Party Games With Cups

Team games, duels and building contests played with empty cups: press Pick 3 new games.

Party Games With Cups

  1. The Silent Lap1. Sit in a circle at a table, each with an upturned cup. 2. On a slow count, everyone slides their cup one place to the right at the same moment. 3. The lap only counts if no cup makes a sound: no click, no scrape and no tip. 4. Any sound sends the count back to zero. Try for one silent lap of the whole table, then do it faster. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a cup for each player.
  2. Slalom Through the Cup Gates1. Stand pairs of cups down the room as gates, each pair a shoe-length apart. 2. Each runner pushes a tennis ball through every gate using an upturned cup held in one hand. 3. A gate that is knocked over is reset by that runner before they go on. 4. Pass the pushing cup to the next teammate. Fastest team wins. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: about twelve cups, plus a tennis ball and a pushing cup for each team.
  3. Cup Hat, One More Each Leg1. The first player balances one upturned cup on their head and walks to a line and back with hands down. 2. They hand the cup on. The second player wears it with one more cup nested on top, the third with three, and so on. 3. A stack that falls is put back on where it fell. 4. The first team whose last player gets home wins. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: a cup for each player.

Next step Try a one-minute cup stunt

How it works

These party games with cups need a stack of empty plastic or paper cups and a few household things, such as string, index cards and a ball. They are games for teams, pairs and circles, scored in rounds.

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Five kinds of cup game

The All games menu keeps one kind: Team relays, Table duels, Building contests, Rhythm and passing games or Cup games for a lawn. The biggest build and the spelling relay take about fifty cups a team.

Indoors or on the grass

More filters, the last entry of that menu, sorts by head count, by minutes and by place. Works outdoors keeps the lawn games, the relays and most of the rhythm games.

Tips
  • Light cups blow over outdoors. Use the heavier plastic kind on a lawn.
  • Two colors of cup make teams, checkers pieces and pixels with no extra gear.

Questions and answers

What games can you play with plastic cups?

Relays, duels, building contests and rhythm games. In Spell It With Lettered Cups, runners fetch one cup at a time to build a word. In Two-Minute Tower, a Card Under Every Level, teams race to build the tallest tower.

Which are easy party games with cups?

Those marked for age five, such as Lift Two Cups, Find the Pair, The Wall That Outlasts the Wind, Musical Cups, One Too Few and Uppers and Downers.

Is there a drink in any of these games?

No. Every cup is empty in every game, and nothing is staked or forfeited. The list is written for a party with children in the room.

How many cups does a party need?

It depends on the game. Most rhythm and passing games use one cup a player. Two games take about fifty cups for each team: Spell It With Lettered Cups and Pixel Picture in Two Colors.

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All 35 games

Team relays 7

  • Blow the Cup Along the String 1. Thread a cup onto a long string through a hole in its base, one string for each team, and have two players hold each string tight. 2. The first player blows into the open cup to send it from one end of the string to the other. 3. No hands on the cup. 4. Slide it back by hand for the next teammate. First team through wins. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: a cup with a hole in its base and a long string for each team.
  • Cup Hat, One More Each Leg 1. The first player balances one upturned cup on their head and walks to a line and back with hands down. 2. They hand the cup on. The second player wears it with one more cup nested on top, the third with three, and so on. 3. A stack that falls is put back on where it fell. 4. The first team whose last player gets home wins. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: a cup for each player.
  • Lift Two Cups, Find the Pair 1. Hide ten pairs of matching stickers under twenty upturned cups at the far end of the room. 2. One runner from each team goes at a time and lifts two cups. 3. A matching pair comes back to the team with its cups. Two that do not match are covered again where they stood. 4. Teammates may shout where they saw a sticker. Most pairs wins. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 6 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: twenty cups and ten pairs of stickers.
Show all 35 games (32 more)

