Games to Play With Youth

Indoor games for a youth night of 10 to 40, no food races or blindfolds: press Pick 3 new games.

Cut-Up Square Puzzle1. Before the night, cut one cardstock square for each table into seven pieces with straight cuts, the same way for all. 2. Mix each set and hand it over in an envelope. 3. Teams rebuild the square with no piece left over. 4. After three minutes the leader may show one piece in its place. First square wins. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: cardstock squares cut into pieces, in envelopes.
As Long as This String1. Cut every team a piece of string of the same length, about a forearm. 2. Teams have eight minutes to find five different things in the building that are exactly as long as the string. 3. They bring the things, or a note of where each fixed thing is. 4. A leader measures. Each match scores. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 12 min. Props: a piece of string for each team.
Behind-the-Back Paper Tear1. Give each volunteer one sheet of paper to hold behind their back. 2. Name a shape, such as a giraffe or a teapot. 3. They have forty-five seconds to tear it out by feel, without looking. 4. Hold the results up. The room votes by cheering. Players: 3 up front, any number watching. Time: 5 min. Props: three sheets of paper.

Next step Get a youth group scavenger hunt list Icebreakers for a youth group

How it works

These are games for a youth group to play inside: a hall, a few side rooms and whatever is in the supply closet. Each all-in game says how anyone who is out gets back in.

Read the full guide

A plan for ninety minutes

Start with one from Up-front games for three volunteers while people are still arriving: latecomers can cheer at once. Run a relay and a table game back to back, then sit everyone down for a circle game. Finish with an all-in game, so the last thing everyone does is play together.

Indoor party games for youth in a small room

Skip the relays and the hunts. Sit-down circle games for 10 to 40 and Table teams: build, sort and solve fit a room with chairs and a few tables.

Tips

Under More filters, press Up to 5 minutes for quick games to play with youth groups.
Before a hunt, walk the group around the rooms that are in play and name the ones that are not.

Questions and answers

What are fun games to play at youth group with no setup?

Counting Circle With New Rules, Exactly That Many Stand and Six Answers, Find the Question need nothing but the group. Cue Word Story, Stand and Turn needs only a leader who can keep talking.

Which of these work as youth party games for a birthday or an end-of-year night?

The up-front games suit a party, because three play and everyone cheers. Oven Mitt Coat Zip, Sixty-Second Leader Portrait and Behind-the-Back Paper Tear each take five minutes and need no teams.

What can a youth group play indoors when it rains on an outdoor night?

Swap the field for the building. Find the Leaders, Collect Initials and Numbered Cards Sentence Hunt keep the whole group moving at a walk, and Card Duel Walkabout fills a hall with one or two decks of cards.

How do you stop the same few players winning every game?

Pick games where speed and strength do not decide it. Minority Wins rewards guessing the room, Six-Sided Sit and Stand is pure luck, and whoever judges time best wins One Lap of the Ball, Call the Seconds.

All 48 games

Up-front games for three volunteers 8

Back-of-Hand Pencil Catch 1. Each volunteer lays one pencil on the back of a hand, flicks it up and catches it in the same hand. 2. Everyone who catches goes on to two pencils, then three. 3. A drop means one more try at that number, then you are out. 4. The room counts the pencils aloud for whoever is still in. Players: 3 up front, any number watching. Time: 5 min. Props: about twenty unsharpened pencils.
Behind-the-Back Paper Tear 1. Give each volunteer one sheet of paper to hold behind their back. 2. Name a shape, such as a giraffe or a teapot. 3. They have forty-five seconds to tear it out by feel, without looking. 4. Hold the results up. The room votes by cheering. Players: 3 up front, any number watching. Time: 5 min. Props: three sheets of paper.
Broom Handle Balance Standoff 1. Give each volunteer a broom to balance upright on one open palm, bristles up. 2. Start together on a count of three. 3. Feet may move, but the other hand may not touch the broom. 4. The room counts the seconds aloud. The last broom standing wins, and the winner faces a leader. Players: 3 up front, any number watching. Time: 5 min. Props: three brooms.

