DJ Games for Parties

Dance-floor games run from the booth, each with its line for the microphone: press Pick 3 new games.

DJ Games for Parties

  1. Half Speed, Double Speed1. The music never stops in this one. Play a steady mid-tempo track. 2. Call half speed: everyone dances in slow motion to the same beat. 3. Call double speed: twice as fast. Call normal to recover. 4. Change the call every ten seconds. Anyone caught at the wrong speed leads the next call from the front. On the microphone: Half speed. Slower than that. Now double. Players: 10 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  2. Big Circle, Reversed Calls1. Everyone joins one big circle, not holding hands. 2. Call in, out, left or right. The circle takes four steps that way. 3. After a minute, add the call opposite: from then on the circle does the reverse of every call. 4. Call opposite again to switch back. Whoever goes the wrong way does a turn on the spot. On the microphone: In. Out. Left. Now opposite: when I say in, you go out. Players: 12 to 150. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  3. Phone-Light Tunnel to the Door1. Ask guests to form two lines from the floor to the door and switch on their phone flashlights. 2. Dim the room lights. 3. The hosts or guests of honor walk or dance down the tunnel to the last chorus. 4. When they reach the door, the lines fold in behind them and follow. On the microphone: Two lines to the door, lights on and held high. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: guests' own phones.

Next step Games for 20 to 200 guests

How it works

These DJ games for parties are run from the booth by whoever holds the microphone. Each one gives numbered steps and a line to say. Music is described by tempo or decade, so any playlist fits.

Read the full guide

Games to play at a dance party, in the order of the night

1. Open the floor with one of the Floor fillers: most start with a few guests and end with the room. 2. Once people are up, run a freeze game or limbo. 3. Bring seated guests in with Table against table. 4. Save one of the Closers for the last two tracks.

What to have at the booth

A pole for limbo, a strip of tape, a rope, ten glow sticks, table numbers on slips and a set of decade cards for each table cover most of the list. Most games need nothing.

Tips
  • Say the rules in one breath, then start the music. Explain the rest as it happens.
  • Station two spotters on the floor for freeze games: the booth cannot see feet.

Questions and answers

How does a DJ get people onto an empty dance floor?

With a game that asks only a few guests at a time. Birthday Months to the Floor calls two months every twenty seconds, and The Track Waits for Twenty holds the track back until twenty people have stepped on.

What games can a DJ run with guests who stay seated?

Sing the Gap, Hold Up the Decade, Napkins Up and Three Laps of a Clap are played at the tables, and nobody has to dance.

What is a good game to end the night?

Any of the Closers. Fade the Speakers, Keep the Singing ends with the crowd singing alone, and Phone-Light Tunnel to the Door sends the hosts out between two lines of light.

Do these games work at a wedding or a school dance?

Yes. No game pairs guests off as couples, asks anyone's age or involves a drink, and a guest may always stay seated. Freeze games here have a way back in, so nobody stands out for long.

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All 40 games

Floor fillers 8

  • Birthday Months to the Floor 1. Start a track everyone knows from the first bar. 2. Call two months. Anyone born in them walks to the floor and stays there. 3. Every twenty seconds call two more months, in no order. 4. After the sixth call the whole room is up. Finish the track with all twelve months dancing. On the microphone: If your birthday is in March or October, the floor is yours. Everyone else, your turn is coming. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Clap It Up, Table by Table 1. With no music playing, start a slow steady clap on the microphone. 2. Point at one table to join in, then the next, working around the room. 3. When every table is clapping, speed the clap up and bring the track in under it at the same tempo. 4. On the first chorus, wave the whole room to its feet. On the microphone: Table one, give me this clap. Table two, join them. Keep it going until I say stand. Players: 30 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Decade Corners Take the Lead 1. Name each corner of the floor for a decade of music and ask everyone to stand in their favorite. 2. Play forty seconds in the style of one decade. 3. That corner moves to the middle and shows the room how it is done. The other corners copy. 4. Go through all four decades, then one more track with the corners mixed. On the microphone: Seventies corner, into the middle. Everybody else, do what they do. Players: 20 to 150. Time: 10 min. Props: four decade signs.
Show all 40 games (37 more)

