Games Depot
Welcome to the Games Depot! Here we'll share the games/activities that we're playing in our ministries. I'll do my best to always provide videos/pics along with downloadable rules and equipment lists.
I hope you'll join me in sharing what is working well for you in your ministries. To join the conversation simply comment below, and voila, you're a part of the conversation!
Slip n Slide Kickball
What to say about this game other than....awesome. It's really easy to set up as well. Set up your basic kickball field and in front of every base put about 8-10ft of tarp for the slip n slide. I've found that clear plastic paint tarps are a very good cheap option. You can buy one big roll and cut it to your specifications.
For each tarp I use two tent stakes at the front of the tarp to hold it place during the game. We use water and baby shampoo as our slip n slide agent.
Rules are as follows: Basic kickball rules, the only difference is you must slip n slide into each base. So if you kick a triple, you must slide into 1st, 2nd, and 3rd on your way around the bases.
Life Size Angry Birds
I got this idea from stuffyoucanuse.org a great resource for people in youth ministry. Head there to get the free downloadable supplies list, rules, and pig face. Check out this video to whet your appetite:
[tentblogger-vimeo 35821047]
Geo-Cache Scavenger Hunt
This one involves quite a bit of set up and equipment. Luckily for us, one of our volunteer staff is an engineer for Garmin so we can get GPS units without any problem.
In this game clues are hidden at places around town. Each team gets the Longitude and Latitude coordinates to each clue. They must plug the coordinates into their GPS units and navigate to the clues. Each clue they find has a goal that must be accomplished. For example, go the this person's house and take a picture with them, or, solve this logic puzzle. The first team to return back to the church with each clue and goal completed wins.
This year we had the students take pictures with Twitter using a specific hashtag. We were able to collect these photos and have a slideshow running as the teams returned.
We had 4 clues, each with 1 goal, and we had 5 teams. It took about 1 hour and 20 minutes to complete.
Set up is determining clue locations, coming up with the goals for each clue, and obtaining the necessary amount of GPS units. FYI, the GPS units you'll need are handheld ones used for camping, not the GPS units you use in your car.
This game can be completely customized and scaled to your ministry. It's a lot of fun and encourages team work between your students.
Ninja
Broom Ball
Fruit Baseball
Trump or Animal
Did He Have a Mustache
Family Feud
Black Light Dodgeball
This is a game I discovered on morethandodgeball.com awhile back. We have yet to do this but I'm thinking we'll give it a shot at our lock in this year. It's classic dodgeball, done in the pitch black with fluorescent balls and black lights. Looks and sounds fantastic.
Check out Phil Chenery's blog for more details on lighting and ball options.
Underground Church
4 on a Couch
Zip Bong
The goal of this game is to keep your lips curled over your teeth while you talk. There are only 2 words you'll have to learn, 'zip' and 'bong'. To understand how these 2 words are used you'll have to know how to set up the game. Get everyone sitting in a circle facing the center. Select a person to start, that person will then turn to the person on their right or left and say 'zip'. This passes the pressure to that person. They now have 2 choices, they can say 'zip' or 'bong'. 'Zip' keeps the flow moving in the same direction, while 'bong' reverses the direction.
So, if person A says 'zip' to person B, person B can say 'zip' to person C or 'bong' to person A. Remember if you show any of your teeth while you do this you are out. This game becomes quiet funny when people get stuck between two people who keep saying 'bong' and when people get creative with their delivery of 'zip' or 'bong'
This is a great game when you need to kill a few minutes or just want a good laugh.
Animals
This is another circle game. Before the game starts everyone has to choose an animal and a matching motion. Make sure that no two motions are similar as this can become confusing in the heat of battle. Once all of the motions have been determined the group starts the beat. The beat is a very basic pat, pat, clap (think We Will Rock You). Once the beat is going one person starts. On the clap of the beat Person A shows their sign, then on the ensuing clap they show Person B's sign. Immediately Person B must show their sign on the next clap, and then Person C's sign on the following clap. If anyone misses their sign, shows a sign off beat, or cannot come up with a sign they are out.
You can change the tempo of the beat as the game goes on to add some fun. Also, the more outrageous the animal signs are the better.