• 40 games
  • Checked October 2026

DIY Party Games for Adults

Games a host builds from boxes, jar lids, canes and sticky notes, each with a build list and scoring.

DIY Party Games for Adults

Party dateThings still to collect

  1. Build and test every game before the guests arrive. Move a throwing line until about one throw in three scores.
  2. Any cut through thick cardboard or plastic is made beforehand, with scissors or a craft knife, and sharp edges are taped.
  3. Write each game's scoring on a card and stand it beside the game, so that nobody has to ask the host.
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  1. Four in a Row on a Chalk Grid1. Chalk a grid on the driveway, seven squares wide and six high, each as big as a dinner plate. Mark twenty-one paper plates with a cross and leave twenty-one plain.2. Two teams take turns. A plate is "dropped" down a column: it goes in the lowest empty square of the column chosen.3. The team calls the column and one player lays the plate.4. Four in a line in any direction wins. The losing team starts the next game.Players: 2 to 12. You need: chalk, forty-two paper plates and a marker.
  2. Book-Net Table Tennis With Cardboard Paddles1. An adult cuts paddles from thick cardboard, each as big as an open hand with a handle.2. Stand a row of paperback books on their edges across the middle of a table as the net.3. Play with a table tennis ball. The ball must bounce once on the far side, and a point ends when it misses the table or hits the books.4. First to 11 wins, and the server changes every two points.Players: 2 to 4. You need: thick cardboard, scissors, a row of books and a table tennis ball.
  3. Rope-Grid Tic-Tac-Toe With Sock Bags1. Lay four ropes on the lawn as a grid of nine squares, each a long step wide, and peg the ends down.2. Fill five dark socks and five light socks with rice and knot them.3. Two teams throw in turn from a line four steps back. A bag that lands in an empty square claims it, and a bag that lands anywhere else is taken back.4. Three in a row wins the game. Play best of five and swap the starting team each time.Players: 2 to 10. You need: four ropes, eight tent pegs, ten socks in two colors and rice.
  4. Napkin Parachute Onto the Bullseye1. Tie a string to each corner of a paper napkin and knot the four ends around a clothespin.2. Draw a target on a sheet of newspaper and lay it on the floor.3. Each player stands at the edge of the paper, holds the parachute as high as they can reach and lets go.4. The clothespin scores where it lands. Three drops each, and the highest total wins.Players: 2 to 10. You need: paper napkins, string, clothespins, newspaper and a marker.

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DIY outdoor party games: giant versions for a yard 8

  • Four in a Row on a Chalk Grid 1. Chalk a grid on the driveway, seven squares wide and six high, each as big as a dinner plate. Mark twenty-one paper plates with a cross and leave twenty-one plain. 2. Two teams take turns. A plate is "dropped" down a column: it goes in the lowest empty square of the column chosen. 3. The team calls the column and one player lays the plate. 4. Four in a line in any direction wins. The losing team starts the next game. Players: 2 to 12. You need: chalk, forty-two paper plates and a marker.
  • Giant Pick-Up Sticks From Garden Canes 1. Wind colored tape around the ends of twenty-five garden canes: fifteen yellow, six red, three blue and one black. 2. Hold the bundle upright on the lawn and let go. 3. Players take turns lifting one cane without moving any other. A wobble ends the turn. The black cane, once won, may be used as a tool. 4. Yellow scores 1, red 5, blue 10 and black 20. Add up when the lawn is clear. Players: 2 to 8. You need: twenty-five garden canes and tape in four colors.
  • Lawn Dominoes on Cardboard Tiles 1. An adult cuts twenty-eight tiles as big as a paperback from flattened boxes. Draw a line across each and mark every pairing of the numbers blank to six in dots, once each. 2. Mix the tiles face down on the grass. Each player draws five. 3. Play in turn by laying a tile so that its end matches an open end of the line. A player who cannot go draws one. 4. The first to lay a last tile wins the round and scores the dots left in the other hands. Players: 2 to 6. You need: flattened cardboard boxes, a craft knife and a thick marker.
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DIY outdoor party games: giant versions for a yard, continued

