Fun games recommended for making friends with people you’ve just met
There are plenty of times when you meet people for the first time, like at a new workplace or a school you’ve just entered.
Many people wonder how to get along with someone they’ve just met.
In this article, we’ll introduce games that help you become friendly with people you meet for the first time.
We’ve gathered a variety of games, including ones where you form teams and cooperate to clear challenges, and others where you open up about yourselves while having fun.
Try incorporating them at your company, school, or any other gathering where you meet new people!
- Games you can play with just conversation. Classic and popular activities you can enjoy without any props!
- Liven up even first meetings! A collection of fun games perfect for welcome parties
- A simple and fun co-op game that enhances teamwork
- [Play Right Away!] Exciting Recreation Games Recommended for Elementary School Students
- Get closer in no time, even with first-time meetings! Games that liven up welcome parties
- Recommended for upper elementary grades! Exciting indoor recreation and games
- [Simple Games] Recommended Indoor Recreational Activities for Adults
- Fun activities that liven up the office: recreation games
- A collection of simple indoor recreational games
- Games and activities everyone can enjoy together. A collection of fun play ideas.
- [For University Students] A Roundup of Fun Games and Recreational Activities
- A collection of hilarious questions that will liven up the conversation and might help you learn more about the other person
- [For Adults] Fun recreational games. Perfect for short breaks too!
Fun, recommended games to break the ice with people you’ve just met (11–20)
Helium ring
Helium Ring is a game where the whole team lowers a hula hoop to the ground while keeping it balanced on everyone’s fingertips.
There’s a rule that you must not let your fingers leave the hoop, so the key is to cooperate with your teammates.
Once everyone’s fingers are supporting the hoop, lift it up to chest height.
Then slowly move the hoop downward until it reaches the ground.
If the speed or timing is off, fingers will come away from the hoop, so communicate and coordinate as you play.
It’s also a competitive game, so it’s fun to race against other teams to see who can finish faster.
UNONEW!
Let me introduce the classic and popular card game UNO.
Shuffle the cards well and deal seven cards to each player.
Place the remaining cards in the center as the draw pile.
Then flip over the top card to start the discard pile.
Players take turns playing cards from their hands, and the first player to play all their cards wins.
You can play a card if it matches the number, color, or symbol.
If you can’t play, draw from the pile to add to your hand.
Name BingoNEW!
A perfect game for remembering the names of people you’re meeting for the first time is “Name Bingo.” When you think of bingo, it’s the game where you punch a hole in your card if a called number appears on it, and you win if you get a line of holes.
Name Bingo follows the same rules, except that you use names instead of numbers.
Prepare a list of participants in advance and create cards by selecting from that list.
It’s a good idea to have the person whose name is called introduce themselves.
Chorus Quick-Sing GameNEW!
This is the “Chorus Speed-Singing Game,” where you race to sing the chorus of the given song first! There are several songs, and the person who gives the most correct answers by the end wins.
Having broad music knowledge gives you an advantage, but singing the chorus instead of the intro is surprisingly tricky, and the moments of thinking “How did it go again?” add to the excitement.
Some people may feel shy about singing in front of others, but since only the chorus is sung in a buzzer-quiz style, everyone is sure to have fun.
trifectaNEW!
What would you do if you had to spend 100 million yen in a single day? What would you do if you could stop time for an hour? How would you answer when asked such outlandish questions? Sanrentan is a game where you deduce the other person’s values and preferences and try to guess their answers perfectly.
Written in kanji as “三連単,” it sounds a bit like horse racing predictions.
It’s a great icebreaker for getting to know someone.
Although it’s sold as a card game, handwritten slips work perfectly well too.
NanjamonjaNEW!
Let’s play the hugely popular card game “Ninja Monja.” Here’s how to play: Players take turns drawing one card at a time from the deck and give a name to the creature illustrated on the card.
For a newly revealed card, you give it a name; if a card that has already been named appears, you must immediately say the name that was given.
The first person to say the correct name gets that card, and the player with the most cards at the end wins.
You can choose easy-to-remember names, but giving quirky names tends to spark curiosity about the naming reasons, leading to conversation and making the game more exciting.
Fun game recommendations to break the ice with people you’re meeting for the first time (21–30)
playing rock-paper-scissors after seeing the opponent’s move (i.e., acting with hindsight/cheating)NEW!
After-the-fact rock-paper-scissors is also good brain training, and its simple rules make it enjoyable for everyone.
Decide on a leader or form pairs, then choose someone to give instructions.
The instructor gives prompts like “Please lose to me” or “Please beat me,” and calls the rock-paper-scissors cadence.
The person receiving the instruction should play accordingly.
This game seems easy but is surprisingly tricky, and increasing the speed makes it even more challenging—and funnier.