The second person then asks ‘a what?’ The first person
says, ‘a carrot’. The object is then passed on to the third person while the
second person says ‘this is a carrot’. The third person asks, ‘a what?’ and
the second person turns to ask the first person ‘a what’ and they are told
‘a carrot’ – which they then tell the third person. Each time the object is
passed on and someone says ‘a what?’, the message goes all the way
back to the first person and is passed all the way back to the person who
originally asked the question. (It gets really interesting when you pass a
second object round the other side of the circle saying ‘this is a potato’!)
2. Balloon Tig
Everyone in the group is given a balloon which has a length of wool tied
to it, which they then tie round one of their ankles. The object of the
game is to stamp on other people’s balloons to burst them – while
protecting your own balloon. The winner is the person who still has their
(un-burst) balloon at the end.
3. Bus Bits
Divide into groups of 4 to 10 (two or three teams is best). Give each child
in the team the name of a part of a bus, such as steering wheel, window,
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etc. Each team has the same names and number of parts. Once the
children are lined up, tell a story about a bus and as each part is
mentioned that child needs to run up, tap you on the shoulder and run
back to their space. The winner scores a point for their team. When you
mention ‘bus’, the whole team have to run up to you and back to their
space.
4. Five Pins
Everyone stands in a circle. Five children are selected as pins and they
stand in the middle. At the command ‘pins down’, any one or all of the
five pins can return to their space in the circle but they must be replaced
by other children so that there are always five pins standing in the
middle.
5. Giant Footsteps
Have all children stand in a line at one end of the room and tell them to
take a step forward if the following statement applies to them: ‘If you
have a brown front door, take a step forward’, etc. The winner is the
child who reaches you first. The game starts again with the winning child
making the statements – which means you can join in!
(Alternative: silent footsteps, children at one end of room, one child at
the other end, facing the wall, eyes closed. Children then tiptoe forward,
but if the child at far end turns round, everyone must freeze and the last
person to stop moving has to go back to beginning.)
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6. Head & Catch
Children stand in a circle. The leader stands in the middle with a ball. The
leader then throws the ball to each child in turn saying either, ‘head’ or
‘catch’. If the leader says ‘head’, the child has to catch the ball. If the
leader says ‘catch’, the child has to head the ball.
(Alternative: ‘catch’ and ‘drop’)
7. Snow Storm
Divide group into two teams: have teams face each other with a clear line
in between. Give each child three snowballs (paper crumpled into a ball).
When you shout ‘go’, they need to throw their snowballs to the other
side and constantly chuck back any that land near them. After two
minutes shout ‘stop’ – the winning team is the one with the least
snowballs.
8. Tadpole
Divide the group into two teams. One team stands in a circle with one
person in the middle. When the word ‘go’ is shouted, this person throws
the ball to a person in the circle, who passes it back to the person in the
centre of the circle; the person in the middle throws the ball to the next
person in the circle, who throws it back, and so on. As they do this, they
count how many catches they can manage. If the ball drops, they start at
zero again. Meanwhile, the other team are lined up and, when they hear
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the word ‘go’, the first person runs round the circle, then tigs the next
person to run round until everyone has done this. They then shout stop
and find out how many points they have to beat, as the teams then swap
over.
9. Tangle
Group stands in a circle and each person puts their left hand in the circle
and takes hold of another person’s left hand. Everyone then puts their
right hand in and takes the hold of a different person’s right hand. Then
they need to try to untangle themselves into the circle again without
breaking hands.
10. Zip, Zap, Zoom
Everyone stands in a circle, and someone starts by putting their hands
together with forefingers stretched out, turning to the person next to
them and saying ‘Zip’. The next person can then decide whether they are
going to go the same way (back to the first person) by saying ‘Zip’, turn in
the other direction by saying ‘Zap’, or go across the circle towards
another member of the circle, saying ‘Zoom’. Everyone needs to be
watching out in case the flow of the game suddenly changes direction.
(To play this game as an elimination game, whenever a mistake is made,
that person drops out until one person – the winner – is left.)
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