Show all 48 games (45 more)

Up-front games for three volunteers, continued

Mark a Yard by Eye 1. Tape a start line on the floor at the front. 2. Each volunteer gets one strip of tape to stick down where they judge exactly three feet from the line to be. 3. The room shouts farther or nearer, which may or may not help. 4. A leader measures all three. Closest wins, and the next three volunteers mark ten feet. Players: 3 up front, any number watching. Time: 5 min. Props: masking tape and a tape measure.
Oven Mitt Coat Zip 1. Three volunteers stand at the front, each with a zip-up coat on the floor and a pair of oven mitts on. 2. On go, each puts the coat on and zips it to the chin without taking a mitt off. 3. Each section of the room cheers for its own volunteer. 4. First zipped wins. For a second heat, the coats start inside out. Players: 3 up front, any number watching. Time: 5 min. Props: three zip-up coats and three pairs of oven mitts.
Sixty-Second Leader Portrait 1. A leader sits on a chair at the front as the model. 2. Three volunteers get a marker and a sheet on a wall or an easel, and sixty seconds to draw the leader. 3. The room counts down the last ten seconds. 4. Hold the portraits up one by one. The loudest cheer chooses the winner, and the leader keeps all three. Players: 3 up front, any number watching. Time: 5 min. Props: three large sheets and three markers.
Spell It in Reverse, Three at the Front 1. Three volunteers stand in a row. 2. The leader gives the first a word of five letters to spell backward, aloud, in one go. 3. A right spelling stays in. A slip sits down. 4. Words get one letter longer each round. The room may gasp but not help. Players: 3 up front, any number watching. Time: 8 min. Props: a word list for the leader.
Wrong-Hand Sign Writing 1. Tape three large sheets to the front wall. 2. Each volunteer takes a marker in the hand they do not write with. 3. On go, they write the name of the youth group in capitals as neatly as they can in thirty seconds. 4. Step aside and let the room judge by cheering. The winning sign stays on the wall for the night. Players: 3 up front, any number watching. Time: 5 min. Props: three large sheets, tape and three markers.

Hall relays with no running 8

Blanket Fold-and-Carry Relay 1. Pairs from each team walk a folded blanket to the far end. 2. There they open it out flat on the floor, then fold it in half three times. 3. They walk it back and hand it over to the next pair. 4. A leader at the far end checks that every blanket really lies flat before it is folded. Players: 8 to 32 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: one blanket for each team.
Clothespin Sleeve Pass 1. Teams stand in lines, shoulder to shoulder. 2. The first player has five clothespins clipped along one sleeve. 3. One at a time, they unclip a pin and clip it to the next player's sleeve, who passes it on the same way. 4. The first team with all five pins on the last player's sleeve wins. Pins clip to sleeves only. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 8 min. Props: five clothespins for each team.
Heel-to-Toe Tape Line Relay 1. Tape a line down the hall for each team. 2. Each player walks it heel to toe, every step touching the last, around a chair and back the same way. 3. A step that leaves a gap means three steps back. 4. Tag the next walker with a high five. First team home and seated wins. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: masking tape and a chair for each team.
Human Letters Word Line 1. Give every player in each team a large letter card to hold. Each team gets the same set of letters. 2. The leader calls a word that uses some of them. 3. The players holding those letters walk to the front line and stand in order so that the word reads from the far wall. 4. First correct word scores. Ten words. Players: 12 to 40 in two teams. Time: 10 min. Props: two matching sets of large letter cards.
Linked Elbows Chair Slalom 1. Set three chairs in a line down the hall for each team. 2. Pairs link elbows side by side and walk a figure eight around the chairs to the far wall and straight back. 3. If the link breaks, the pair stops and counts to three aloud. 4. Touch hands with the next pair. First team home wins. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: three chairs for each team.
One Line Each Drawing Relay 1. Tape a large sheet to the far wall for each team and leave a marker beside it. 2. The leader names a subject, such as the building you are in. 3. Each walker adds exactly one line or one circle to the team's drawing and walks back. 4. After two times through the team, the leaders choose the drawing they would hang up. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: large paper, tape and markers.
Slowest Across the Hall 1. One walker from each team toes a line at one wall. 2. On go, they walk to the far wall as slowly as they can, but one foot must always be moving forward. 3. A leader walks beside them: anyone who stops, steps back or steps sideways sits down where they are. 4. The last walker to touch the far wall scores for the team. Run a heat for every player and add up. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
Turn-a-Card Sequence Relay 1. Lay ten cards face down on a table at the far end for each team: ace to ten of one suit. 2. A walker turns one card. If it is the next card the team needs, starting with the ace, it stays face up. 3. If not, it is turned back. 4. Walkers may tell teammates what they saw. First team with ace to ten showing wins. Players: 8 to 30 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: ten playing cards and a table for each team.