  • Pull a Cane, Hope Nothing Falls 1. Stand a tall wire or mesh laundry hamper upside down on two chairs, so that there is a gap beneath it. Push twenty garden canes through the mesh from side to side at different heights. 2. Pour thirty plastic balls in at the top, where they rest on the canes. 3. Players take turns pulling out one cane. Any balls that drop belong to that player. 4. When the last ball falls, the player holding the fewest wins. Players: 2 to 8. You need: a mesh laundry hamper, twenty garden canes, thirty plastic balls and two chairs.
  • Rope-Grid Tic-Tac-Toe With Sock Bags 1. Lay four ropes on the lawn as a grid of nine squares, each a long step wide, and peg the ends down. 2. Fill five dark socks and five light socks with rice and knot them. 3. Two teams throw in turn from a line four steps back. A bag that lands in an empty square claims it, and a bag that lands anywhere else is taken back. 4. Three in a row wins the game. Play best of five and swap the starting team each time. Players: 2 to 10. You need: four ropes, eight tent pegs, ten socks in two colors and rice.
  • Six-Bucket Lawn Pong 1. Set six buckets in a triangle at each end of the lawn, ten steps apart, with a little water in each so they stand firm. 2. Two teams take turns to throw a playground ball underhand at the far triangle. One bounce on the way is allowed. 3. A ball that stays in a bucket removes that bucket. 4. The first team to clear the other triangle wins. Losers refill and reset. Players: 2 to 12. You need: twelve buckets, water and two playground balls.
  • Snakes and Ladders in Chalk, Players as Pieces 1. Chalk a path of thirty numbered squares that winds across the driveway. Draw four ladders that join a low square to a higher one, and four snakes that join a high square to a lower one. 2. Tape paper over a square box and draw dots on it for a giant die. 3. Players stand on the board as their own pieces and roll in turn. 4. A ladder is climbed and a snake is slid down. The first player to reach thirty wins. Players: 2 to 8. You need: chalk, a square box, paper, tape and a marker.
  • Towel Fleet Behind the Sheet 1. Hang a bedsheet over a clothesline so that neither side can see the other's ground. 2. Each team lays out five towels on its own side as a fleet, anywhere within a marked square. 3. Teams take turns lobbing one wet sponge over the sheet. A sponge that lands on a towel sinks it, and the other team calls "hit" and removes it. 4. The first team to sink all five towels wins. Players: 4 to 12. You need: a bedsheet, a clothesline, ten towels, two sponges and a bucket of water.

