27 games
Checked October 2026

Halloween Guessing Games

Q: What is a guess the monster Halloween game?

Six are in Guess the monster. In Whose Shopping List? Guess the Monster the host reads three things a monster would buy, and in Half a Monster: Guess From the Feet Up a drawing is uncovered a finger's width at a time.

Feel boxes, jar counts, mystery sounds and monster riddles for a Halloween party, each with its set-up and an age.

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Spiders in the Pumpkin Pulp1. When the pumpkins are carved, keep the stringy pulp in a big bowl. An adult hides plastic spiders in it, each as big as a child's palm, and remembers how many.2. Each guest pushes one hand into the pulp for a slow count of ten and feels around without pulling anything out.3. Wipe the hand on a towel and whisper to the host how many spiders are in there.4. When everyone has had a turn, the host digs the spiders out one at a time while the room counts. The closest guess wins.Ages: 4 and up. Players: 3 to 15. You need: a bowl of pumpkin pulp, large plastic spiders and a towel.
How Many Scoops to Empty the Pumpkin?1. Before carving, an adult cuts the lid and lifts it off. Everyone looks inside.2. Each guest guesses how many scoops with the big spoon it will take to empty the pumpkin down to bare walls, and the guesses go on a sheet.3. Guests take turns scooping, three scoops each, while the room counts aloud.4. The adult says when the walls are bare. The closest guess wins and draws the face for the adult to carve.Ages: 4 and up. Players: 3 to 12. You need: a pumpkin, a big spoon, a bowl for the pulp, paper and a pencil.
Half a Monster: Guess From the Feet Up1. Before the party, draw six monsters, each on a sheet of its own and as tall as the page: a ghost, a witch, a mummy, a skeleton, a vampire and a scarecrow.2. Hold one up behind a second sheet. Slide the cover up a finger's width at a time, starting at the feet.3. Guests call out as soon as they think they know, and each guest gets one guess a monster.4. A right guess below the knees scores three, below the shoulders two, and with the head showing one. Then the guests draw the monsters for the next round.Ages: 4 and up. Players: 3 to 20. You need: paper, markers and a cover sheet.

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Feel boxes: guess the monster part 6

Fill a Bowl for the Other Team 1. Split into two teams, each with an adult and one end of the kitchen. 2. Each team has five minutes to fill three bowls with things that are safe to touch, and to give each a monster name on a card: a peeled orange becomes a troll's nose. 3. Cover the bowls and swap ends. Each team feels the other team's bowls with eyes shut and agrees on what is really in each. 4. A right answer scores for the guessers, and a wrong one scores for the makers. Nothing sharp, nothing hot, and nothing from a bowl is eaten. Ages: 6 and up. Players: 4 to 16. You need: six bowls, six cloths, cards, a pen and what the kitchen holds.
Monster Parts in Six Bowls 1. Before the party, an adult fills six bowls and covers each with a cloth: peeled grapes for eyes, cold cooked spaghetti for brains, dried apricots for ears, baby carrots for fingers, candy corn for teeth and a damp ball of yarn for hair. 2. Stand a card in front of each bowl that names the monster part. 3. With clean hands, each guest feels under every cloth without looking, then writes what the six things really are. 4. Lift the cloths together. The most right answers win. Ask about food allergies first, and throw the food away afterward: nothing from the bowls is eaten. Ages: 5 and up. Players: 3 to 20. You need: six bowls, six cloths, the five foods, yarn, paper and pencils.
Spiders in the Pumpkin Pulp 1. When the pumpkins are carved, keep the stringy pulp in a big bowl. An adult hides plastic spiders in it, each as big as a child's palm, and remembers how many. 2. Each guest pushes one hand into the pulp for a slow count of ten and feels around without pulling anything out. 3. Wipe the hand on a towel and whisper to the host how many spiders are in there. 4. When everyone has had a turn, the host digs the spiders out one at a time while the room counts. The closest guess wins. Ages: 4 and up. Players: 3 to 15. You need: a bowl of pumpkin pulp, large plastic spiders and a towel.

