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 games (11–20)
Quiz Rally
It’s a game where you solve quizzes to collect keywords, then use them as clues to find the treasure.
To make sure everyone has fun, consider giving out hints gradually so all participants can enjoy the process.
It could also be nice to prepare prizes based on the order in which the treasure is found.
Hyakunin Isshu
If you want a game that can be played one-on-one, Hyakunin Isshu is perfect.
Hyakunin Isshu is a type of karuta using waka poems, devised in the Kamakura period.
It’s named for the fact that one hundred poets each selected a single poem.
The rules are a bit more complex than standard karuta, which makes the game all the more exciting.
You can also add positive twists, like playing blindfolded.
Since some people may not know the rules, it might be a good idea to set up a section where they can study in advance.
Donut & Macaron Tower Game
This is a game where you compete to see how high you can stack macaron and donut mascots within a time limit.
Since the rules are very simple, it might be important to make the mascots colorful and distinctive.
To heat up the gameplay, let players choose whether to use donuts or macarons, and hide differences in shape that subtly affect how hard they are to stack—that’s recommended.
If you set a short time limit, players will feel rushed to stack quickly, which should make it even harder to stack well.
Large-group physical activity games (1–10)
Real Escape Game
Why not try hosting a real-life escape game—hugely popular in many places—at your school festival? Hide codes and puzzles all around a room, and don’t let participants leave until they’ve solved them all.
We recommend using a room that’s a bit larger than a regular classroom.
You don’t want it to be solved too quickly, so creators will need to put in some serious thought.
Unlike a haunted house attraction that uses the entire classroom, this doesn’t require elaborate decorations—just set up mechanisms at key points, so the decor itself can be simple.
Use popular real-life escape games as references and create a fun, challenging, and exciting game!
Giant Sugoroku
One idea for a game that uses the whole classroom is a “giant sugoroku.” In a giant sugoroku, the players themselves act as the game pieces and move along the board.
A fun twist is to use oversized money and items to match the scale.
It’s also important what’s written on each space of the board.
Prepare original prompts not found in other sugoroku games to entertain the players! By the way, using plastic sheets or cardboard is recommended for creating the spaces.
Treasure Hunt Game
As a game everyone can participate in, I’d like to propose a treasure hunt.
Let’s think about hiding spots that fit the arrangement of objects and the space.
If you hide the treasure somewhere that’s not easy to find, it will probably make things more exciting.
Another charm of treasure hunts is that they can be combined with themes or other elements.
For example, you could recreate the world of an anime for the treasure hunt, or have instructions written on the treasure that participants must follow.
Please come up with arrangements that will get everyone excited.
stamp rally
A stamp rally is also one of the classic games.
The basic idea is to collect stamps set up at various points on a designated sheet, and you clear the game once you’ve collected them all.
If you want to add another layer of gameplay, you could, for example, give out stamps for participating in certain activities.
You can also make the act of finding the stamps itself enjoyable, or have a picture appear when all the stamps are placed.
One of the attractions of a stamp rally is how easy it is to add originality.