Floor fillers, continued

  • Every Stop, Bring One More 1. The snowball dance, run from the booth. Ask two volunteers onto the empty floor and start a mid-tempo track. 2. After thirty seconds, cut the sound for a beat. 3. Each dancer fetches one more guest from the tables, and the music comes back. 4. Two become four, then eight. Six stops fill most floors. A guest who would rather sit points to a friend. On the microphone: When the music stops, go and bring back one person who is still sitting. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Pass the Glow Stick, Take the Floor 1. Hand ten glow sticks to guests who are already dancing. 2. At each change of track, every holder gives the stick to someone seated. 3. Whoever takes a stick dances one track and hands it on in turn. 4. A guest may wave a stick away, and the holder offers it elsewhere. By the fifth track the sticks have brought up fifty people. On the microphone: New track. Glow sticks, find a new owner who has not danced yet. Players: 30 to 200. Time: 15 min. Props: ten glow sticks.
  • Stadium Wave, Then Everybody Up 1. Start a fast track and point to the table nearest the door. 2. That table stands with arms up and sits again. The wave passes table to table around the room. 3. Send it around twice, faster the second time. 4. On the third lap, nobody sits down again. The tables walk straight to the floor. On the microphone: Third time around, when you stand up you stay up. Here it comes. Players: 40 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Table by Table Onto the Floor 1. Put the table numbers on slips in a cup at the booth. 2. Draw one. That table comes up together and dances one chorus as a group. 3. At the end of the chorus, a member of that table draws the next number and reads it out. 4. Tables that have danced stay up. Draw until the cup is empty. On the microphone: Table six, this chorus belongs to you. Table six, stay where you are and pick who is next. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 15 min. Props: numbered slips and a cup.
  • The Track Waits for Twenty 1. Loop the opening bars of a track and announce that it will not start properly until twenty people are on the floor. 2. Count aloud as each guest steps on. 3. At twenty, let the track run. Announce the next target, forty, for the track after. 4. Children and grandparents count double, which nobody argues with. On the microphone: I have eleven. I need twenty before this beat goes anywhere. Twelve. Thirteen. Players: 30 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: none.

