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)
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.
Pedometer Game
It’s a game where players compete to see who can shake a pedometer the most.
The location on the body where the pedometer must be attached is specified.
Follow the instructions, put it on, and move your body as much as you can within the time limit to try to rack up more counts than anyone else.
The fun part of this game is that each person wears the pedometer in a different spot, so participants end up moving in all kinds of ways.
Someone with it on their hand will swing their arms, someone with it on their foot will run, and someone with it on their waist might look like they’re dancing.
Simple yet exciting! Recommended Games and Activities for Year-End Parties (31–40)
One-Leg Rope Sumo
First, participants pair up, face each other, and stand on one leg.
Once both ends of the two strings are held—one end in each person’s hand—the game begins! Pull the strings to throw your opponent off balance.
This game may be more about timing than strength.
Watch your opponent closely and move the string accordingly.
Loosening your grip right when your opponent pulls could also be an effective tactic.
Choose a spacious, obstacle-free area and have fun while staying safe.
flash mob dance
Flash mobs that bring unexpected emotion to proposals and parties are a tempting choice for entertainment.
Yamauchi from the comedy duo Kamaitachi pulled off a huge gag by attempting a flash mob all by himself at his partner Hamaie’s wedding.
We wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re very brave… Since it’s mainly dancing, it may require a longer practice period than other performances.
It’s reassuring if you have a few people with dance experience.
For company events, it might be fun to divide into teams—like a junior team and a veteran team—and perform that way!
Telepathy Gesture Game
It’s no exaggeration to say that gesture games have long been a pillar of Japanese variety shows, and they’re always a hit as party entertainment.
Here, instead of a typical communication-style gesture game, we’ll introduce a telepathy-style version that tests whether two people are on the same wavelength.
First, present a prompt.
If the two performers make the same gesture, it’s a correct answer.
For example, if the prompt is “baseball” and one person acts as a batter while the other acts as a pitcher, that’s a miss.
It’s even more fun if you set up a screen so they can’t see each other’s gestures!
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.
Frenzy Dice Game
Let me introduce Strike, a dice game that’s guaranteed to get heated.
It’s a board game played with dice.
Each player starts with five dice, and you lose dice if you roll certain designated numbers or if your result matches another player’s.
The last player with any dice remaining wins.
It’s simple and easy to grasp right away.
Since the outcome mostly comes down to luck, both adults and kids can enjoy playing together.
If you’re interested, try looking for it on online shops.
