GAMES
FOR WORKING HOLIDAYS
Lynne Donaldson
January 2004
CONTENTS
Introduction
Basic kit for games
Forfeits
Pre-packaged games
Games needing no equipment
Guessing games
Black Magic
Charades
Descriptions
Mime Chinese Whispers
One Up, One Down
Open and Closed
Passing the Scissors
The Moon Is Round
Train Game
Twenty Questions
Uncle William
Reaction and word games
Animal Game
Bunnies
Chinese Whispers
Coffins
Famous Names
Fizz-Buzz
Fuzzy Duck
In My Suitcase
It’s a Cat
Poohsticks Banana
Throwing the Smile
Teletubbies
Shiritori
Crossed Hands / Tapping the Table
Toothless
Active games
Chair Lift
Duck Duck Goose
Ladders
Mrs. Brown’s Shopping
Pretzels
Sardines
Silly Fighting
Sitting in a Circle
Tug of War
Games requiring basic equipment
Pencil and paper games
Animal Partners
Battleships
Category race
Consequences
Dumb Artist
Fish and Chips
Hangman
Who Am I?
Wink Murder
Blindfold games
All Change / Fruit Basket
Blind Man’s Buff
Blindfold Drawing
“Flying” Game
Safety Pin Game
Squeak Piggy Squeak
Steeplechase
Games with music
Hot Potato
Musical bumps
Musical chairs
Card games
Cheat
Happy Families
Memory Game
Old Maid (same rules as Donkey)
Snap
Spoons
Other games
Games with food
Apple-Bobbing (Duck-Apple)
Cereal Box Game
Chocolate Game
Chubby Bunnies
Flour Castle
Snatch-Apple
Spaghetti Game
Miscellaneous games
Boat Race
Broom Handle Race
Cup and Saucer Game
Ibble Dibble
Pass the Card
Pass the Orange
Scavenger Hunt
Smugglers
Spoofing
Spoon Race
Spill the Beans
Tail Tag
Twister (home-made version)
Introduction
Are you ever at a loss for activities to keep your volunteers entertained at the basecamp in the evening? Do you want to find an alternative to going to the pub every night of the week?
If so then this booklet could be what you’re looking for!
It contains a collection of games assimilated over three decades of research, from sources including working holidays, Brownies, school, kids’ parties and the pub.
There are active games and sedentary games; games that require some intelligence and games that are just plain silly; games that use language and games that don’t, or that can be adapted to simplify the language used.
Basic kit for games
There’s a sizeable selection of games listed here that require no equipment at all, but you can expand your repertoire considerably if you include the following items in your working holiday packing list:
- Pens and a supply of paper
- A pack of cards (preferably complete but fairly old and tatty)
- Something that can be used as a blindfold (e.g. an airline sleep mask or a scarf)
- A tape recorder and music (in spite of what the Trust tells you about not taking radios to basecamps!)
- A die (mine is a cube cut off the end of a length of wood from the wardens’ timber yard at Holnicote)
- Sticky tape or masking tape
Forfeits
Many of the games require the loser in each round to pay a forfeit. Of course, you can omit this bit if you like, but if you do want to use forfeits then it’s worth writing a supply of them on slips of paper and putting them in a bag to be picked out when appropriate throughout the holiday. This task in itself could be done as a group activity early in the week; make sure that nobody submits a forfeit that they themselves wouldn’t be willing to do, or that is likely to upset anyone. Examples might be:
- Wear a pair of socks on your hands for the next half-hour
- Run round the outside of the basecamp
- Bake a cake for the worksite (recipe and ingredients provided)
- Don’t speak for the next five minutes (to be repeated until successful)
- Wear an item of clothing back to front for the rest of the day
- Gather and identify leaves from four different types of tree
Pre-packaged games
If you have any games at home, and are able to carry them, then it’s worth taking a few along with you. Good ones include:
- Jenga
- Trivial Pursuit
- Pictionary
- Twister
- Taboo
Games needing no equipment
Guessing games
In most of the games in this section, the objective is to work out some kind of key – usually a certain word or action used at a particular stage in the proceedings. Avoid playing more than two or three such games in quick succession, as it can get very frustrating for those who aren’t so quick on the uptake.
Tell participants in the game to demonstrate when they’ve worked out how to play, but not spoil it by telling the other players the answer. And whatever you do, don’t let your volunteers get their hands on these descriptions!
Black Magic
Two people need to know how to play this game: a magician and an accomplice. (The existence of the accomplice is not a secret.) The magician goes out of earshot and the accomplice stays with the others while they choose something in the room. Anything visible can be chosen; it could be the table or it could be a single letter on a poster on the wall.