Team relays, continued

  • One-Handed Waiter With a Six-Cup Tower 1. Build a tower of six cups, mouth to mouth and base to base, on a paper plate for each team. 2. The first player lifts the plate on one flat hand, walks around a chair and back, and hands it over. 3. If the tower falls, the waiter stops and rebuilds it on the spot before moving on. 4. The first team with every waiter home wins. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: six cups and a paper plate for each team.
  • Slalom Through the Cup Gates 1. Stand pairs of cups down the room as gates, each pair a shoe-length apart. 2. Each runner pushes a tennis ball through every gate using an upturned cup held in one hand. 3. A gate that is knocked over is reset by that runner before they go on. 4. Pass the pushing cup to the next teammate. Fastest team wins. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: about twelve cups, plus a tennis ball and a pushing cup for each team.
  • Spell It With Lettered Cups 1. Write one letter on the base of each cup, two alphabets for each team, and scatter them upside down at the far end. 2. The host calls a word of five or six letters. 3. One runner at a time fetches a single cup and adds it to the word at the team's table. 4. A wrong letter costs a trip to take it back. The first word spelled wins the round. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: about fifty cups for each team and a marker.
  • Two-Palm Tower Carry 1. Stack five cups into one tall nested column for each team. 2. Two teammates carry it between them, lying sideways, held only by one flat palm pressed on each end. 3. They walk around a chair and back. If the column drops, both stop and set it up again where it fell. 4. Hand the column to the next two. The first team with every pair home wins. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: five cups for each team.

Table duels 7

  • Checkers With Cups, Stack to Crown 1. Tape a grid of eight by eight squares on a table, or use a checkerboard tablecloth. 2. Each side sets out twelve cups of its own color and plays checkers with the rules the two players know. 3. A cup that reaches the far row is crowned by stacking a second cup on top. 4. Captured cups nest in a pile at the side. Play one game, and the winner stays on. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 2 to 6. Time: 20 min. Props: twenty-four cups in two colors and tape.
  • Cup Sumo by Breath 1. Tape a circle the size of a dinner plate in the middle of a table and lay one cup on its side in the center. 2. Two players crouch at opposite sides with their chins at table height. 3. On go, both blow. Each tries to roll the cup out over the other player's side of the circle. 4. Best of five. Hands stay behind backs. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 5 min. Props: one cup and tape.
  • Curving Roll Into the Square 1. Tape a square the size of a hand on the table, an arm's length from the edge. 2. A cup on its side rolls in a curve, because one end is wider than the other. Each player gets three rolls from the edge. 3. A cup that stops touching the square scores one, and a cup wholly inside scores three. 4. Highest total after three rounds wins. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 8 min. Props: one cup and tape.
  • Pull the Card, Drop the Cup 1. The card-and-cup tower stunt, played as a duel. Build one tower of six upright cups with an index card between each cup and the next. 2. Players take turns pulling out one card with a quick tug, so that the cup above drops into the cup below. 3. A player who topples the tower loses the round. 4. If every card comes out, the two players have beaten the tower together and add a seventh cup. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 2 to 6. Time: 6 min. Props: six or seven cups and index cards.
  • Shuffleboard With Ten Sliding Cups 1. Two players stand at one end of a long table with five cups each, in two colors. 2. They take turns sliding one upturned cup down the table with a single push. 3. A cup that drops off the far end is out. Knocking the other player's cup off is allowed. 4. When all ten are played, the cup nearest the far edge scores. Play to three. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 8 min. Props: ten cups in two colors and a long smooth table.
  • String Telephone Dictation 1. Make two cup telephones: a long string knotted through a hole in the base of two cups. 2. In each pair, one player whispers five words into a cup while the partner listens at the other end, with the string pulled tight. 3. The listener writes down what they hear. 4. The pair with the most words right wins. Swap the whisperer and play again. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: four cups, two long strings, paper and pens.
  • Whose Coin Sinks the Bridge? 1. Lay an index card across two upturned cups as a bridge. 2. Players take turns placing one coin on the card, anywhere they like. 3. Each coin has to stay on for a count of three before the next turn. 4. The player whose coin brings the bridge down loses the round. Move the cups a little farther apart for the next one. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 6. Time: 6 min. Props: two cups, an index card and a handful of coins.

