Games are surely the most common activity for family reunions.
Not only are they fun, but they force (note Mister Spiffy’s word
choice) family members to interact with one another. The only
thing more fun than watching the kids play games together is
watching the adults try to join in as well. Print up certificates
and awards to pass out to the winners. You can also pass out
inexpensive treats to all the runners-up so that everybody "wins"
something. Mister Spiffy knows that’s the best way to go. Also
included with the instructions for some games are variants on the
games. Mister Spiffy hasn't categorized these games, but has added
a warning if old out of shape adults might want to be careful.
| Sack Race |
Equipment Needed – One sack per participant.
How to Play – The old standard…get in a sack and hop to the finish
line.
Variation – Put weights in the bottom of the sacks. Even more fun,
put lots of weights in there without the people knowing. Ha, ha,
ha…Mister Spiffy, you’re so mean. |
| Three-legged Race |
Equipment Needed – Some short pieces of rope.
How to Play – Divide up into teams of two. Tie the right leg
of one teammate to the left leg of the other teammate. Now try
to run the race. Hopefully they’ll gradually get in sync and
it won’t be quite as hard to make it there.
Variation – Tie five people together and see what happens.
Keep moving the numbers up until you have all the kids on two
teams, all tied together. |
| Egg Toss |
Equipment Needed – One raw egg for each team.
How to Play – Divide up into teams of two. Have them
stand, facing each other, two or three feet apart. Pass out
the eggs, one to each team. Have the player with the egg throw
it to his teammate. After the toss, every team with an unbroken
egg is still in the game. Have each team member take one giant
step backwards (away from his teammate) and toss the egg again.
Repeat this until only one team has an unbroken egg.
Variation – You can also use water balloons, though it
isn’t as funny when it breaks. |
| Tug of War |
Equipment Needed – Strong, thick rope (not nylon,
which can stretch and break).
How to Play – Divide the group into two teams (try to
make them even by total size, not necessarily by numbers).
On the mark, each team tries to pull the other across a line
– a small creek, mud hole, or the stream of water created by a
hose.
Variation – One branch of the family against the other,
male against female, et cetera.
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| Red Light, Green Light |
How to Play – Choose one person to be the stoplight.
Everyone else is a car. The stoplight stands at the finish
line with his or her back towards the starting line. Everyone
else lines up. The stoplight calls, "Green light!" At this
signal, everyone races towards the stoplight. The stoplight
can shout "Red light" at any time, and then turn around quickly
to see if he or she can catch any of the cars still moving.
If the stoplight sees someone still moving, that person must go
back to the starting line and start over. Whoever gets to and
tags the stoplight first gets to be the stoplight for the next
round.
Variation – Have two stoplights standing up there. Then
the cars have to watch both. |
| Red Rover |
How to Play – Divide everyone into two large groups.
Each group lines up, joining hands and facing the other group.
One groups shouts in unison, "Red Rover, Red Rover, send Johnny
right over." Whoever’s name is called (in the place of ‘Johnny’)
has to run towards the group and try to break through the line
between two people by breaking their hand grips (or perhaps
their arms). If he successfully breaks through, he can take one
of the other team’s players back to his group. If he fails to
break through, he must join the other team. |
| Capture the Flag |
Ah, Capture the Flag. The old favorite, chock-full of
wheezing, gasping old men and giggling flag-guards who have
done absolutely nothing.
Equipment Needed – A very large area in which to play,
two rags that serve as flags, and a middle boundary.
How to Play – A classic. Mister Spiffy’s second favorite
running-around game when he was younger, just under Kick the
Can. You break into two teams and set the sides. Both teams
hide their flag. Then you break and go across the center, trying
to steal the other team’s flag and make it back to your home
area without getting tagged. If you get tagged, you’re caught
and go to the other team’s prison. The only way to get out of
prison is for someone on your team (who isn't also in prison)
to touch you in jail. Then you can run free (be careful, you
can get recaptured if you get tagged on the opponent's side of
the field again). First team to get the other’s flag and bring
it across the boundry line wins. Mister Spiffy’s friendly
warning – this game can be hazardous to your health. Don’t run
around any more than you can handle. If necessary, slump down
in the dirt and play dead until you can breathe again. |
| Kick the Can |
Kick the Can, Mister Spiffy’s favorite. The basis of a
Twilight Zone episode, in which old people become young again
through the playing of this very game. Memories…
Equipment Needed – A can.
How to Play – Kick the can. Ha, ha, no, really, here’s
the instructions. One person is It. It tries to catch people,
while protecting the precious can at the same time. If the can
gets kicked over, all the captured people run free, and It has
to put the can back in place before they can go and try to catch
people again. Game continues until It catches everyone, or
collapses from exhaustion. |
| Hide and Seek |
Equipment Needed – Absatively posolutely nothing.
How to Play – Oh, please. Don’t tell me there’s anyone
out there who doesn’t know how to play hide and seek. What is
the world coming to? You pick an It, and everybody hides, and
It goes to find ‘em. How hard can it possibly be?
Variation – The game is called Sardines. Kind of a
twisting backwards of hide and seek. You choose an It, as
usual, but this time, It goes and hides. Everyone else goes to
look. When someone finds It, they have to squeeze into the
hiding place with them. Y’know, like sardines. The game ends
when everyone is all squished in with It. |
| War Ball |
Equipment Needed – As many soft rubber balls as you
can possibly get your paws on.