Once the decision is made, the magician is called back into the room and the accomplice asks him a series of questions: “Is it the stove?” “Is it the water in the pan on the cooker?” “Is it the third tile from the right in the second row down?” Each time the magician feigns consideration and then responds in the negative. Eventually the item chosen is named, and of course the magician identifies it correctly. The others have to work out how the magician knows which is the item chosen.
The secret is the word “black” in the name of the game: the last thing that the accomplice asks about before naming the thing chosen is black – for example a bucket of coal or a door handle. By prior arrangement, you may choose to substitute something of a different colour or a particular shape or material.
Charades
An old favourite, where one person mimes the title of a book / film / play / TV programme / song, and the other players have to guess what’s being mimed. Can be played in teams or individually. If you have time to prepare then you can write a selection of titles on slips of paper to be drawn out of a bag. Alternatively, if playing in teams, you can get the teams to give each other titles to use.
Most people will already know the basic gestures, but here are a few reminders:
Book: open hands to show flat palms
- Play: draw outline of a pair of curtains
- Film: one hand vertical, with thumb towards face; other hand operates an imaginary wind-up movie camera
- TV: draw a square using both hands
- Song: mime singing, possibly going down on one knee
- Fingers held up indicates number of words, or which word is about to be mimed
- Fingers in crook of elbow of opposite arm indicate syllables
- The whole thing: mime a huge beach ball
- Sounds like: hand cupped to ear (generally means “rhymes with”)
- Person’s name: hand flat on top of head
- The word “the”: flat hands formed into a T shape
- Short word: thumb and forefinger, or flat palms, close together
Descriptions
I renamed this one, as the name I knew it by – “good neighbours” – was a bit of a giveaway!
Everyone sits in a circle, and each person makes a descriptive statement about him/herself, for example “I have long hair” or “I’m wearing jeans”. The others have to work out what statements they can make about themselves (and others). The key is that the speaker is actually describing not himself but the person immediately to his/her left.
Mime Chinese Whispers
A wordless version of Chinese whispers. Everyone except one person leaves the room, and the remaining person is given a simple task to mime, for example putting the rubbish out or having a shower. The other players then go back into the room one at a time: the person who has been briefed mimes the task to the first person, then the second person enters and the first person mimes it to them, then the second person mimes it to the third, and so on. Nobody may speak, except to call the next person into the room. When the last person has seen the mime, they perform it back to everyone else and tell everyone what they thought they were doing. Then the original actor performs the mime again, so that everyone can compare the original and final versions.
One Up, One Down
When everyone is relaxed, either sitting or lying down, put one hand behind your head (as if having a stretch) and say to someone, “I’m one up, one down; how about you?” Each person then has to describe themselves in this way: either one up one down, two up, or two down. If their description tallies with the positions of their arms then they’ve got it right.
Open and Closed
Show the group a book, magazine or piece of folded paper and say “this is closed” or “this is open” while opening and closing the item. Then ask them, “Is this open or closed?”
The key is to completely ignore the prop and look at the position of the speaker’s mouth: is it open or closed?
Passing the Scissors
Everyone sits in a circle, preferably without a table in the middle. Pass a pair of scissors around the circle, with each person saying either “I pass these scissors to you crossed” or “I pass these scissors to you uncrossed” as they pass the scissors on. Make a great show of opening and closing the scissors and holding them in different ways. The “crossed” and “uncrossed” actually refers to the position of the passer’s legs.
If you don’t have a pair of scissors then you can substitute something else, for example two spoons.
The Moon Is Round
The leader recites a short statement, accompanied by appropriate actions:
“The moon is round; it’s got two eyes, a nose and a mouth.”
Each person in turn attempts to copy the leader in acting out the script, and the leader tells him or her whether or not they’ve got it right.
The secret is that before saying anything the speaker must cough (as, of course, the leader did in his/her demonstration).
Sounds easy, but you often find yourself rolling around on the floor having violent coughing fits, and giving the moon fifteen eyes, six noses and no mouth, before some people catch on!
Train Game
The object is to work out where you can take a train to and from. Each person in turn says, “I’m going to take a train from XXX to… umm… YYY”. Whether the journey is permissible or not depends on whether the speaker hesitates (“umm…” or “err…”) before naming the destination. Since people often tend to do this without realising it, it can take a long time for them to work out why they’re getting it right.
