10 Creative and Simple Games to Play with Friends and Family

 

Here are ten fun and easy games that you can enjoy with friends and family: 

#1 Charades: 

How to Play: A person mimics a word or a phrase and the rest of the participants have to guess what the word or the phrase is. 

Whoever comes up with the correct answer has to perform the next word. 

Why It's Fun: Charades is always fun, as it will get everyone laughing because of the poor mimicry in the attempt at miming. 

#2 Pictionary: 

How to Play: Players draw a word or a phrase and their fellow team members are supposed to guess what the drawing is. 

The team with the most numbers of correct answers is the winner. 

Why It's Fun: It promotes problem solving and time constrains, some of the drawings may lead to hilarious guesses. 

#3 Card games (e. g. , Monopoly, Scrabble, Settlers of Catan): 

How to Play: Games are of various types and they all are played with some or the other rules which may include strategic moves, chance and social element. 

Why It's Fun: Another option that never goes out of style is board games which are able to trigger competitive tendencies and have hours of fun. 

#4 Card Games (e. g. , Uno, Go Fish, Poker, etc. ): 

How to Play: There is a large range of card games that can be played and some of them are quite simple and require little strategy while others are more complicated and involve a lot of thinking such as Poker. 

Why It's Fun: They are easily transportable, can be easily assembled and can be played by people of all ages. 

#5 Trivia Quiz:

How to Play: One person reads questions and the rest of the group tries to answer as many of them correctly as they can. 

Why It's Fun: It is informative and engaging and can be made to be as difficult or as easy as the person wants it to be. 

#6 Musical Chairs:

How to Play: Stack chairs in a circle, one less than the number of persons in the game. 

Players move around the chairs singing as the music is being played. 

The rule of the game is that when the music is over all the people have to sit on a chair. 

The one who is left standing is out. 

Why It's Fun: It is a very basic game but so much fun and the children love it when the music stops.

#7 Telephone (Whisper Down the Lane): 

How to Play: All of them are seated in a circle. 

The first person speaks something to the second person in his or her ear and the second person does the same to the third person and so on. 

The last person reads it aloud and it is usually completely altered and funny from what was said at the beginning. 

Why It's Fun: It illustrates how even simple messages may get distorted especially when they are repeated and at times, this is quite funny. 

#8 Hot Potato: 

How to Play: Children are seated in a circle and there is a ‘hot potato’, which is a soft item, and the children have to pass it around while singing. 

When the music has stopped the individual holding the object is eliminated. 

Why It's Fun: The fact that one does not know when the music is going to be stopped makes everyone alert. 

#9 Simon Says: 

How to Play: Simon starts telling the players something with ‘Simon says…’ Only actions that are preceded by ‘Simon says…’ are acceptable Players who perform an action that was not preceded by ‘Simon says…’ are disqualified. 

Why It's Fun: It is a concentration and listening game, and it can frankly be described as very elementary for everyone. 

#10 Scavenger Hunt: 

How to Play: Make a list of objects that must be searched for by players around the house or the yard. 

The first person, or the team that manages to find all the items wins. 

Why It's Fun: It fosters group cohesiveness and critical thinking, the search for these objects can be quite exciting. 

These games do not need a lot of preparation, few resources are needed and everyone can play and that makes them ideal for friends or family get together.