Sit-down circle games for 10 to 40 8

Counting Circle With New Rules 1. Count around the circle from one to twenty-one, one number each. 2. Whoever says twenty-one invents a rule for one number: clap for four, say banana for nine. 3. Start again from one with the rule in force. 4. A mistake sends the count back to one. Stop when there are six rules. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
Crossed or Uncrossed, Pass the Pens 1. Pass two pens around the circle. Each player hands them on saying, I pass these crossed, or, uncrossed. 2. The leader says whether each pass was right. 3. The secret: it depends on the passer's own ankles, not on the pens. 4. Players who work it out keep quiet and pass correctly, until most of the circle has it. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: two pens.
Empire of Secret Names 1. Everyone writes a made-up name on a slip, such as a fruit or a made-up title. The leader reads them all out twice and keeps the slips. 2. One player asks another, are you a certain name? 3. A right guess brings that player into the guesser's empire, and the empire guesses again. A wrong guess passes the turn to the player who was asked. 4. The last empire wins. Players: 10 to 40. Time: 20 min. Props: slips and pens.
Exactly That Many Stand 1. Everyone sits. The leader calls a number, such as four. 2. Without talking or signaling, exactly that many players must stand up within five seconds. 3. Too many or too few, and everyone sits for another try. 4. A hit earns a harder number. Nobody may stand twice in a row. Players: 10 to 40. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
Minority Wins 1. The leader asks a question with two answers, such as mountains or beach. 2. Everyone decides in silence, then on three holds up one finger or two. 3. The side with fewer hands scores a point each. 4. Ten questions. Because everyone tries to guess what the others will choose, the votes swing. Players: 8 to 40. Time: 8 min. Props: a list of two-way questions.
One Lap of the Ball, Call the Seconds 1. Hold up a soft ball and ask how many seconds it will take to pass it once around the circle, hand to hand. 2. Going around, each player says a guess and remembers it. 3. Time one lap. The closest guess wins. 4. Then the circle agrees on a target two seconds faster and tries to match it exactly: a lap that comes in early is a miss too. Players: 10 to 40. Time: 5 min. Props: a soft ball and a timer.
Roll a Six, Write to a Hundred 1. Sit around one sheet of paper and one pen in the middle. Pass a die around the circle, one roll each. 2. Whoever rolls a six takes the pen and starts writing the numbers from 1 toward 100. 3. The die keeps moving. The next six takes the pen, and that player starts or carries on their own column. 4. First to reach 100 wins. Players: 6 to 15 a circle. Time: 10 min. Props: a die, one pen and paper.
Six Answers, Find the Question 1. One player leaves. The circle agrees on a question, such as, what would you put on a pizza? 2. The player returns and points at anyone, who gives their own answer to the secret question. 3. After six answers the player has three guesses at the question. 4. The last person to answer goes out next. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: none.