Toss and target games to build 8

  • Broom Shuffleboard on a Taped Court 1. Tape a triangle on a smooth floor or a driveway, point toward the players, and divide it into zones worth 10, 8 and 7. Mark a line six steps away. 2. Each player has four plastic lids, in two colors for two sides. 3. Players push a lid with the head of a broom, taking turns. Knocking another lid out of a zone is allowed. 4. Lids score where they lie when all eight are played. First to 50 wins. Players: 2 to 8. You need: painter's tape, eight plastic lids in two colors and two brooms.
  • Coins Onto the Floating Saucer 1. Fill a wide tub or a bucket with water and float a plastic saucer on it. Mark a line two steps away. 2. Each player has ten coins of the same kind. 3. Players toss one coin at a time, trying to land it on the saucer so that it stays there. 4. Count each player's coins on the saucer. If the saucer sinks, the player who sank it scores nothing for that round. The coins go back to the host. Players: 2 to 10. You need: a tub of water, a plastic saucer and ten coins for each player.
  • Jar-Lid Pitch Into the Box and Can 1. Tape an empty can upright in the middle of a shallow cardboard box. Build a second box the same and set the two eight steps apart. 2. Players pitch three metal jar rings or lids underhand at the far box. 3. A lid in the can scores 3. A lid that stays in the box scores 1. 4. Throw from one box to the other in turn. The first player or pair to reach 21 wins. Players: 2 to 8. You need: two shallow boxes, two cans, tape and six jar lids.
  • Long-Sock Sling to the Hoops 1. Push a tennis ball into the toe of a long sock and knot the sock above it. Lay three hoops on the lawn at five, ten and fifteen steps from the throwing line. 2. A player holds the sock by its open end, swings it underhand once and lets go. 3. A sling that stops inside the near hoop scores 1, the middle 3 and the far hoop 5. 4. Three slings a turn. Everyone else stands behind the thrower. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a long sock, a tennis ball and three hoops.
  • Magnet Darts on a Baking Sheet 1. Draw a target on paper with a center worth 10 and rings worth 5, 3 and 1. Tape it to a steel baking sheet and lean the sheet on a chair back. 2. Mark a line three steps away. 3. Each player throws three flat fridge magnets, underhand and face first. A magnet scores where it sticks, and one that slides down scores where it stops. 4. Play five rounds and add up. Players: 2 to 10. You need: a steel baking sheet, paper, a marker, tape and flat fridge magnets.
  • Milk-Jug Scoop Catch 1. An adult cuts the bottom off two clean plastic jugs for each pair, leaving the handle, and tapes the cut edge. 2. Partners stand two steps apart with a scoop each, and throw a tennis ball from scoop to scoop. 3. After every catch, both take one step back. A drop means one step forward. 4. After three minutes, the pair standing farthest apart wins. Players: 2 to 16. You need: two plastic jugs for each pair, scissors, tape and tennis balls.
  • Napkin Parachute Onto the Bullseye 1. Tie a string to each corner of a paper napkin and knot the four ends around a clothespin. 2. Draw a target on a sheet of newspaper and lay it on the floor. 3. Each player stands at the edge of the paper, holds the parachute as high as they can reach and lets go. 4. The clothespin scores where it lands. Three drops each, and the highest total wins. Players: 2 to 10. You need: paper napkins, string, clothespins, newspaper and a marker.
  • Paper Airplane Landing Strip 1. Mark a runway on the floor with painter's tape, as long as the room allows, and divide the far half into three zones worth 1, 3 and 5. 2. Every guest folds one airplane from a sheet of paper and names it. 3. Pilots launch from behind the near end, three flights each. A plane scores the zone where it stops. 4. Add the three flights. The top two fly once more for the title. Players: 2 to 15. You need: painter's tape and a sheet of paper for each guest.