Building contests 7

  • Blueprint Seen for Ten Seconds 1. The host builds a small structure of ten cups behind a screen. 2. One player from each team looks at it for ten seconds, then goes back and tells the team what to build. 3. A second look costs the team ten seconds on the clock. 4. The first copy that matches cup for cup, colors included, wins. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: ten cups for the host and ten for each team, in two colors.
  • Build What You Hear, Back to Back 1. Two partners sit back to back with eight cups each. 2. One builds something and describes it as they go. The other builds the same from the words alone, and may ask questions. 3. After three minutes, both turn around and compare. 4. One point for every cup in the right place. Swap jobs. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: eight cups for each player.
  • Cup Sculpture, Guess the Title 1. Each team draws a title from a hat: a bridge, a rocket, a crown, a face. 2. Teams have three minutes to build it from cups, with no talking to other teams. 3. Walk the room together. Every team guesses each sculpture. 4. A right guess scores for the guessers and for the builders. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: about thirty cups for each team and title slips.
  • Pixel Picture in Two Colors 1. Each team gets fifty cups in two colors and a patch of floor. 2. Standing the cups close together as dots, teams lay out a picture or a word to be seen from above. 3. After five minutes, everyone stands on tiptoe behind each picture in turn and says what it is. 4. The host picks the one that was named fastest. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: fifty cups in two colors for each team.
  • Span the Gap Between Two Tables 1. Set two tables a forearm's length apart. 2. Each team gets twenty cups and five sheets of paper to build a bridge across the gap. 3. After five minutes, stand cups on each bridge one at a time. 4. The bridge that carries the most cups before it sags to the floor wins. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: about thirty cups and five sheets of paper for each team.
  • Two-Minute Tower, a Card Under Every Level 1. Give each team thirty cups and fifteen index cards. 2. Teams build the tallest tower they can in two minutes. Every level has to rest on a card. 3. When time is up, everyone takes their hands away and counts to five. 4. Measure the towers still standing. The tallest wins. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 6 min. Props: thirty cups and fifteen index cards for each team.
  • The Wall That Outlasts the Wind 1. Each team has three minutes to build a wall of cups on the floor, at least three cups high. 2. Teams then change places and stand behind a line two steps from the other team's wall. 3. On go, each team blows at the wall for ten seconds. 4. Count the cups still standing in each wall. More cups standing wins. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: about forty cups for each team.

Rhythm and passing games 7

  • The Dotted Cup 1. Put a sticker dot inside one cup and hand every player a cup, held mouth down so that nobody can see in. 2. While the music plays, pass cups around the circle hand to hand. 3. When the music stops, everyone turns their cup over. 4. Whoever holds the dot sets the next challenge for the circle, such as passing behind the back. It is hot potato, but nobody knows who is holding it. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a cup for each player, one sticker and music.
  • Eight-Count Cup Pattern 1. Everyone sits at a table with one upturned cup in front of them. 2. Teach eight counts, one line at a time: clap, clap, tap the cup three times, clap, lift the cup, set it down. 3. Run the eight counts together four times, a little faster each time. 4. Anyone who loses the beat joins the clappers, who keep time until one player is left. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a cup for each player.
  • Musical Cups, One Too Few 1. This is musical chairs played with hands. Stand cups in the middle of the table, one fewer than the number of players. 2. While the music plays, everyone keeps both hands on their head. 3. When it stops, grab a cup. 4. The player left without one takes a cup away and becomes the one who stops the music. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 5 to 12. Time: 8 min. Props: cups and music.
  • Pass Right on Every Fourth Beat 1. Sit in a circle on the floor, each with an upturned cup. 2. Everyone taps their cup on beats one, two and three, and on four slides it to the player on the right. 3. Speed up a little each lap. 4. A player who ends up with two cups, or with none, moves to the middle and claps the beat for everyone else. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a cup for each player.
  • The Pattern as a Round 1. Teach the whole room one pattern of eight counts: tap, tap, clap, lift, tap, tap, clap, slide. 2. Split the table into two halves. 3. The second half starts the pattern four counts after the first. 4. Hold it for eight rounds. Then split into four groups, each two counts apart. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 8 to 40. Time: 8 min. Props: a cup for each player.
  • The Silent Lap 1. Sit in a circle at a table, each with an upturned cup. 2. On a slow count, everyone slides their cup one place to the right at the same moment. 3. The lap only counts if no cup makes a sound: no click, no scrape and no tip. 4. Any sound sends the count back to zero. Try for one silent lap of the whole table, then do it faster. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a cup for each player.
  • Where Did My Cup Go? 1. Everyone writes their initials inside their own cup and sets it mouth down on the table. 2. The host calls passes, such as three to the right, then five to the left, then two to the right, and the cups move one place on each beat. 3. Before anyone looks, each player points at the cup they believe is theirs. 4. Turn them over. A player who is right calls the passes next time. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: a cup for each player and a marker.