Twenty Questions
One person thinks of a person, place or thing that everyone in the room will be familiar with. The other players then take turns to ask questions until someone guesses what it is that’s being thought of. The person who guessed correctly gets to choose the next item to be guessed. If nobody has guessed the answer once twenty questions have been asked then the same person may reveal the answer and then gets to choose again.
Uncle William
Players have to work out what Uncle William likes and doesn’t like. For example, Uncle William likes boots but he doesn’t like shoes. He likes walls and floors but he doesn’t like ceilings. He loves coffee but he doesn’t like tea. And my friend Annette (who taught me this game) is one of his favourite people.
The secret is that Uncle William likes anything that contains a double letter.
This game can be stretched out over the whole duration of the holiday. Bring it up on the worksite when you’re with someone who you know hasn’t twigged yet: “Uncle William would like this job. He likes loppers. Doesn’t like bow-saws though.” You can put them out of their misery on the final evening.
Reaction and word games
Several of these games are well known as drinking games but can also be played without alcohol, substituting other forfeits for drinks. If it’s usually “drink while you think” then you can set a time limit instead, and measure it either using a stopwatch or by having the other participants beat time by clapping or tapping on the table. Agree the number of beats allowed beforehand. If the player fails to produce an appropriate response within the agreed time limit then he or she either drops out or pays a forfeit.
If you have any non-native English speakers in your group then try to avoid playing too many games that require a high level of fluency in English.
Animal Game
A very silly game, best with about 6-8 players. No language needed, except to explain the rules.
Seats are arranged in a horseshoe shape, preferably without a table in the middle, as people will be changing places.
Each person is allocated an animal, in some sort of vague hierarchy ranging from the amoeba to the king of the jungle. Each animal has its own action and sound. For example, your hierarchy might go: amoeba, fly, snake, rabbit, giraffe, monkey, elephant, king of the jungle.
The king of the jungle starts by performing his action immediately followed by someone else’s. That person immediately has to repeat their own action and then do someone else’s. This continues until someone either hesitates or sends play back to the same person who just sent it to them. That person is then demoted to amoeba and changes seats accordingly, with everyone in between moving up one place. So play might go lion-giraffe, giraffe-amoeba, amoeba-monkey, monkey-snake, snake-monkey – upon which the snake is demoted to the lowest of the low.
Continue until you get tired of making daft noises!
Bunnies
Everyone sits in a circle. One person “has the bunnies”, and starts the game by raising their thumbs to their temples and waggling their fingers. The two people on either side of that person must each do the same with the hand closest to the person who has the bunnies. The person who has the bunnies can “pass the bunnies” to any other player except their immediate neighbours by removing their thumbs from their temples and pointing all eight fingers, with arms outstretched, at the person they are passing to. That person must immediately catch the pass and their two immediate neighbours must each raise the hand closest to the person who now has the bunnies.
If the thumbs do not leave the temple then the bunnies have not been passed and anyone who tries to catch the pass must pay a forfeit.
If you like, you can also allow a “side pass”: the person who has the bunnies drops one hand, thus passing the bunnies to the person on the side of the hand that is still raised. So if you had the bunnies and dropped your right hand then the person on your left would have to take over.
Chinese Whispers
Have everyone sit or stand in a line or a horseshoe shape and send a message round the group by whispering it into the ear of the person at one end. When the message reaches the other end, the last person repeats it out loud and the final version is compared with the original message.
Coffins
Two or more players. Player 1 says the first letter of any word. Player 2 says the second letter of any word beginning with that first letter, and so on. The loser is the person who finishes the word. If you can’t think of a suitable word then you can try bluffing, but if the next person challenges you and you can’t tell them what your word was then you lose anyway. If you’re challenged and you can give a word then the person who challenged you loses. If there are a lot of players then it can be “sudden death” – the loser drops out immediately – otherwise they can lose one of several lives. You can also restrict your words to a particular theme if you like.
Example: Player one says “C”, thinking “cat”. Player 2 adds “O”, thinking “cold”. Players 3 and 4 each add an “F”, thinking “coffee”, and player 5 adds “I”, thinking “coffin” or “coffins”. Player 6 can safely add the “N” because there is still scope to add an “S”… and player 7 has no option but to add the “S” and lose a life.
Famous Names
Also known as “Drink while you think”, for obvious reasons when you know how it’s played, but that name isn’t really appropriate in an alcohol-free environment.
The first person turns to their neighbour and names a famous person. The next person must name another famous person whose first name begins with the surname of the previous person, and this continues round the circle. For example: Michael Caine; Calvin Klein; Kevin Bacon; Bruce Forsyth; etc.