Recommended games and activities for five people
We’re introducing games and activities you can play with five people!
Whether it’s the number of close friends you hang out with or the size of a group you’re assigned on a field trip, we’ve gathered recommended games for those times when you’ve got a team of five and aren’t sure what to play.
There are options that use items like cards, smartphones, or game consoles, as well as ones you can enjoy with no equipment at all.
They’re perfect not only when you get together with friends, but also for filling small pockets of free time.
Use the games and activities we introduce as a reference, and have fun playing together as a group of five!
- Games you can play with just conversation. Classic and popular activities you can enjoy without any props!
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- Brain-teasing game roundup
- Kill time while waiting or stuck in traffic! A roundup of games four people can play
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- Recommended for upper elementary grades! Exciting indoor recreation and games
- [For University Students] A Roundup of Fun Games and Recreational Activities
- Indoor Games for Small Groups: Exciting Recreational Activities
- Team-based recreational activities for adults that are fun even with large groups
- [Simple Games] Recommended Indoor Recreational Activities for Adults
Recommended games and activities you can play with 5 people (31–40)
Number-Taking Corps
Let’s play “Kazutori-dan,” a game where you mustn’t mess up numbers and units.
Players sit facing each other in a circle and, going clockwise, call out numbers and units to the rhythm of “Boom-boom! ◯◯.” For example, if the first player declares the theme by saying “Boom-boom! apple,” the second player responds, “Boom-boom! 1 piece,” and then declares the next theme.
The theme can stay as apple or be changed.
If the theme changes to banana, the third player should say, “Boom-boom! 2 bunches.” Repeat this, and anyone who gets the unit or number wrong loses.
Cockroach Poker
A slightly unusual game where you don’t decide the winner—you decide the last-place player.
It’s called “poker,” but despite the name, it’s a completely different, fresh style of card game.
Players pass cards around while doing a bit of acting—saying things like “This is a stink bug” or “This is a bat”—so those with a flair for performance might have an advantage.
You lose if you run out of cards or if you end up collecting four of the same card.
Enjoy the bluffing and mind games as you play.
Monopoly
Born as a board game, Monopoly is a strategy-based intellectual game where you use your wits to plan your moves.
Players buy, sell, and build on land and properties to grow their assets.
In the end, the goal is to bankrupt your rivals—a game that would be scary if it existed in real life.
Besides the board game, Monopoly can also be played as a card game.
The card game uses three types of cards: Bank cards, Title Deed cards, and Money cards.
The objective here is also to drive your opponents into bankruptcy.
Since the card game reaches a conclusion faster than the board game, it seems perfect for playing when you only have a little time.
Lateral thinking quiz game: Umigame no Soup
A lateral thinking quiz game where you brainstorm freely from the quiz prompt to arrive at the answer.
In ordinary quizzes, you often derive answers based on common sense, preconceptions, or established notions.
In a lateral thinking quiz game, the solver asks questions about the presented problem.
The quizmaster responds using only three options: “Yes,” “No,” or “Irrelevant.” Using the questions and these three types of replies, you deduce the answer.
The solver must think carefully about what to ask.
Another characteristic is that the answers are often things you can’t infer directly from the problem statement.
Come up with various ideas and solutions to figure out the answer.
No Going Home Until We Get 10 (Perfect Score)
This is a popular TV show segment where participants keep eating the items they guessed until they correctly identify the top 10 best-selling products at a chain store.
Adjust the number of items to eat based on the number of participants and whether anyone is a big eater, and aim to clear it as quickly as possible.
If someone already knows the correct answers, they can join only by eating without having the right to guess, so everyone present can enjoy it.
Since this takes time, it’s better to do it as takeout rather than in the store.
Recommended games and activities for 5 people (41–50)
Who did what, when, and where game
A game where each participant prepares a slip of paper with “when,” “where,” “who,” and “what they did,” and you create short sentences by randomly combining them.
The more people there are, the more patterns you get, so it’s especially fun with five or more players.
There’s no winning or losing—the goal is to enjoy how funny the sentences become—so it’s suitable for everyone from young children to adults.
All you need to start are slips of paper for the prompts, pencils, and a box to shuffle the papers, making it an easy, casual game to enjoy.
A command game popular with both children and adults
It’s a fast-paced game that tests your listening skills and split-second decision-making.
The rules are very clear: if someone says, “Order: do XX,” you perform the action; but if they say only “Do XX” without the word “Order,” you must not move.
If you react by mistake, you’re out, so observation and concentration are essential.
The teacher’s feints will spark laughter across the classroom, creating a fun atmosphere.
Despite the simple rules, there’s a lot of strategy in the rhythm and timing, and it stays exciting no matter how many times you play.
Move or stay still—the instant you decide determines the winner.
