Six Family Games You Can Play Anywhere
In a box or on a fox! In a car or at a table! On the floor or out the door! Anywhere, anytime, if you are bored or antsy and need something to do, all you need is one or more fellow player, and these games are yours to play.
They develop skills in: communication, drawing, writing, collaboration, thinking on your feet (even if you’re sitting still), and creativity. One of these games (Trinterview) was created by my students during an Interview Class, while other games were invented by great artists and theater educators.
Here you will find six games the whole family can enjoy, with additional variations, that can be played almost anywhere. I have fond memories of playing all of them, with lots of laughter!
Trinterview
This is a fast paced game that can be played in a few minutes without any materials. In my Interview Class, three middle school students made up this interview game and named it Trinterview, combining the words Trio and Interview. You need at least three people to play this game, the more the merrier. Sit in a circle (or at the dinner table, or in the car). Players take turns asking the group a simple interview question. Closed-ended yes or no questions work best, and short answers are recommended, to keep the game moving quickly. Nonsense questions and answers are welcome.
The steps are: A person asks the group a question. One at a time everyone else answers the question without repeating any of the previous answers. Here is an example from when my class played this game. The rather silly question was posed by one of the players. With a smaller group I suggest that you pretend the yes and no answers have already happened, and go on from there. In this round, the first two players used up the yes and no options.
Question: Are you a box?
Answers:
Yes, I am.
NO!
I prefer "cube."
Well, I've been trying to get out of it.
I am human, made of flesh and blood!
A real square.
Just 'cause I had trouble rolling down the hill? Really?
I have been a little edgy lately.
All tied up with ribbon!
Can't you see that I'm actually a sphere?
The Exquisite Corpse Game
This is a fun game that fosters creativity and results in a team effort made up of individual parts. This can be a drawing game or a poetry game or a story game. Players pass around a sheet of paper that is folded over in sections, so the next player can’t see what the previous player has done. It is played at a table or with pads or clipboards that allow for drawing or writing and folding. It is a good game to keep your children occupied while sitting in a restaurant waiting for service. Note: If you play this in the car the driver cannot play!
A famous group of artists called the surrealists invented this game and used it for both poetry and drawing.
Fold a sheet of 8 ½” X 11” (or any size) paper accordion-style, into four rectangles. The center fold can be the imaginary waistline or halfway point of a figure, with the two sections above head, and shoulders to waist, and the two lower sections legs and feet. Of course you don’t have to Crete a figure; you can draw anything that connects the bits of lines that go over the edge of each fold.
After folding the sheet into four sections, each player fills the first section up to the fold, letting any lines at or near the fold go over. Each players then folds the paper back so that no one can see what the part that has been drawn except for the tail ends of the lines over the fold. Then pass the sheet to the player on your right.
Now fill in the second section, using the lines that are visible (from the previous drawing), incorporating them into your drawing. Avoid looking at the part folded back to hide what has been drawn before.
When finished, fold back and pass to the player on the right. Continue until all four parts of the sheet are filled. You can pass it one more time before opening it up. The resulting figure may be part human, part landscape, part fish or fantasy. Anything goes in this game and the more surreal or bizarre the better.
Variations: this game has been played with a paper folded into thirds or halves, or as a folded accordion screen with more than four sections. Two players can play going back and forth.
Variation: Poetry Exquisite Corpse
For collaborative poetry, fold the paper into six or eight sections. Each player must use a noun, adjective, verb, noun and adjective (or adverb), in each line. One player might write: The black cat meows at the full moon. The next player might write: Blooming peonies scent the worn-out kitchen. And so on. The words do not have to be in any particular order, and you can add as many words to each line as you line. (Naturally, the lines do not have to rhyme.) When each player finishes writing a line, fold the paper back to keep the line hidden, and pass to the player on the right. At the end, unfold and each player reads a poem the group has created.
Variation: Story Exquisite Corpse
Fold a sheet of paper accordion-style into eight or more sections, each space large enough to contain a sentence. If you prefer, you can fold the paper as you go instead of folding it in advance. When eight (or more) lines have been written, pass it one more time before the players unfold the sheets and read each story out loud.
For the story version of this game, guide the players to write the following lines:
the name of a (possibly female) character that is an animal (example: Shirley the spotted horse)
“and” the name of a (possibly male) animal character (example: and Hooty the owl)
use a traveling verb or a synonym for “went” and the name of a place (example: swam to Timbucktoo)
“where they” – add an activity (example: where they danced the tango)
add another activity (example: and drank apple blossom tea)
“Then they met” – introduce another character (example: Then they met a giant tortoise named Harry.)
who - introduce an activity or question (example: who invited them to parachute down a volcano)
And they – complete the activity (example: and they danced all night long). Step 8 can conclude the story or players can elect to write another (9th) line as the conclusion (example: The next day they decided to open an ice cream shop.)