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Feel boxes: guess the monster part, continued

Which Bowl Is the Food? Real or Rubber 1. Set out four pairs of covered bowls. In each pair one bowl holds a food and the other something that only feels like it: cold cooked spaghetti beside wet yarn, a peeled hard-boiled egg beside a rubber ball, a slice of bread beside a kitchen sponge, a banana beside a rolled sock. 2. Letter the pairs A to D. 3. Guests feel both bowls of a pair with their eyes on the ceiling and write which one could be eaten, left or right. 4. Uncover the bowls. Four right is a perfect card. Hands are washed before and after, and nothing from the bowls is eaten. Ages: 4 and up. Players: 3 to 20. You need: eight bowls, eight cloths, the four foods and their four stand-ins, paper and pencils.
Which Glove Is the Real Hand? 1. Out of sight, fill four dish gloves with dry rice and knot the cuffs. A helper puts on a fifth glove. 2. Hang an old sheet across a doorway and cut five small slits in it at table height. Push the four filled gloves through, and the helper's gloved hand through the last, lying just as limp. Number the slits. 3. Each guest may press each glove once with one finger, then writes the number of the real hand. 4. On the host's call, the real hand waves. Right guessers score, and the next round has a new helper at a new slit. Ages: 6 and up. Players: 4 to 20. You need: five dish gloves, dry rice, an old sheet, scissors for the adult, paper and pencils.
The Witch's Fingers: Name the Vegetable in the Sock 1. A feely bag, made with knobbly vegetables. Drop one vegetable into each of six long socks: a carrot with its top, a parsnip, a piece of ginger root, a sweet potato, a stalk of celery and an ear of corn. 2. Knot the socks loosely and number them. Tell the guests that these are the witch's fingers, and that every one came out of a vegetable drawer. 3. Guests squeeze each sock from the outside and write down the vegetable. 4. Pull them out one by one. The most right answers win, and the vegetables go back to the kitchen. Ages: 6 and up. Players: 3 to 20. You need: six long socks, six vegetables, paper and pencils.

Guess how many 5

Costume Count at the Door 1. As each guest arrives, hand over a slip with two blanks: the costume that more guests will wear tonight than any other, and how many guests will be wearing it. 2. The slip goes into a hat before that guest looks around the room. 3. When everyone is in, the host calls costumes one kind at a time, and the wearers stand to be counted. 4. The right costume scores two points and the exact count scores three more. If every costume is different, the slip with the lowest number wins. Ages: 6 and up. Players: 8 to 40. You need: slips of paper, pencils and a hat.
How Many Scoops to Empty the Pumpkin? 1. Before carving, an adult cuts the lid and lifts it off. Everyone looks inside. 2. Each guest guesses how many scoops with the big spoon it will take to empty the pumpkin down to bare walls, and the guesses go on a sheet. 3. Guests take turns scooping, three scoops each, while the room counts aloud. 4. The adult says when the walls are bare. The closest guess wins and draws the face for the adult to carve. Ages: 4 and up. Players: 3 to 12. You need: a pumpkin, a big spoon, a bowl for the pulp, paper and a pencil.
How Many Trick-or-Treaters by Eight O'Clock? 1. For a party at a house that is giving out candy. Before the first knock, everyone writes a name and a number on a slip: how many trick-or-treaters will come to this door by eight o'clock. 2. Tape a sheet of paper inside the door. Whoever answers a knock adds a tally mark for each child on the step. 3. At eight, count the marks. 4. The closest slip wins and hands out the candy for the rest of the night. Keep the sheet for next year's guesses. Ages: 5 and up. Players: 3 to 20. You need: slips of paper, a pencil, a sheet of paper and tape.
Spider Rings Hidden in the Candy Jar 1. The jar guess, with a second thing to count. An adult fills a clear jar with wrapped candy and drops in plastic spider rings as it fills, so that some are buried. Write both counts on a card and seal it in an envelope. 2. Stand the jar by the door with slips of scrap paper and a pencil. 3. Each guest writes a name and two numbers: pieces of candy, and spiders. The lid stays on. 4. Near the end of the party, open the envelope. The closest candy guess takes the jar home, and the closest spider guess takes the rings. A tie is settled with rock, paper, scissors. Ages: 5 and up. Players: 4 to 40. You need: a clear jar with a lid, wrapped candy, spider rings, slips of paper, a pencil and an envelope.
When Will the Candy Bowl Be Empty? 1. As the party starts, an adult fills one bowl with wrapped candy, sets it where every guest will pass and stands a clock beside it. 2. On arriving, each guest writes a name and a time on a slip: the minute they think the last piece will be taken. 3. Guests help themselves as usual, one piece a visit. 4. Whoever takes the last piece calls out and reads the clock. The slip closest to that time wins, but a guest who took the last piece cannot win with their own slip. Ages: 6 and up. Players: 5 to 30. You need: a bowl of wrapped candy, a clock, slips of paper and a pencil.

