Simple yet exciting! Recommended games and activities for year-end parties
Many of you probably attend several year-end parties—at work, with friends, and in your neighborhood—every year, right?
Looking back on the past year and chatting with colleagues and friends makes for a great time.
And the entertainment games—like bingo and quizzes—might be part of the fun, too.
But when you’re in charge of the entertainment, it can be hard to decide what games to play.
Ideally, you want something simple that everyone can enjoy and get excited about.
In this article, we’ll introduce classic games that meet those needs!
Once you’ve decided on the games for this year’s year-end party, don’t forget to prepare the prizes!
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Simple yet exciting! Recommended Games and Recreations for Year-End Parties (21–30)
Bean Grabbing Game
It’s a game where you use chopsticks to transfer beans from one plate to another.
It may look simple, but the chopsticks can be slippery, making it hard to grip the beans, and they often drop—so it’s actually pretty tricky.
If you make it a team competition, the cheering from everyone ramps up and it gets really fun!
Balloon Battle
I think the drive to compete with those around you and seize victory is a key factor in making a game more exciting.
This is a simple, balloon-based competitive game where you can fully channel that competitive spirit.
Each player attaches an inflated balloon to their ankle, and at the signal to start, you use only your feet to try to pop your opponent’s balloon.
While dodging your opponent’s attacks, you aim for their balloon—mind games amid intense movement are crucial in this game.
You’re only allowed to attack the balloon, so be careful not to step on your opponent’s foot as you play.
Marshmallow Challenge
This is a game where teams work together to build a tower using pasta, aiming to place a marshmallow at the highest possible point.
Each team consists of four people, and the time limit is 18 minutes.
Including discussions on how to stabilize the tower, let’s cooperate and proceed together.
There is a limit of 20 pieces of dry pasta, so figuring out how to use them wisely is also a key point.
It’s interesting to see each team’s style emerge—whether they carefully plan everything before executing, or move closer to success through repeated trial and error.
Company quiz game
The question of where our company is headed is something we rarely revisit unless there’s a change in direction.
This game lets us examine the ideal the company is pursuing while expanding our thinking so everyone can reflect on the company in their own way.
Questions without definitive answers—like what our core business will be 100 years from now—are especially important.
Each person envisions a future that could emerge from our current situation from their own perspective.
Let’s also assess presentation skills by looking at why each person arrived at their answer.
Mental arithmetic quiz
Addition is a calculation we often use in everyday life, and it’s a simple skill that everyone knows how to do.
This game uses addition: remember numbers that are shown for only a brief moment, then add them up quickly.
A key point is that you answer after the problem disappears, which also tests your ability to maintain the numbers in memory.
Even if you’re not good at mental math, repeated practice will help you learn the method bit by bit, so as the number of problems increases, you might find opportunities to turn things around.
Body Clock Game
This is a game you can enjoy right away as long as there’s at least one participant.
Participants close their eyes and raise their hand when they think one minute has passed.
The facilitator keeps time with a clock to check whether the participants’ internal clocks are accurate.
It’s a surefire game that gets everyone excited whether someone nails it exactly or misses the mark and makes everyone laugh.
Up-Down-Left-Right Game
This is a game where you quickly react to the kanji for up, down, left, and right hidden within ordinary sentences you might hear in daily life.
Listen carefully to the spoken sentences and turn your head in the direction indicated whenever one of those kanji appears.
While checking whether you’re responding correctly to every kanji—including the direction you turn your head—watch how frantically the players whip their heads around.
By adjusting the difficulty with the reading speed and the number of kanji that appear, you can get even more intense head movements, which we also recommend.