Table games to build 8

  • Book-Net Table Tennis With Cardboard Paddles 1. An adult cuts paddles from thick cardboard, each as big as an open hand with a handle. 2. Stand a row of paperback books on their edges across the middle of a table as the net. 3. Play with a table tennis ball. The ball must bounce once on the far side, and a point ends when it misses the table or hits the books. 4. First to 11 wins, and the server changes every two points. Players: 2 to 4. You need: thick cardboard, scissors, a row of books and a table tennis ball.
  • Box-Lid Pinball With Bottle-Cap Bumpers 1. Prop one end of a large box lid on a book so that it slopes toward the player. Glue eight bottle caps inside as bumpers. 2. Tape three paper-cup halves across the bottom edge as pockets, marked 10, 30 and 10, with gaps between them. 3. A player places a marble at the bottom right corner and flicks it up the side wall. It rolls back down through the bumpers. 4. Five flicks each. A marble through a gap scores nothing. Players: 2 to 8. You need: a large box lid, eight bottle caps, paper cups, glue, tape, a book and a marble.
  • Disc Drop Board With Pencil Pegs 1. An adult pokes twenty pencils through a sheet of thick cardboard in staggered rows, a hand's width apart, so that each sticks out the front like a peg. 2. Tape five paper cups along the bottom edge and number them 1, 3, 5, 3 and 1. Lean the board against a wall. 3. Each player drops three plastic bottle caps from the top edge. They bounce down through the pegs. 4. A cap scores the cup it lands in. Highest total after three rounds wins. Players: 2 to 10. You need: thick cardboard, twenty pencils, five paper cups, tape and bottle caps.
  • Marble Ski Jump Into the Egg Carton 1. An adult cuts a cardboard tube in half along its length to make a chute. Tape the top to a stack of books and curl the bottom end upward on the table as a ramp. 2. Stand an open egg carton a hand's width beyond the ramp and number its rows 1, 2 and 3, the farthest row highest. 3. Each player lets three marbles go from the top. 4. A marble scores the row it lands in. Move the carton back after each round. Players: 2 to 8. You need: a long cardboard tube, scissors, tape, books, an egg carton and three marbles.
  • The Punch-Cup Prize Board 1. Glue or tape twenty paper cups to a large sheet of cardboard, open ends out. Put a slip in each: a small prize, a forfeit such as "sing one line," or a question. 2. Cover each cup with a square of tissue paper held by a rubber band. Number the squares. 3. A guest who wins any game tonight calls a number and punches through that paper. 4. Whatever is inside is theirs. The board is done when every cup is open. Players: 4 to 20. You need: a large sheet of cardboard, twenty paper cups, tissue paper, rubber bands, glue and slips.
  • Shoebox Table Soccer With Clothespin Players 1. An adult cuts a goal in each short end of a shoebox and pokes four pairs of holes through the long sides. 2. Slide a wooden skewer through each pair of holes and clip two clothespins on each skewer as players, pointing down. Skewers one and three belong to one side. 3. Drop in a marble. Players twist and slide their skewers to knock it into the far goal. 4. First to five goals wins. Winner stays on. Players: 2 to 4. You need: a shoebox, four wooden skewers, eight clothespins, scissors and a marble.
  • Slowest Marble Wins 1. Give each pair a box lid, ten drinking straws, tape and scissors. 2. Pairs have ten minutes to tape straws inside the lid as walls and ramps, so that a marble dropped in at the top corner takes as long as possible to reach the bottom corner. 3. Prop every lid against the same stack of books. A judge times each marble. 4. The longest run wins. A marble that stops dead scores nothing. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a box lid, ten straws, tape and scissors for each pair, one marble and a timer.
  • The Wobbling Plate 1. Stand an empty plastic bottle on the table and balance a paper plate on its cap. 2. Give every player ten coins of the same kind. 3. Players take turns placing one coin anywhere on the plate, with one hand, without touching the plate or the bottle. 4. Whoever tips the plate takes every coin that falls. The first player to get rid of all ten coins wins. Players: 2 to 6. You need: a plastic bottle, a paper plate and ten coins for each player.