Guess the Halloween sound 5

Five Ghosts Boo, One Stays Silent 1. Five guests go behind a sheet hung across a doorway. In whispers they pick one of the five to stay silent. 2. On the host's count, the other four say boo together, each in an ordinary voice. 3. The room may ask for the boo three times. 4. Then every listener writes or calls the name of the ghost who stayed silent, and the five come out to show who it was. Right guessers score, and five new ghosts go in. With younger children, send three behind the sheet. Ages: 5 and up. Players: 8 to 30. You need: a sheet hung across a doorway.
Footsteps in the Hall: Name the Shoes 1. Line up five kinds of footwear behind a door, where the floor is hard: rain boots, slippers, flip-flops, dress shoes and socks alone. Show them to the guests first. 2. Guests sit with their backs to the door. 3. The host walks ten steps in one kind, and the guests write down which it was. 4. In the second round the host changes the walk as well as the shoe: tiptoe in boots, a shuffle in dress shoes. A point for the shoe and a point for the walk. The best ear walks the next round. Ages: 5 and up. Players: 3 to 20. You need: five kinds of footwear, a hard floor, paper and pencils.
Guess the Halloween Sound: Eight Effects From Behind a Door 1. The sound-effects quiz, scored on the spooky thing and not on the tool. Behind a door, the host makes eight sounds: keys dragged in a pan for chains, a baking sheet shaken for thunder, breath across a bottle top for wind, two shoes walked over a tray of dry cereal for footsteps, wooden spoons shaken in a tin for bones, a pillow thumped for a heartbeat, gloves flapped for bat wings and a straw blown in water for a cauldron. 2. Guests write what each is meant to be. 3. Play all eight twice. 4. One point for the spooky thing, and a bonus point for naming what really made it. Ages: 5 and up. Players: 3 to 30. You need: the eight sound makers, a door, paper and pencils.
Which Door Was That? 1. Walk the guests through the house once and open and shut six doors so that everyone hears them: the fridge, a closet, the oven, a kitchen cupboard, the bathroom and the front door. 2. Guests sit in the middle of the house with their eyes closed. 3. The host opens and shuts one of the six, and the guests name it. 4. Then two doors in a row, then three. A guest who names a row of three in order becomes the ghost who works the doors. Ages: 5 and up. Players: 3 to 15. You need: a house with doors.
Which Monster Is Knocking? 1. Teach the room four knocks on a door: a ghost gives one soft knock, a skeleton gives five quick rattling knocks, a giant gives two slow booms, and a witch scratches three times with her nails. 2. The host goes behind the door and gives one of the four. Guests call out the monster. 3. After a few rounds, the host knocks two monsters in a row, then three, and guests must name them in order. 4. A guest who gets a row of three right takes over behind the door and may invent a fifth knock for a monster of their own. Ages: 4 and up. Players: 3 to 20. You need: a door.