Freeze games with a way back in 8

  • Call the Level Before the Stop 1. Before each stop, call low, middle or high. 2. On the stop, freeze at that level: crouched, standing or reaching for the ceiling. 3. Dancers at the wrong level join the chorus line at the side, which copies whatever the floor does next. 4. The chorus line comes back in when you call all change. On the microphone: Next freeze is low. Low. And stop. Players: 10 to 150. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Fake Stops 1. Announce that dancers freeze only when the sound cuts out completely. 2. Dip the volume by half, change the track or drop the bass, without ever reaching silence. 3. Anyone who freezes on a fake does one spin and carries on. 4. Mix in two real stops. Dancers who miss a real one also spin. On the microphone: That was not a stop. If you froze, give me a spin. Players: 10 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Freeze Dance With a Thaw Line 1. Musical statues, with a way back. Mark a line of tape along one edge of the floor. 2. Dancers freeze when the music stops. Anyone the spotters see moving walks to the thaw line. 3. At the next stop, the thaw line freezes too. Those who hold still there return to the floor. 4. After eight stops, everyone still on the floor takes a bow. On the microphone: Freeze. Thaw line, that goes for you as well. Hold it and you are back in. Players: 10 to 150. Time: 10 min. Props: a strip of tape.
  • Freeze Facing the Cake 1. Choose four things in the room that everyone can see: the cake, the door, the booth, the windows. 2. While the music plays, dancers keep turning. 3. Cut the sound and name one of the four. Everyone freezes facing it. 4. Anyone facing the wrong way points at the right one with both arms for the next thirty seconds of dancing. On the microphone: And freeze, facing the door. Players: 10 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Half Speed, Double Speed 1. The music never stops in this one. Play a steady mid-tempo track. 2. Call half speed: everyone dances in slow motion to the same beat. 3. Call double speed: twice as fast. Call normal to recover. 4. Change the call every ten seconds. Anyone caught at the wrong speed leads the next call from the front. On the microphone: Half speed. Slower than that. Now double. Players: 10 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • The Sculpture Grows by One 1. Ask one volunteer to freeze in the middle of the floor in any pose. 2. Everyone else dances around them. At each stop, call one name or one table. 3. That dancer joins the sculpture, touching it at one point, a hand or an elbow, and freezes there. 4. After ten stops, take a photograph and release the statues back to the floor. On the microphone: Stop. One more for the sculpture. Somebody from table two, find a place and hold it. Players: 12 to 100. Time: 10 min. Props: a camera.
  • Stand Still Through the Chorus 1. Freeze dance turned inside out. Play the verse of the most danceable track you have. 2. As the chorus arrives, announce that nobody may move until it ends. 3. Spotters call out any tapping foot or nodding head. 4. Those caught may dance. By the second chorus, most of the room has given in, which is the point. On the microphone: Nobody moves. Not a shoulder. I can see that foot at table four. Players: 10 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Statues Set Free by a Dancer 1. When the music stops, everyone freezes. Anyone who moves stays frozen where they are when the music returns. 2. Any dancer can free a frozen one with a high five. 3. At each stop, count the frozen aloud. 4. The floor wins if the count is zero at the end of the track. On the microphone: I count seven statues out there. Somebody go and set them free. Players: 10 to 150. Time: 10 min. Props: none.

Limbo, line and circle games 8

  • Big Circle, Reversed Calls 1. Everyone joins one big circle, not holding hands. 2. Call in, out, left or right. The circle takes four steps that way. 3. After a minute, add the call opposite: from then on the circle does the reverse of every call. 4. Call opposite again to switch back. Whoever goes the wrong way does a turn on the spot. On the microphone: In. Out. Left. Now opposite: when I say in, you go out. Players: 12 to 150. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Down the Aisle Between Two Lines 1. Form two long lines facing each other, an arm span apart, clapping on the beat. 2. The two people at the top dance down the aisle, alone or side by side, however they like. 3. At the bottom they join the ends of the lines, and the next two set off. 4. Anyone may walk it instead. The lines cheer the walkers loudest. On the microphone: Two lines, facing each other, and clap. Top of the line, show us the way down. Players: 12 to 100. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Limbo With a Last-Chance Round 1. Limbo, with nobody out for long. Two helpers hold a pole at chest height. 2. Dancers pass under it leaning back, without touching it or the floor with their hands. 3. Lower the pole a hand's width each round. A dancer who touches steps to the side. 4. Before each new height, raise the pole once and let everyone at the side have one more try to come back in. On the microphone: Pole comes up one notch. Last chance, the side line. Under you go. Players: 8 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: a broom handle or pole.
  • Rows Rotate, Front Row Leads 1. Line the floor up in rows of six, all facing the booth. 2. The front row makes up a move four beats long. Every row behind copies it. 3. On the call, the front row walks to the back and everyone else steps forward. 4. Each row leads once. The last row to lead gets the loudest track. On the microphone: Front row, to the back. New front row, you have four beats. Go. Players: 12 to 120. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Snake Line, New Head at Every Call 1. Follow the leader, in one line. The line follows the head around the floor, copying every step. 2. On the call, the head peels off and runs to the back. 3. The second in line is now the head and must change the step at once. 4. Speed up the calls as the track builds. Nobody leads for more than eight bars. On the microphone: New leader. Whatever they do, you do. Players: 8 to 80. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Taught in a Minute: Right, Left, Back, Turn 1. A line dance taught in one minute. Everyone faces the booth, with room to step. 2. Teach four calls with no music: four steps right, four steps left, four steps back, then a quarter turn. 3. Start a slow track and call the four in order, then repeat facing the new wall. 4. Switch to a faster track without stopping. The calls stay the same. On the microphone: Right, two, three, four. Left, two, three, four. Back it up. And turn. Players: 10 to 200. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • The Tunnel That Keeps Growing 1. Two volunteers face each other and join raised hands to make an arch. 2. The next two dance through, turn and add their arch to the far end. 3. Each pair that comes through makes the tunnel longer. 4. When the last pair is through, the first arch drops and follows, so that the tunnel rolls across the floor. On the microphone: Through the tunnel, then turn and build it. Keep it coming. Players: 12 to 100. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Two Circles, Turning Opposite Ways 1. Half the floor makes an inner circle facing out. The rest make an outer circle facing in. 2. While the music plays, the circles walk in opposite directions. 3. At each stop, call a greeting: a wave, a bow, a fist bump, a spin. Everyone gives it to whoever is opposite. 4. Six stops, six new faces. Nobody chooses who they meet. On the microphone: Stop. Whoever is in front of you gets your finest bow. Players: 16 to 120. Time: 10 min. Props: none.