Quiz boards made with sticky notes 8

  • Five by Five Quiz Wall 1. Write twenty-five questions. Stick them to a wall in five columns, one column a category, and cover each with a sticky note marked 100 to 500 from top to bottom. 2. Two or three teams take turns choosing a category and a value. 3. The host lifts the note and reads the question. A right answer wins the note. A wrong one lets the next team try. 4. When the wall is bare, teams add up the notes they hold. Players: 4 to 16. You need: sticky notes, a marker and twenty-five questions.
  • Five Letters, Two Colors of Note 1. The host thinks of a word of five letters and draws five boxes on a sheet taped to the wall. 2. A team calls out any five-letter word. The host writes it in a new row and sticks a note under each letter: green if the letter is right and in the right place, yellow if it is in the word but elsewhere, none if it is not in the word. 3. Teams take turns. 4. The team that calls the hidden word wins the round and sets the next word. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a large sheet of paper, a marker and sticky notes in two colors.
  • The Hidden Phrase, a Note a Letter 1. The host thinks of a phrase about the party or the guest of honor and sticks one note on the wall for each letter, blank side out, with gaps between words. 2. Teams take turns calling a letter. 3. The host writes that letter on every note where it belongs. A letter that is not there passes the turn. 4. A team may guess the phrase on its turn. A right guess scores a point for every note still blank. Players: 4 to 16. You need: sticky notes and a marker.
  • Six Numbers and a Target 1. Write the numbers 1 to 10 twice on small notes and 25, 50, 75 and 100 on large ones. Stick them face down. 2. A guest picks six notes and turns them over. Another guest calls out any target between 100 and 999. 3. Everyone has one minute to reach the target by adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing the six, each used once at most. 4. Exact scores 10. Otherwise the closest scores 5. Players: 2 to 12. You need: sticky notes in two sizes, a marker, scrap paper and a timer.
  • Sixteen Notes, Four Hidden Groups 1. Think of four groups of four things, such as four pasta shapes, four card games, four words that follow "paper" and four streets in town. Write each of the sixteen on a sticky note. 2. Stick them on a wall, mixed. 3. Teams work silently for three minutes, then one team moves the notes into four rows. 4. A point for each row that is right. The best boards have words that seem to fit two groups. Players: 2 to 12. You need: sixteen sticky notes and a marker.
  • Tic-Tac-Trivia on the Window 1. Stick nine notes on a window in three rows of three, and write a category on each. 2. Two teams have notes of different colors. 3. A team chooses a square and the host asks a question from that category. A right answer covers the square with the team's color. A wrong one leaves it open. 4. Three in a row wins. If the grid fills first, the team with more squares wins. Players: 4 to 12. You need: sticky notes in three colors and a list of questions in nine categories.
  • Who Did What? Pairs Under the Notes 1. Before the party, ask each guest for one thing about themselves that the others may not know. 2. Write every name on one slip and every fact on another. Tape them to a door in a grid and cover each with a numbered sticky note. 3. Players take turns lifting two notes. A name with the fact that belongs to it is a pair, and the guest in question says yes or no. 4. A pair is kept and earns another turn. Most pairs wins. Players: 4 to 12. You need: sticky notes, paper slips, tape and a fact from every guest.
  • Whose Doodle? A Gallery on the Wall 1. Every guest takes a sticky note and draws the same thing in thirty seconds, such as a horse, without showing anyone. 2. The host collects the notes, numbers them and sticks them in a row. 3. Each guest writes down which neighbor drew which number. 4. The artists own up one by one. A point for every right match, and the room votes a title for the best horse. Players: 5 to 20. You need: a sticky note and a pen for each guest, and paper for the guesses.