Table teams: build, sort and solve 8

Cut-Up Square Puzzle 1. Before the night, cut one cardstock square for each table into seven pieces with straight cuts, the same way for all. 2. Mix each set and hand it over in an envelope. 3. Teams rebuild the square with no piece left over. 4. After three minutes the leader may show one piece in its place. First square wins. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: cardstock squares cut into pieces, in envelopes.
Farthest Coin Overhang 1. Give each table thirty coins of one size. 2. Teams stack them at the table's edge so that the stack leans out over the floor as far as it can. 3. No coin may be held, taped or propped. 4. After five minutes, hands off. A leader measures from the table edge to the farthest coin still in place. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 8 min. Props: thirty matching coins for each table and a ruler.
Fifteen Books, A to Z 1. Stack the same number of mixed books on each table, about fifteen. 2. On go, the team stands them in a row in order of the author's last name. 3. Books with no author go at the end, by title. 4. Hands up when done. A leader reads the spines down the row, and each book out of place adds ten seconds. Players: 8 to 30 in teams. Time: 8 min. Props: about fifteen books for each table.
Four Cards, Make Ten 1. Take the face cards out of a deck. A leader turns up four cards where every table can see them. 2. Teams race to combine all four numbers, each used once, with plus, minus, times or divide to make exactly ten. 3. The first table to show a sum that works scores. 4. If nobody has one after a minute, deal four new cards. Play to five. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: a deck of cards, paper and pencils.
Oldest Coin to Newest Line 1. Tip the same number of mixed coins onto each table, about twenty. 2. Teams read the year on each coin and lay them in a line from oldest to newest. 3. Coins of the same year sit side by side. 4. The first correct line wins, and each table says which year it had most of. Players: 8 to 30 in teams. Time: 8 min. Props: about twenty coins for each table.
Rank by Weight, Check on the Scale 1. Put the same five everyday objects on each table, such as a stapler, a mug, a paperback, a shoe and a ball. 2. Teams pass them hand to hand and line them up from lightest to heaviest. 3. Weigh one set on a kitchen scale in front of everyone. 4. A point for each object in the right place. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 8 min. Props: matching sets of five objects and a kitchen scale.
Shuffled Deck Sort 1. Each table gets a well-shuffled deck, face down. 2. On go, the team sorts it into four rows by suit, each running ace to king. 3. Everyone may touch the cards, so teams that share out the suits go fastest. 4. Hands up when finished. A leader checks one row at random, and any card out of place adds ten seconds. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 5 min. Props: a deck of cards for each table.
Step Through an Index Card 1. Give each table three index cards and a pair of scissors. 2. The challenge: cut one card so that it opens into a loop big enough for a teammate to step through, with no tape and no joins. 3. Teams may use the spare cards to test ideas. 4. After five minutes, give one hint: fold it in half and cut slits from both sides. First teammate through wins. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: index cards and scissors.

Lights-on hide and hunt in a building 8

As Long as This String 1. Cut every team a piece of string of the same length, about a forearm. 2. Teams have eight minutes to find five different things in the building that are exactly as long as the string. 3. They bring the things, or a note of where each fixed thing is. 4. A leader measures. Each match scores. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 12 min. Props: a piece of string for each team.
Building Census 1. Give each team a list of five things to count across the building: chairs, windows, coat hooks, exit signs, steps. 2. Teams decide how to split the counting and walk the rooms. 3. Each team hands in five numbers. 4. The leaders, who counted beforehand, give a point for each exact number and half for one that is within two. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 15 min. Props: a list, paper and a pen for each team.
Find the Leaders, Collect Initials 1. While the group counts to sixty in the hall, the leaders hide around the building in places where a person can be found with the lights on. 2. Pairs search together. 3. Each leader who is found signs the pair's card and stays put for the next pair. 4. First pair back with every set of initials wins. Players: 10 to 40 in pairs. Time: 15 min. Props: a card and a pen for each pair.
Numbered Cards Sentence Hunt 1. Before the group arrives, tape twelve numbered cards around the rooms you are using, each with one word on it. 2. Teams walk the building and copy down the word for each number. Cards stay on the walls. 3. In number order, the words make a sentence. 4. The first team to read the full sentence to a leader wins. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 15 min. Props: twelve numbered word cards, tape, paper and pens.
Out of Sight of the Doorway 1. Each team gets one room, with the lights on and a leader inside, and two minutes to hide in it. 2. Feet stay on the floor, and nobody shuts themselves inside anything. 3. A second leader stands in the doorway for ten seconds and counts every person they can see without stepping in. 4. The team with the fewest people seen wins the round. Swap rooms and play again. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 15 min. Props: none.
Spoon on the Bookshelf: Spot the Misfits 1. Before the night, put ten things where they do not belong: a spoon on a bookshelf, a sock on a door handle. 2. Teams walk through with a pencil and paper, hands behind their backs. 3. They list what is wrong and where, and touch nothing. 4. Most of the ten found wins. Invented extras lose a point each. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 12 min. Props: ten everyday objects, paper and pencils.
Whose Mug Is This? Match the Finds to the Leaders 1. Before the group arrives, each leader leaves one thing of their own in plain sight in the rooms that are in play: a mug, a scarf, a key ring, each with a number tag. 2. Teams walk the building, find the numbered things and leave them where they are. 3. Beside each number, the team writes the leader it thinks the thing belongs to. 4. Back in the hall, the leaders claim their things one at a time. A point for each right match. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 15 min. Props: one numbered belonging from each leader, paper and pens.
Zoomed-In Corners of the Building 1. Take ten close-up photos of things in the building: a door handle, a corner of a poster, a light switch. 2. Print them on one sheet or show them on a screen. 3. Teams find each object and write down which room it is in. 4. Most right answers in ten minutes wins. Ties go to the team back first. Players: 8 to 40 in teams. Time: 15 min. Props: ten close-up photos, paper and pens.