Table against table 8

  • Dance Charades, One Table at a Time 1. Write a kind of dance on each card: waltz, robot, tap, ballet, square dance. 2. One guest from the table draws a card and dances it on the floor with no music. 3. Their own table has twenty seconds to name it. Then any table may steal. 4. After each card, play ten seconds of something that fits, so that the room can join in. On the microphone: No music for this one. Table five, what is that dance? Players: 16 to 120. Time: 15 min. Props: cards with a kind of dance on each.
  • Hold Up the Decade 1. Give each table a set of cards, one for each decade from the 1960s to the 2010s. 2. Play ten seconds of a track. 3. On the count of three, each table holds up one card. 4. Announce the decade and give a point to every table that had it. Eight tracks, with a tie-break played at half volume. On the microphone: Ten seconds. Which decade? Cards up in three, two, one. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 10 min. Props: a set of decade cards for each table.
  • Intro Buzz: Stand to Answer 1. A guess-the-track round for tables. Each table chooses a captain. 2. Play the opening seconds of a track. 3. The first captain standing may answer once the table has whispered together. A wrong answer passes to the next captain up. 4. A right answer earns the point and that table dances the first verse. On the microphone: Five seconds of this one. First captain on their feet. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 15 min. Props: none.
  • Keep One on the Floor 1. For one long track, every table must have exactly one member dancing at all times. 2. A dancer may leave only by tagging in someone from the same table. 3. Spotters call out any table with nobody up, or with two. 4. A table loses a life each time it is called and starts with three. Tables with lives left at the end win. On the microphone: Table nine, I see an empty space where your dancer should be. Players: 20 to 150. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Napkins Up 1. Explain it once at the start of the night: whenever the call comes, every guest spins a napkin overhead. 2. Make the call without warning, between tracks or in the middle of one. 3. The first table with every napkin turning wins a point. 4. Call it five times over the evening. The last one counts double. On the microphone: Napkins up. Napkins up. Table two has it. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: a napkin for each guest.
  • Run It to the Booth 1. A bring-me hunt, scored at the booth. Each table chooses one runner. 2. Call for something a table could have: a paper map, a library card, a sock with stripes. 3. The first runner to dance it to the booth scores for the table. Walking does not count. 4. Ten calls. Things go back to their owners after each one. On the microphone: Bring me a key ring with more than five keys. Dance it up here. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 10 min. Props: a list of ten things to call for.
  • Sing the Gap 1. Choose tracks whose chorus the whole room knows. 2. Play the verse. When the chorus arrives, cut the sound and point at one table. 3. That table sings the chorus with no backing until the sound returns. 4. Each table gets one gap. The crowd cheers for the table that stayed nearest the tune. On the microphone: Table three, the chorus is all yours. Take it. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Three Laps of a Clap 1. With the music low, each table chooses a starter. 2. On go, the starter claps once. The clap passes around the table, one person at a time. 3. It must go around three full laps. Two claps together means starting that lap again. 4. The first table to finish stands up and cheers. Run it best of three. On the microphone: Three times around your table, one clap each. Ready. Go. Players: 16 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: none.