The final step is to pass the stories one more time before opening them and reading the nonsense tales out loud.
Good/Bad/Ugly Advice
You need at least four people to play this game. It can work with a large group. Players rotate, and the audience participates.
An audience member asks an advice question. Three people will answer. The first person gives good advice. The second person gives bad advice. The third person gives horrendously bad advice, worse than the second person gave. Thus the title: Good, Bad, and Ugly Advice.
No question is too big or too small, too easy or too complex. Often the simpler questions are best. We rotate players so everyone has a turn to be in the Ugly position, which is the most fun to play. In a large group everyone moves along, taking a turn in every position of the advice panel (Good, Bad, and Ugly) as well as being audience members who ask questions.
This example is from an actual game that I played in the car with my husband, my son Solomon, and his friend Joe. My husband started by asking a ridiculous question: “I’m having trouble keeping my pants up. How do I keep up my pants?” I had the Good position, so I sensibly advised, “Use a belt, or maybe suspenders, but a belt is all you need.” Joe’s turn came next, so he gave Bad advice, “Glue! Lots and lots of glue!” Now it was Solomon’s turn to give Ugly advice. He said, simply, “Who needs pants?”
World's Worst
Choose a category or profession and act out or speak the part of the world’s worst whatever. For example, in our interview course we played World’s Worst Interviewer. Here are some lines that might be said by the world’s worst interviewer:
“Have you ever considered cosmetic surgery? You could really use some!”
“I want to ask how you landed this important job, but really, where did you get those shoes?”
“I’ve had a bad day, and I really need to vent...”
Think of what the world’s worst pilot might say, or the world’s worst surgeon (perhaps while performing an operation) or the world’s worst president, or worst teacher – the possibilities are endless. Once you choose a professional as a category, anyone can have as many (or as few) turns as they like.
One Word Story / Alphabet Story
Players tell a story one word at a time. Try to say the first word that comes into your mind and keep the flow going. Avoid long pauses. Also, try to form sentences that make sense, although you can be silly.
It is helpful to begin with a title. This can be a suggestion from any player or audience member. The title can be nonsense, and does not have to be reflected in the story, but it provides a possible starting point. I might ask two players to think of words, one thinks of an adjective and the other thinks of a noun or a place, and then they say these words out loud together. Perhaps we get “Blue Hawaii” or “Magenta Mountain” or use three players and include an animal, such as “Blue Mountain Kitten.”
Then the first player says one word, followed by the second player saying one word, and so one. You can tell the whole story one word at a time this way.
Here is an example of each player saying one word that becomes a sentence and part of a story. The first player might have been thinking of “Once upon a time” and started with “once,” which other players added to, forming a nonsense sentence:
Once
There
Was
Steven
Who
Jumped
Into
A
Frog
When the players decide they are done, the final two words might be “the” followed by “end.”
Variation: One Sentence Story
Start with one word until the first one or two sentences are complete. Then switch to one sentence at a time. Then, towards the end, go back to one word at a time and finish the last one or two sentences that way.
Variation: Alphabet Story
Players say one word or one sentence at a time, using the next letter of the alphabet to start. This is played more easily using sentences. Each line begins with the next letter of the alphabet, in order, until all 26 letters have been used. You can start with any letter, and end 26 letters later. If a player gets stuck and can’t remember, they can call out “letter” and another player will remind them which letter comes next. If a player can’t think of a word for that letter they can call out “word” and other players can suggest words that begin with that letter.
As an example, here is the beginning of an alphabet conversation played by two players, starting with the letter H:
"How are you?"
"I'm fine."
"Just fine?"
"Kind of fine, well, just okay."
"Let me ask you, is something wrong?"
"My uncle is arriving today."
"Not the uncle from Tasmania!"
Nonsense Dictionary Definitions
You need a physical dictionary to play this game, preferably a large one. Choose a word out of the dictionary at random, and make sure that no one knows the definition (avoid reading the definition yourself, just read the word). You can prepare words in advance on slips of paper and put them in a container, such as a can or envelope. Take out one at a time. Say the word Each person takes a turn making up a definition of the word, the more outlandish the better. When everyone has taken a turn, the actual definition is read.
For example: nabob.
1st player: a hairstyle, an anti-bob
2nd player: a sport like volleyball played in the water
3rd player: a computer part
Correct definition: Indian or Mogul governor.