All-in games with a way back in 8

Beanbag Slide Knockout, Redemption Lane 1. Tape a box on the floor three paces from a line, and a second box to one side. 2. Everyone takes a turn sliding a beanbag from the line to stop inside the first box. 3. A miss sends you to the second box, the redemption lane. One slide that stops inside it puts you back in the main line. 4. After each round the main line moves back a step. Players: 10 to 40. Time: 12 min. Props: beanbags and masking tape.
Card Duel Walkabout 1. Every player takes a playing card and holds it face down. 2. Walk around. Meet anyone, count to three and both show. 3. The higher card scores a win. The lower card goes to the leader's table, swaps for a new card and walks back in. 4. After five minutes, most wins takes it. Players keep their own count. Players: 10 to 50. Time: 8 min. Props: one or two decks of cards.
Category Stand-Off With Steal-Back 1. Everyone stands. The leader names a category, such as things in a kitchen. 2. Go along the rows: each player has three seconds to name one that has not been said. 3. A miss or a repeat sits down. 4. Any seated player who calls out a fresh answer at that moment stands up again. New category every two minutes. Players: 10 to 40. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
Cue Word Story, Stand and Turn 1. Give every player one of six words, such as bus, rain, sandwich, dog, hat and bell. 2. A leader tells a story that uses the words often. 3. Each time your word is said, stand up, turn around once and sit. 4. On the word everybody, the whole group changes seats. A player who misses a cue tells the next part of the story. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
Letter by Letter, Sparkle Out 1. Stand in a ring. The leader gives a word. 2. Players spell it one letter each, going around. 3. The player after the last letter says sparkle, and the player after that sits down. 4. A wrong letter also sits. A seated player who shouts the right letter first takes that place back. Players: 10 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: a word list for the leader.
One Move Behind 1. A leader at the front does a simple move, such as a clap. The group does nothing. 2. The leader does a second move while the group does the first. The group stays one move behind all the way. 3. A mistake sends you to the side lane, where a second leader runs the same game slowly. 4. Three clean copies there and you walk back. Players: 10 to 60. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
Six-Sided Sit and Stand 1. Everyone stands and holds up one to six fingers. 2. The leader rolls a big die. Everyone showing that number sits down. 3. Seated players keep choosing a number too. If the die shows a seated player's number, that player stands again. 4. Whoever is standing after ten rolls shares the win. Players: 10 to 100. Time: 5 min. Props: one large die.
Step Forward, Step Back Quiz 1. Everyone lines up across the middle of the hall, facing the front wall. 2. The leader reads a true-or-false statement. Players put a hand on their head for true or on a hip for false. 3. Right answers take one step forward and wrong answers one step back. 4. The first player to touch the front wall wins. Nobody is ever out. Players: 10 to 50. Time: 10 min. Props: a list of true-or-false statements.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions, written for this site for leaders running an indoor youth night for ages 11 to 18. The wording is ours, and player counts and times are our estimates. There is no food race, blindfold or running relay. Your organization's rules on supervision come first. No outside source was used. Licence: own work