Closers 8

  • The Big Circle, a Table at a Time 1. For the second-to-last track, bring everyone into one circle around the edge of the floor. 2. Call a table into the middle for eight bars while the circle claps. 3. Call the next table as the first steps back. 4. When every table has been in, call the hosts, then the whole circle walks to the middle together. On the microphone: One big circle. Table one, the middle is yours for eight bars. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Bows for the Night's Winners 1. Keep a list at the booth of who won each game during the night. 2. Before the last track, read it out: the last limbo dancer, the napkin table, the loudest chorus. 3. Each winner comes to the middle and takes a bow. 4. End with a bow for everyone who danced at all, which is the whole room. On the microphone: Limbo champion, come and take your bow. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: a list kept during the night.
  • Fade the Speakers, Keep the Singing 1. Choose a last track that everyone can sing. 2. From the second chorus, bring the volume down a little at a time. 3. Wave the room louder as the speakers get quieter. 4. The final chorus is the crowd alone. Bring the track back for its last four bars. On the microphone: I am turning it down. You keep it going. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • The Floor Gets Smaller 1. Two helpers hold a long rope across one end of the floor. 2. At each chorus, they walk it a few steps in. Everyone dances on the side nearest the booth. 3. Dancers squeeze closer and nobody is out. 4. When the whole party is dancing in a space the size of a rug, drop the rope for the last chorus. On the microphone: The floor just got smaller. Move in, everybody. There is room. Players: 20 to 150. Time: 5 min. Props: a long rope.
  • Left Side, Right Side: Vote the Last Track 1. Offer two choices for the last track by tempo and decade only: something slow from the sixties, or something fast from the nineties. 2. Guests vote by walking to the left or the right half of the floor. 3. Count heads from the booth, aloud. 4. The bigger side wins. The smaller side gets thirty seconds of its choice first. On the microphone: Slow one, stand on my left. Fast one, on my right. You have until the end of this beat. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Pass the Mic for a Single Word 1. Before the last track, lower the music and carry the microphone into the room. 2. Each table has ten seconds to agree on one word for the night. 3. Go table to table. One voice says the word and the room repeats it. 4. The last table's word becomes the shout at the end of the final track. On the microphone: Table one, one word for tonight. Everyone, say it back. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: a cordless microphone.
  • Phone-Light Tunnel to the Door 1. Ask guests to form two lines from the floor to the door and switch on their phone flashlights. 2. Dim the room lights. 3. The hosts or guests of honor walk or dance down the tunnel to the last chorus. 4. When they reach the door, the lines fold in behind them and follow. On the microphone: Two lines to the door, lights on and held high. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: guests' own phones.
  • The Whole Room In for the Last Minute 1. Announce a challenge for the final minute: every table in the room joins in. 2. Dancing counts, and so does clapping from the edge of the floor or from a chair. 3. Spotters name each table as it joins in, never a person. 4. If every table is named, play one more chorus as the prize. On the microphone: Sixty seconds left tonight. Table seven is all in. Table three, we can hear you from here. Players: 20 to 200. Time: 5 min. Props: none.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions for a DJ or a host with a microphone, a sound system and a dance floor. The wording is ours, and the player counts and times are our estimates. Music is given only as a tempo or a decade: no song, artist or show is named. No game pairs guests off as couples, asks anyone's age or needs a drink, and in every game a guest may stay seated or step aside. Rules of the traditional games were checked against Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) on 2026-10-03, after the stem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/: Limbo (dance), Musical statues, Follow the leader (game). Licence: own work