Which games are actually fun and don’t get boring the second time you play them? The ten games I want to show you here have proven themselves over my years as a youth pastor. Most of them need no materials and very little prep, so you can pull them out of your pocket anytime.
10. Crab Soccer
Two teams play against each other. The only difference from a regular soccer game is that you may only move on all fours, with your back toward the floor. The team with the most goals wins. Make sure the room is well ventilated for this one.
Game page with illustration: Crab Soccer
9. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Questions are asked just like on the TV show. The difference: each question always goes to a whole team, and several teams compete against each other. If you want to save prep time, you’ll find free presentation templates in the style of the show online and can play comfortably with a projector. (One tip: the board game versions of the show are made for a handful of players, not for a big group.)
An alternative is a “Jeopardy!”-style quiz: a grid of questions is projected on the wall, and together with your team you choose between easier questions worth fewer points and harder questions worth more.
Game page: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Team Quiz)
8. Grumble Grumble
Everyone sits around a table in a circle, hands under the table. One person keeps their hands on the table. A coin is passed from hand to hand under the table while everyone says “grumble, grumble” (okay, the game isn’t exactly made for 18-year-olds, but with a bit of enthusiasm it’s a lot of fun). Then the person with their hands on the table says “Stop!” and everyone has to lay their hands flat on the table without revealing the coin, which is now hidden in someone’s palm. The player who said “Stop!” may give two more commands. Then they get two tries to guess, first, who has the coin and, second, which hand it’s in.
Possible commands: flat, fist, bridge, double bridge, bunny ears, and so on. Think up a few before the game and explain them.
Game page: Grumble Grumble
7. Balloon Stomp
An action game that can be a whole lot of fun. It’s every player for themselves. Every player gets a balloon tied to their ankle with a piece of string. On the starting signal, they have to stomp on each other’s balloons. When a player has no balloon left, they’re out. The last player standing wins.
As an alternative, play “Clothespin Chase”: instead of a balloon to stomp on, every player gets three clothespins clipped to the hem of their T-shirt. The goal is to steal clothespins from the others. Once you have none left, you’re out. The winner is the one with the most clothespins.
Game page: Balloon Stomp
6. The Curtain Game
This game is a super fast way to learn names. You may know it as the Blanket Name Game. First, every player makes up a hero name or a Bible name, and everyone should know everyone else’s name. Then a curtain is stretched across the room. I always use a tarp from the hardware store. Five people go to one side of the tarp and five to the other. The rest watch from a spot where they can see both sides. Then one person on each side sits down on a chair, so two people are facing each other, but because of the tarp they don’t yet know who is sitting across from them. Then the tarp is pulled down in a flash. Whichever player shouts the other’s name first moves on to the next round. The other is out and can go back to the audience. The game is incredibly fun, because some people get so startled when the tarp drops that they make everyone else laugh.
Game page: The Curtain Game
5. Fruit Salad
Everyone sits in a circle (chairs or couches) and counts off, from 1 to 3 or up to 6, depending on the size of the group. All the ones are bananas, all the twos are strawberries, the threes are cherries, the fours are pears, the fives are apples, and so on. Then everyone moves to a new seat so the fruits are well mixed. One chair is removed. The person who now has no seat stands in the middle. Either a narrator tells a story in which the fruits come up, or the person in the middle says which fruits have to switch seats. If, for example, the word “bananas” comes up, all bananas have to switch seats with each other while the person in the middle tries to grab a seat. Then the new person in the middle names a fruit and tries to get a seat. You can also name several fruits at once, or shout “fruit salad!” On “fruit salad,” everyone has to switch seats. There are no winners or losers in this game; it’s all about action and fun.
An alternative is Musical Chairs. I’ll file that one under general knowledge and skip the explanation.
Game page: Fruit Salad
4. Rhythm Signs
In the clapping game Concentration, everyone usually sits in a circle and has their own number, which the others “call” in rhythm. In this version, the numbers are simply replaced by individual signs. Everyone keeps the same beat: slap both hands on your thighs once, clap once, snap your right hand once, snap your left hand once. That makes a 4/4 beat and is the basic rhythm of the game. The player whose turn it is does the full beat once, and the second time through: thighs once, clap once, then their own sign, then the sign of the person who is up next. Whoever stumbles or calls on someone who is already out is out themselves. The winners are those who are left at the end.
Game page: Rhythm Signs
3. Freeze!
This is probably one of the coolest games, but with the wrong people it can also go completely wrong. A bit like preparing pufferfish. In this game, two players are always in the middle, acting out an improvised scene. They keep playing until someone shouts “Freeze!” Then they freeze. The player who shouted “Freeze!” takes the place of the player who has been in the scene longer and starts a new scene, which the other player has to join. Only two people ever play at the same time. You need open, relaxed people for this one.
Game page: Freeze!
2. The Axinator
Video on Instagram: instagram.com/reel/CaKWToMjumv
A game that got this name in our group because we once used a cardboard tube that looked like an axe instead of a newspaper. Everyone sits in a big circle of chairs. One person has no chair and stands in the middle with a rolled-up newspaper. There is also a large wastebasket in the middle. Now the Axinator has to touch a player with the newspaper, put the newspaper back into the wastebasket in the middle and take the other player’s seat. At the same time, the challenged player has to jump up in a flash, grab the newspaper from the middle and tag the other player with it before they sit down. The game goes on until everyone has had a few turns. You’ll probably need to remind the boys not to hit too hard.
The classic version, with illustration: Newspaper Chase
1. Mafia
Also known as Werewolves, Among Us in real life, Mafia Wars and so on. This game probably needs the most prep and has a few rules. But it’s fun every single time. It’s about a made-up town with a Mafia problem. Every day, the town’s citizens try to bring the mafiosi to the gallows. Unfortunately, the mafiosi are right among them, posing as citizens. There is also a detective who knows the identity of the mafiosi but must not let their own cover slip.
You need at least six people and a narrator. Make cards for the players, which they draw face down. At most one third of the players may be mafiosi. The rest of the players get citizen cards, plus one detective card. Then the game begins.
The narrator moderates the whole game. First they tell a bit about the town and the terrible schemes of the Mafia that have to be stopped. Then they announce the night. Every round, the game goes through the cycle of night and day. At night, all players have to lower their heads and close their eyes. Peeking is punished with immediate elimination from the game. Once everyone’s eyes are closed, the narrator tells the mafiosi to wake up. They quietly raise their heads and point to choose a person they want to kill. Then they go back to sleep. In the first round only, the detective wakes up next, and the narrator shows them who the mafiosi are. Then morning comes again, and the narrator explains who died and how.
The day begins. Now the players have to discuss and figure out who is Mafia. The goal during the day is to eliminate the mafiosi. That happens at the end of a longer debate, by vote. Only during the day may the executed player say what they were (citizen, mafioso or detective) and leave a last message. Details about people who die at night are not revealed.
Then night falls again. And everything repeats until either:
- The mafiosi outnumber the citizens. Then they win.
- The citizens have eliminated all the mafiosi. Then they win.
A game like this can take between 10 and 30 minutes.
Bonus: “One Night Ultimate Werewolf”
Video on Instagram: instagram.com/reel/CaxrtjZj2R8
My insider tip is One Night Ultimate Werewolf: probably the most popular game in youth ministry.
It works for 3 to 10 players and comes with a free app that takes over the narrator’s role. A round takes less than 10 minutes.
🎲 What’s your favorite game? Let us know in the comments!
English version: September 2026