Homemade games from the recycling bin 8

  • Bottle-Cap Pairs 1. Save twenty-four bottle caps of the same size. Draw a small picture inside each, twelve pictures twice over. 2. Lay the caps face down on the table and mix them. 3. Players take turns flipping two caps. A matching pair is kept and earns another turn. Two that differ are turned back in the same places. 4. Most pairs wins. For adults, make the pairs harder: a capital and its country, or a cook and their dish. Players: 2 to 6. You need: twenty-four bottle caps and a fine marker.
  • Cardboard Tops in a Roasting Pan 1. Each player cuts a disc from a cereal box, as big as a jar lid, and pushes a short pencil or a toothpick through the exact middle. 2. Players decorate their tops and test them. Moving the disc up or down the pencil changes how long it spins. 3. Two players spin at the same moment in a roasting pan. 4. The top that spins longer wins the bout. Winners meet winners until one top is left. Players: 2 to 12. You need: cereal boxes, scissors, short pencils or toothpicks and a roasting pan.
  • Cut-Out Headlines From Old Magazines 1. Put a pile of old magazines, catalogs and junk mail on the table, with scissors and tape. 2. The host announces a subject, such as "what really happened at this party." 3. Teams have five minutes to build a headline about it from words cut out of the pile, taped to a sheet. 4. Each team reads its headline aloud. The host, or the guest of honor, picks the front page. Players: 4 to 16. You need: old magazines and junk mail, scissors, tape and paper.
  • Egg-Carton Shaker to a Hundred 1. Write the numbers 1 to 12 in the cups of an egg carton, in any order. Drop in two dried beans and close the lid. 2. A player shakes the carton, opens it and reads the two cups where the beans lie. 3. The player multiplies the two numbers and adds the result to their score. Both beans in one cup scores nothing and wipes out that player's total. 4. First past 100 wins. Players: 2 to 8. You need: an egg carton, a marker, two dried beans and a score pad.
  • Eight Bottles Tuned With Water 1. Stand eight glass bottles of the same kind in a row. Pour in water, a little more in each than in the one before. 2. Tap each with a spoon and adjust the water until the row plays a scale. 3. Teams take turns sending one player to tap out a tune that everyone knows. 4. The first team to name the tune scores a point, and so does the player if anyone gets it. Players: 4 to 14. You need: eight glass bottles of one kind, water and a spoon.
  • Longest Topple: Cereal-Box Dominoes 1. Cut cereal boxes into strips as big as a playing card and fold each in half, so that it stands like a tent turned on its end. 2. Teams have eight minutes to stand their strips in one line on the floor, close enough that each will knock down the next. 3. A team may add curves and a split. 4. One push each. Count the strips that fell from the first push alone. The longest topple wins. Players: 2 to 16. You need: cereal boxes, scissors and a timer.
  • Pizza-Box Hockey, a Cap for a Puck 1. An adult cuts a goal as wide as three fingers in each short side of a clean pizza box lid. Draw a center line. 2. Each player has a jar lid as a striker and defends one goal. A bottle cap is the puck. 3. Strikers slide flat on the cardboard and may not cross the center line. 4. First to seven goals wins. A puck that leaves the box is dropped back in on the center line. Players: 2 to 4. You need: a pizza box lid, scissors, two jar lids and a bottle cap.
  • Tallest Tower of Mixed Lids, One Hand 1. Empty the lid drawer and the recycling bin onto the table: jar lids, bottle caps, tub lids, tin lids, the tops of spray cans. 2. Each player takes fifteen at random. 3. On the signal, players stack their lids into one tower using one hand. The other hand stays behind the back. 4. After one minute, hands off. The tallest tower still standing wins, measured against a ruler. Players: 2 to 8. You need: a large pile of mixed lids and caps, a ruler and a timer.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions for party games an adult host builds from household things. The wording, the builds and the player counts are ours. Each entry gives the build, how to play and how to score, with the build list after "You need." Builds use scissors, tape, glue and cardboard: no power tools, no nails. No game involves alcohol and nothing is staked. The list states no fact that needs an outside source. Licence: own work

How it works

These DIY party games for adults are made from what a house already has, and none needs a power tool or a nail. They are played in a yard, at a table or at a wall of sticky notes.

Read the full guide

Choose by where the party is

DIY outdoor party games come first in the list: 12 builds need a yard or a driveway, among them all eight giant versions. Another 13 need a living room wall or floor, and 15 fit on a table.

Let the guests build

Some builds are the game. In Slowest Marble Wins, Cardboard Tops in a Roasting Pan and Cut-Out Headlines From Old Magazines, guests make what they play with, so the host only sets out the materials.

  • Start saving boxes, lids, caps and cartons two weeks before the party.
  • Painter's tape lifts off floors and windows cleanly. Test other tapes on a corner first.

Questions and answers

What are easy DIY games for parties with no cutting?

33 of the 40 need no knife, and most need no scissors either: Four in a Row on a Chalk Grid, Magnet Darts on a Baking Sheet, The Wobbling Plate and Sixteen Notes, Four Hidden Groups take chalk, tape or a marker.

What homemade games can you play at home with things from the recycling?

Egg-Carton Shaker to a Hundred needs a carton and two beans, Bottle-Cap Pairs needs twenty-four caps, and Longest Topple: Cereal-Box Dominoes needs cereal boxes and scissors. All eight games in that group start in the recycling bin.

What DIY party games work for a large group of adults?

The sticky-note boards. Five by Five Quiz Wall and The Hidden Phrase, a Note a Letter take sixteen players in teams, and Whose Doodle? A Gallery on the Wall takes twenty. The Punch-Cup Prize Board runs beside every other game all night.

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