Cup games for a lawn 7

  • Bedsheet Launch Into the Basket 1. Each team of four or more holds the edges of a bedsheet with ten cups lying on it. 2. Set a laundry basket three steps away. 3. By pulling the sheet tight together, the team launches cups into the air and tries to land them in the basket. 4. Reload the cups that missed. The first team to basket five wins, and then the baskets move a step farther off. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 8 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: a bedsheet, ten cups and a laundry basket for each team.
  • Colored Cup Hunt, Rare Colors Score More 1. Hide fifty cups around the yard: plenty of one color worth one point, fewer of a second color worth three, and one cup of a third color worth ten. 2. Teams hunt for five minutes. 3. A player carries one cup at a time back to the team's stack. 4. Add up the stacks by color. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: fifty cups in three colors.
  • Cup Lacrosse, No Running With the Ball 1. Mark a bucket goal at each end of the lawn. Every player holds one cup. 2. A soft ball moves only by being tossed from one cup and caught in another. 3. A player holding the ball in a cup may turn on the spot but may not take a step. 4. A dropped ball goes to the other team. Score by tossing it into the bucket. No contact with players or their cups. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 6 to 20. Time: 15 min. Props: a cup for each player, a soft ball and two buckets.
  • Hand-Bat Tee Ball Off a Cup 1. Stand a soft ball on an upturned cup as a tee, and mark one base ten steps away. 2. The batter hits the ball off the cup with an open hand and runs to the base and back. 3. Fielders return the ball to the catcher, who sets it back on the cup. A run scores if the batter is home before the ball is on the tee. 4. Everyone bats once, then the sides change. A batter who knocks the cup over without hitting the ball goes again. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 20. Time: 15 min. Props: one cup and a soft ball.
  • Nine-Cup Lawn Golf, Rolled by Hand 1. Lay nine cups on their sides around the lawn, held down with a tent stake or a stone, and number them. 2. Players roll a tennis ball underarm from cup to cup and count their rolls. 3. The ball has to end inside the cup, not just touch it. 4. Fewest rolls over the nine cups wins. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 12. Time: 20 min. Props: nine cups, stakes or stones, and a tennis ball for each player.
  • Tip-Their-Cup Lawn Tag 1. Mark a square on the grass about ten steps across. Every player balances an upturned cup on one flat palm. 2. On go, players move around the square and try to tip other people's cups off with their free hand. 3. Touch cups only, never arms or bodies. A player whose cup falls steps out of the square. 4. The last cup still balanced wins. Rounds last about a minute. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 6 min. Props: a cup for each player.
  • Uppers and Downers 1. Scatter forty cups over the lawn, half standing upright and half upside down. 2. One team turns cups upright, and the other turns them upside down. 3. Use hands only. No kicking, and nobody guards a cup. 4. After one minute, freeze and count. Play three rounds and change jobs each time. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: forty cups.

How this list was compiled: Written by the Game Night Generator editors on 2026-10-03 for a party with a sleeve of empty plastic or paper cups and little else. The games and their wording are our own, and each entry gives its youngest player. Every cup is empty in every game: no game involves a drink, a forfeit or a stake. Ages, player ranges and times are our estimates. The crowning rule in Checkers With Cups was checked on 2026-10-03 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkers. Licence: own work