Guess the monster 6

An Ordinary Sentence in a Monster's Voice 1. Write six monsters on cards and six dull sentences on slips: "I would like two tickets, please." "Has anyone seen my other shoe?" 2. A player draws one of each and says the sentence twice, the way that monster would. The monster's name is not allowed, and neither is boo, a howl or a cackle. 3. The room guesses the monster. 4. The speaker and the first right guesser score a point each. If nobody gets it, the speaker adds one movement and tries once more. Ages: 6 and up. Players: 4 to 20. You need: cards, slips of paper and a pen.
Half a Monster: Guess From the Feet Up 1. Before the party, draw six monsters, each on a sheet of its own and as tall as the page: a ghost, a witch, a mummy, a skeleton, a vampire and a scarecrow. 2. Hold one up behind a second sheet. Slide the cover up a finger's width at a time, starting at the feet. 3. Guests call out as soon as they think they know, and each guest gets one guess a monster. 4. A right guess below the knees scores three, below the shoulders two, and with the head showing one. Then the guests draw the monsters for the next round. Ages: 4 and up. Players: 3 to 20. You need: paper, markers and a cover sheet.
Scarier or Sillier? Find the Secret Monster in Three Guesses 1. Lay eight monster cards on the floor. Together, the room puts them in a line from the silliest to the scariest, and that order stays. 2. The host secretly writes down one of the eight. 3. A guesser points to a card. The host answers only "scarier" or "sillier", to say which way along the line the secret monster lies. 4. Each guesser gets three guesses. Whoever finds the monster writes down the next secret one. Ages: 5 and up. Players: 3 to 20. You need: eight monster cards, paper and a pencil.
Two Monsters in One Drawing 1. Write eight monsters on slips and fold them into a hat. 2. The drawer pulls two slips and has one minute to draw a single creature that is both: a mummy with bat wings, a skeleton with a pumpkin head. No letters. 3. The room guesses. Naming one of the two scores a point for the guesser, and naming both scores three. 4. The drawer scores a point whenever both are named, so a clear drawing pays. Pass the hat on. Ages: 6 and up. Players: 3 to 15. You need: slips of paper, a hat, paper and a marker.
Whose Footprints? Match the Tracks to the Monster 1. Cut five sets of paper tracks and tape each set along a different stretch of floor: huge three-toed feet, pointed shoes with a broom line beside them, small paws, bony feet with gaps between the toes, and a trail of bandage scraps. 2. Pin six monster names on a board: a dragon, a witch, a black cat, a skeleton, a mummy and a ghost. 3. Guests walk the trails and write down which monster made which. 4. Five right matches score five. The sixth point goes to anyone who can say why one monster left no trail. Ages: 5 and up. Players: 3 to 20. You need: paper, scissors, tape, a board and pencils.
Whose Shopping List? Guess the Monster 1. The host reads out a shopping list of three things, slowly, and the room guesses which monster wrote it. 2. Start with these: broom wax, cat food and a bigger pot (a witch); milk, glue and a warm coat (a skeleton); tomato juice, sunblock and a cape brush (a vampire). 3. A right guess after the first thing scores three points, after the second two, and after the third one. 4. Then every guest writes a list of three for a monster of their choice and reads it to the room. Ages: 6 and up. Players: 3 to 20. You need: paper and pencils.

