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 recreational activities for year-end parties (51–60)
Kappa Plate Ball-Carrying Race
It’s also great to use paper plates at the party venue for an obstacle-course-style game! If you’ve got a large space, the excitement doubles.
Balance a paper plate on your head, hold it in place with your hands, and put a ping-pong ball on top.
The winner is the person who finishes with the most ping-pong balls still on their plate after clearing all the obstacles.
Simple obstacles made from tables and chairs are plenty.
Even just doing one lap around the venue along the walls works well.
You can customize the obstacles in many ways—like greeting the department head or playing rock-paper-scissors with a junior colleague.
Don’t forget to prepare classic sports day-style background music to play during the game!
Double-Double Fight Game
Baibai Fight Game is a game where players compete to say prompted words in time with a specific rhythm.
The original song is CANDY TUNE’s “Baibai FIGHT!”, and you succeed if you can say the prompts consecutively to the repeating rhythm at the start of the track.
In this version of the game, the prompts are shown as illustrations, so you have to quickly figure out what each picture represents.
Plus, with similar-sounding words like “baito” (part-time job) and “baiku” (motorcycle) appearing in succession, you might end up tripping over your tongue.
It’s tricky, but whether you nail it or not, it always gets the crowd going—a perfect game for parties.
In-joke quiz
Inside jokes really bring the energy up, don’t they? They might not land with people who weren’t there, but whether it’s a cringey past or stories of failure…
how about turning them into a quiz? From fresh memories to old things you’d rather not dig up.
Embarrassing, but a total crowd-pleaser!
Perfect Cola Drinking Game
The “Perfect Amount Cola Drinking Game” has been around for a long time, evolving in various forms.
If you’re not a fan of carbonation, feel free to switch to juice and enjoy.
The classic rules are: first, pour cola into a glass and mark a spot at some arbitrary level.
Put on a blindfold and drink; whoever stops closest to the mark wins.
We don’t usually pay much attention to how much we drink, so even when someone says “just one sip,” it’s hard to gauge what that actually means.
It’s the perfect game for parties where there are plenty of beverages!
Party Game Scratch
How about playing with party goods sold at 100-yen shops? Since they’re only 100 yen, they’re affordable and perfect for when you’ve got time to kill.
This one reveals a prompt like “Let’s do ◯◯” when you scratch it.
There’s a soft version and a hard version.
Oshibori Squeezing Game
It’s a game you can enjoy using items found at places like izakayas! Participants take turns wringing out a wet hand towel once each.
The rule is that the person from whom not a single drop of water comes out loses.
Watching everyone desperately try to squeeze out water is really funny!
Signaling Game
A signal game you can play with four or more people.
First, someone names three colors, and then the next three players each name an object of that color… and you keep repeating this.
You can make it even more fun by narrowing the theme to things like fruits or animals.
It gets pretty exciting because people lose track of whose turn it is, you have to answer in rhythm, and mistakes happen one after another!
No equipment needed! Air catch ball
“Air Catch,” a make-believe game of tossing an imaginary ball without any props, is a very simple team-building activity.
Participants form a circle.
Someone calls another person’s name while miming a throw of the “air ball,” and the next person pretends to catch it and continues in the same way.
The rules are: make eye contact and call the person’s name before you throw.
Once everyone gets used to it, you can increase the difficulty by tossing multiple balls at once or speeding things up.
It builds communication skills and concentration and gets people laughing, making it great for training icebreakers and strengthening team cohesion.
It takes about 5–15 minutes, so give it a try!
Imitation shiritori
Participants face each other and stand on one leg.
Decide the order with rock-paper-scissors or similar, and the first person starts the word chain game (shiritori).
The basic rule of linking words stays the same, but after saying a word, you have to do an impression that matches it.
For example, if you say “gorilla,” you might pound your chest with your fists.
Everyone else copies the impression, and the shiritori continues.
It might sound easy, but you must stay on one leg the entire time.
If you lose your balance or can’t continue the word chain, you lose.
The more people there are, the harder it gets! Finger Catch
The “Finger Catch Game,” which trains your reflexes and lets everyone have fun, is played with everyone standing in a circle.
Put the index finger of your right hand into the open palm of the person to your right, just lightly touching it.
In turn, participants chant, “Ka, ka, ka, catch,” and at the moment someone says “catch,” everyone tries to pull out the finger they had inserted.
At the same time, you must quickly grab the finger that’s been inserted into your own open hand before it escapes.
If you fail to pull your finger out or fail to catch your neighbor’s finger, you’re out.
The last person remaining wins.
The exact timing of saying “catch” is key.
It’s a game that tests concentration, timing, and careful observation of others.