How to Play – To say it in the words of a young Mister
Spiffy fan, "You take a bunch of balls, and you huck ‘em, and
you hit people. Then they’re out and that means you’re good."
Basically, you divide into two teams, face each other, and play
dodge ball against each other. When someone gets hit, they go
to prison in the back of the opponents. Then they catch balls
that come back there and try to hit the people of the other
side. If they do, they’re free again. By the way, the balls
can’t bounce before hitting someone – if they do, they’re dead
and don’t do any damage. And if a person catches the ball, the
one who threw it is out.
Variation – Another version of this game is Medic. When
you get hit, you sit where you were hit. Before the game you
choose a Medic, who can walk around and touch the sitting
people so they can get back up. Don’t let the other team know
who your Medic is – if they do, they’ll kill him off real quick.
The objective of the entire game – kill off the Medic! |
| Duck, Duck, Goose |
Equipment Needed – People intelligent enough to sit
in a circle.
How to Play – Sit everyone in a circle and choose someone
to be It. It walks around the circle, patting everyone on the
head, saying "Duck, duck, duck, duck, duck…" et cetera. Finally
they choose someone and say "Goose!" and promptly begin running.
The chosen Goose stands up and chases after them. It has to run
clear around the circle, then sit down in the Goose’s previous
spot. If the Goose catches It, then It has to go through this
pattern again. If not, the Goose becomes It, and they have to go
through it. A prime example of a never-ending game. |
| Musical Chairs |
Equipment Needed – One less chair than the number of
people.
How to Play – "Here at Spiffy World Airlines, we have
designated seats – not musical chairs." Ah, yes, musical
chairs. Walk in a circle while music is playing in the background.
When the music stops at a random time, everyone sits.
Unfortunately, there are not enough chairs, and one person is
left standing. That one lonely person is forced to leave, for
they are out. And then, although there are now enough chairs for
everyone, take one away. Go through this pattern until one person
is left. As is understandable, that person is the winner. |
| Fruit Basket |
Equipment Needed – People intelligent enough to stand
in a circle.
How to Play – Make a tight circle – no gaps. Each person
chooses a fruit (a little help – strawberry, banana, watermelon,
tomato [yes, it is a fruit], cherry, grape). Then It is in the
middle. It calls out a fruit. Everyone who has chosen that fruit
has to run to another area – an empty space left by a member of
the same fruit group. It tries to get into one of those places,
therefore leaving one different person in the middle to be It.
One cannot move to the space directly beside them, nor can they
stay in the same spot – if It doesn’t make it to an empty space,
It has to do the whole thing over again, with another fruit.
Oh, the ghastly horrors! |
| Mummy Wrap |
Equipment Needed – One roll of toilet paper for every
2 people
How to Play – A fun game. Split into teams of two and
give each team a roll of toilet paper. Games with toilet paper
are always good. Then one person tries to turn the other into a
mummy. Everything has to be covered except the eyes. First team
done wins. |
| Hay is for Horses |
Equipment Needed – A bale of hay or straw
How to Play – Cut the twine and heap the bale into a
random pile. Sprinkle coins and small prizes all over in the
straw (er, I mean, hay) and let the kids have at it. They’ll
tear it apart by the time it’s done, and all you have to do
is clean up some hay. Mister Spiffy advises against playing
this game indoors. |
| Fish Pond |
Equipment Needed – Homemade fishing poles with
clothes pins for hooks, a wall or divider to fish over, and
a bunch of cheap little toys.
How to Play – Give kids a fishing rod and throw the
string over the barrier. Have some of the older kids behind
the barrier clipping the cheap little toys onto the end of
the fishing line. It's thrilling for the little kids, amuses
the older kids, and is cheap for you. Mister Spiffy says you
can't ask for more. |
| Family Trivia |
Equipment Needed – None
How to Play – Find out odd facts about Grandpa Joe and
Aunt Rose, then tell everyone and have them guess who it is.
The weirder the facts, the more far-out the trivia, the better
the game! "Did you know Grandma Gertrude can put her ankles
behind her head? Yeah, she’s a contortionist!" |
| Board games |
Equipment Needed – Any board game.
How to Play – Read the instructions that come with the
game. There are board games for almost any age, and many which
can be played by folks of all ages. |
| Scavenger Hunt |
Equipment Needed – A list of things to hunt for
(one copy per person or team)
How to Play – Give people or groups a list of things to
hunt for, and the first one done wins. The common version is
to have everyone find strange things (tennis ball, piece of
string, coconut...) and bring them back.
Variations – There are a million variations to this.
Here are just a few...
- Cleanup hunt - This version is especially good near
the end of the reunion. Give everyone a list of different
types of trash (Dr. Pepper can, napkin, plastic fork,
watermelon rind, etc), or just see who can pick up the most
pieces of trash. No digging in the trash can allowed. They
have to find them on the ground.
- Service scavenger hunt - Give them a list of things
to do: vacuum one room, read a book to a small child, wash a
window, etc. You can even have them do each of these things at
a different neighbor's home, and the neighbor has to initial
the item as proof.
- Family hunt - Give them a list of personal
characteristics, and have them find family members who match
(for example, green eyes, no hair, same color eyes, born the
same year). Mister Spiffy suggests tossing in a couple of easy
ones like same number of arms, born after 1850, etc.
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