Games that rival street festivals and variety shows!? Crowd-pleasers for school cultural festivals
Looking for games or events that will get everyone excited at your school festival? There are plenty of easy, classroom-friendly activities like the “10-in-a-row Kendama Challenge,” “Gachapon,” and “Thousand-String Pull,” and with a bit of creativity, they can be even more fun.
They’re simple yet adjustable in difficulty, and perfect for instantly boosting the atmosphere at your venue.
In this article, we’ll introduce mini-games for school festivals that are sure to put smiles on everyone’s faces.
They’re also easy to prepare, so be sure to use them as a reference!
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Quiz/Variety Game (1–10)
Ping-Pong Ball Bingo
At first glance it looks like a simple pastime, but once you try it, it’s surprisingly tricky and you can’t help getting heated up.
All you need are a commercial egg carton and some ping-pong balls, so it’s easy to set up.
If you can’t get a commercial egg carton, you could try making one by attaching paper cups.
Add your own rules to adjust the difficulty—for example, the ball must bounce once in front before landing in, and it’s a win if you get a row vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.
Teacher Fukuwarai
How about everyone having fun with fukuwarai? Fukuwarai is a classic New Year’s game, right? You know—the one where a blindfolded person places facial features onto an Otafuku or Hyottoko face.
What if we tried it with the teacher’s face? If you use a funny eye mask as the blindfold, it’ll be entertaining for the spectators too.
Will the teacher’s face turn out properly? It’s actually more fun when it doesn’t!
3-letter word association game
The signature game of the variety show “Banana Sand,” the Three-Letter Association Game.
Players form teams of several people.
Everyone except the guesser gives the guesser a clue word in three characters or fewer that points to the answer.
If the guesser doesn’t get it from the first clue, a second clue—also three characters or fewer—is given, and the goal is to reach the correct answer with as few clues as possible.
In team-versus-team play, the team that answers correctly with fewer clues wins.
Because it doesn’t require a large space, it’s a game you can enjoy in a classroom at cultural or school festivals.
Intro Quiz
It’s a game you often see on TV.
You play a 1- to 5-second intro and buzz in to guess.
The person who gets the most right wins.
It works as a team game or a solo game, so it’s fun with small or large groups.
Providing a prize for the winning team will make it even more exciting.
Jenga
It’s Jenga, the game that’s popular overseas as well.
The classic version is always a hit, but there are lots of variations like giant Jenga, Jenga with penalties, and prompt-based Jenga, so it seems like you could have a lot of fun.
It might also be interesting to try making your own handmade, original Jenga set!
Bingo Tournament
When it comes to games that are fun with a large group, bingo is a classic.
In bingo, you punch holes in the squares on your card according to randomly announced numbers, aiming to complete a full line in the end.
It’s simple, so everyone can get excited.
In recent years, apps that function as bingo machines have been released, so using one of those is a good option.
Since you don’t have to buy paper cards, you can put more of your budget toward prizes.
Harmony Endurance Game
The popular segment everyone knows from the variety show “Banana Sand,” the Harmony Endurance Game.
Regular members and guests each choose a song they like, and the challenge is to sing it all the way through in perfect pitch without being thrown off by the heavy chorus harmonies.
It’s quite difficult to sing while listening to all sorts of harmonies and backing vocals that are nothing like the original track; if you get led astray it’s hilarious, and if you make it to the end, people take notice—so it’s a hit no matter the outcome.
Since the audio tracks are available on the official YouTube channel, it’s easy to prepare and can be done entirely in the classroom, making it a great idea for school festivals and cultural festivals.