Candy and pumpkin guesses 5

Count the Ribs on the Pumpkin 1. Stand a pumpkin on the table and point out its ribs: the rounded strips between the grooves that run from the stem to the base. 2. Without touching the pumpkin or walking around it, each guest writes down how many ribs it has. 3. An adult puts a dot of washable marker on one rib as the start, and a child turns the pumpkin slowly while the room counts each rib aloud. 4. The closest guess wins. Bring out a second pumpkin, and guess first whether it has more ribs or fewer. Ages: 4 and up. Players: 3 to 20. You need: two pumpkins, a washable marker, paper and pencils.
Guess Your Own Scoop of Candy Corn 1. Fill a big bowl with candy corn and give each guest a paper cup. 2. Before scooping, each guest says how many pieces one dip of the cup will bring up, and the host writes the number down. 3. Dip once, with no second try, and count the pieces onto a napkin. 4. The guest closest to their own number wins. Everyone keeps their own cupful, and nothing goes back into the bowl. Ages: 5 and up. Players: 3 to 20. You need: candy corn, paper cups, napkins, paper and a pencil.
How Many Treats Fill the Witch's Hat? 1. Stand a costume witch's hat point down in a bucket so that it holds still. 2. Each guest guesses how many wrapped candies it will take to fill the hat to the brim. 3. Guests take turns dropping in five at a time while the room counts. 4. Stop at the first piece that slides off. The closest guess wins, and the hatful is shared out evenly among all the guests. Ages: 4 and up. Players: 3 to 20. You need: a witch's hat, a bucket and a big bag of wrapped candy.
Sort the Bucket: Which Kind Wins? 1. Before a full treat bucket is tipped out, everyone guesses two things about it: which kind of candy there will be most of, and how many pieces there are in all. 2. Tip the bucket onto a tray and sort it into rows by kind. 3. Count the longest row, then the whole tray. 4. The right kind scores two points and the closest total scores two. The bucket's owner keeps every piece: this game takes nothing. Ages: 4 and up. Players: 2 to 10. You need: a full treat bucket and a tray.
Treat or Trick? Guess the Wrapped Bundle 1. An adult wraps twelve small bundles in tissue paper so that all twelve look alike. Eight hold a wrapped candy. Four hold a trick: a large pebble, a cork, a big button and a ball of foil. 2. Pass a basket around. Each guest picks one bundle, may squeeze and shake it, and says treat or trick out loud. 3. Unwrap it. A right call scores a point, and a treat is kept either way. 4. Go around until the basket is empty. Ages: 5 and up. Players: 3 to 12. You need: tissue paper, eight wrapped candies, the four tricks and a basket.

How this list was compiled: Our own guessing games for a Halloween party with children in it, from age 4. The wording, the ages and the player counts are ours. Nothing is eaten from a feel bowl, no game is a race to eat candy, nobody is blindfolded, the lights stay on, and a prize is something the host already put out. The jar guess, the feely bag and the sound-effects quiz are old party games, each told here one way with a Halloween change. The list states no fact that needs an outside source. Licence: own work

How it works

A Halloween guessing game is mostly set-up, so every entry here starts with what the host prepares. The lights stay on, nobody is blindfolded, and nothing from a feel bowl is eaten.

Read the full guide

Guess the body part Halloween game

The classic is Monster Parts in Six Bowls: peeled grapes, cold spaghetti and four more bowls under cloths, each with a card that names the monster part. With no bowls at all, Which Glove Is the Real Hand? uses dish gloves filled with dry rice.

The jar guess, with two winners

Spider Rings Hidden in the Candy Jar asks for two numbers, the candy and the spiders. Cut scrap paper into slips, seal the two counts in an envelope, and that is all the paperwork.

For a classroom, or a party with no treats, No candy or food, under More filters, keeps 17 of the games.

Questions and answers

How do you play guess the Halloween sound?

Behind a door, the host makes eight effects with kitchen things: keys dragged in a pan for chains, a shaken baking sheet for thunder. Guests write what each is meant to be. Guess the Halloween Sound: Eight Effects From Behind a Door lists all eight.

What is a guess the monster Halloween game?

Six are in Guess the monster. In Whose Shopping List? Guess the Monster the host reads three things a monster would buy, and in Half a Monster: Guess From the Feet Up a drawing is uncovered a finger's width at a time.

What Halloween guessing games use candy?

Several, and none is a race to eat it. Guess Your Own Scoop of Candy Corn has each guest predict one dip of a cup, and Sort the Bucket: Which Kind Wins? turns a child's own haul into a count.