Games to Liven Up the Freshers’ Welcome Party
It’s hard to decide what games to play at a welcome party for new students, isn’t it? Everyone’s meeting for the first time or feeling nervous, and it’s hard to know what will get people excited.
So here, we’ll introduce games that are likely to liven up a new-student welcome party.
We’ve included plenty of games that help you learn everyone’s names and encourage communication.
We’ve focused on games that everyone can enjoy, even those who aren’t comfortable with self-introductions or speaking in front of others.
Most of them don’t require any props, so feel free to give them a try!
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[New Student Welcome] Games to Liven Up the Welcome Party (21–30)
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!
Yamanote Line game
The Yamanote Line Game is a classic at banquets and parties.
You pick a topic, then go around naming things that fit it in turn.
For example, if the topic is “names of fruits,” each person says one like apple or strawberry in order.
If you repeat something someone else already said or can’t think of another answer, you’re out! You also have to keep a steady rhythm with hand claps in between, so staying on beat is important.
The rules are simple, so it’s an easy game to enjoy at welcome parties too!
[New Student Welcome] Games to Liven Up the Welcome Party (31–40)
Drawing Telephone Game
A drawing telephone game where you pass along the given prompt through pictures! It doesn’t just test how good you are at drawing; you also need the imagination to guess the prompt from a picture and the skill to course-correct a message that’s going off track with your own drawing.
It’s great fun for people who like drawing, but pure agony for those who don’t! Precisely because you don’t yet know each other’s strengths, it’s perfect for a welcome party—everyone can get excited as you’re surprised by unexpected talents and laugh out loud at quirky artistic sensibilities.
The choice of prompts matters too! Aim for that sweet spot that you can imagine but is hard to draw—the closer you get to that edge, the more fun it becomes!
Fruits Basket
Fruit Basket, a classic game that kids love, is also perfect for livening up a new-hire welcome party! Arrange chairs in a circle and sit; the person standing in the middle calls out a prompt, and anyone who fits that description moves to a different seat, competing for chairs.
By keeping the prompts focused on getting to know each other—like “People from the Kanto region” or “K-pop fans”—new hires who’ve just met, as well as new hires and senior staff, will naturally grow closer through the game.
Private Quiz
A private quiz that lets you delve into someone’s personal side! By turning topics that don’t often come up at school or work—like “What’s something you want right now?” or “What hobby have you kept up since your student days?”—into quiz questions, you can get to know the other person more deeply.
However, it’s not about prying into everything! Research what the person is happy for everyone to know, pick out the topics that are likely to get people excited, and make those into quiz questions.
Questions that could make someone uncomfortable are, of course, off-limits!
Drawing Song Quiz
This is a drawing-song quiz where you complete the correct picture while listening to a drawing song.
One feature of drawing songs is that simply moving your hand as you listen lets you neatly finish a picture, even if it’s your first time drawing it.
But depending on how you interpret the lyrics, you might end up with unexpectedly funny drawings! It tests your comprehension, imagination, and sense for drawing.
You can catch glimpses of aspects that aren’t obvious from someone’s appearance, which might lead to discoveries like, “I thought they seemed serious, but maybe they’re surprisingly unique…”
No-English game
I also recommend the “no-English” game that you can start right away.
The rule is simple: as long as you don’t speak any English, you’re fine.
It sounds easy at first, but you’d be surprised how often it slips out.
Words like “game” and “OK,” which we use in everyday life, tend to pop up.
You can deepen your bond by playing this while doing something else or enjoying a conversation.
Have fun while keeping an eye on each other to make sure no one uses English.
