[Simple Games] Recommended Indoor Recreational Activities for Adults
When a large group gathers indoors and you think, “Let’s do something fun!”, do you ever find yourselves surprisingly stuck for ideas? In this article, we introduce simple games that are perfect for getting everyone excited, including team battles and cooperative play.
From games that require almost no props to ones you can play easily with everyday items, we’ve gathered activities ideal for indoor recreation.
Games that you progress through by cooperating naturally spark conversation and deepen relationships! There are also slightly brain-teasing games that adults will especially enjoy, so be sure to give them a try together.
- A collection of simple indoor recreational games
- Team-based recreational activities for adults that are fun even with large groups
- [For Adults] Fun recreational games. Perfect for short breaks too!
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- Games you can play with just conversation. Classic and popular activities you can enjoy without any props!
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- [Children’s Club] Easy and fun indoor games. Exciting party games
Experiential and Sensory Games (21–30)
I love you game
The “I love you game” is all about getting embarrassed—but if you show it, you lose! You sit facing each other and take turns saying things like “I love you” or “I really love you.” Sounds simple, but it’s surprisingly hard! It’s not often you get a chance to say “I love you” to a friend or acquaintance, right? If the person being told laughs or gets flustered, they lose.
You can add gestures, put on a serious face, or channel a romantic drama actor and whisper your love… It’s embarrassing, but it really livens things up!
A gesture game with nuances too subtle to convey
People who are often together tend to pick up on each other’s expressive quirks, so sometimes you can understand what someone wants to say just from their movements.
This piece focuses on that kind of movement-based communication and suggests trying a gesture game with more fine-grained prompts.
The prompts are narrowly defined situations—like “someone who failed to open a bag of snacks and spilled them everywhere”—to test whether the specific scenario comes across.
Understanding each person’s expressive style and meeting them where they are is also an important key to getting closer to the correct answer.
30-second guessing game
This is a game where you rely solely on your internal body clock to try to stop a stopwatch at exactly 30 seconds.
The rules are simple: without looking at a clock, just press start and stop on the stopwatch—so you can add all kinds of variations.
It could be fun to keep a conversation going while tracking the time, or have people around you call out random numbers to distract you.
You might try closing your eyes to sharpen your senses, or keeping a rhythm to feel the passage of time.
Give it a try using whatever method works best for you.
TOKYO Reiwa Game
The “TOKYO Reiwa Game” uses two famous lines: the “TOKYO” announcement when Tokyo won the Olympic bid, and the “It is Reiwa” announcement when the new Reiwa era was revealed! In this game, to a rhythm, each participant says a prompt they come up with, and everyone decides whether it’s something that actually exists or not.
Each player holds one rectangular plastic desk pad: if the prompt “exists,” hold it horizontally and repeat the prompt; if it “does not exist,” hold it vertically and say “It is (prompt).” That’s right—what you need for this game is vocabulary and knowledge! It’s quite difficult, so it’s a good idea to set a theme for the prompts.
Tough, but addictive!
U.S.A. game
The “U.S.A.
Game” is a game that uses the chorus of DA PUMP’s smash hit “U.S.A.” In this game, to the tune of the chorus, you sing “C’mon, baby, ____,” and the next person says a common situation or stereotype (an “aruaru”) about _____.
If someone repeats an aruaru that’s already been said or says something that isn’t really an aruaru, they’re out.
It gets really lively if you keep the rhythm and do the ‘Like’ dance while playing.
Stealthy-Stealthy Game
Shohei Osada of the comedy duo Chocolate Planet became hugely popular using the phrase “sorori sorori,” a parody of Motoya Izumi.
A game based on that impression is the “Sorori Sorori Game.” In this game, a prompt is given to the contestant, and the basic rule is to answer with a fitting “—ri —ri” phrase for the prompt.
For example, for a banana, it would be “mekuri mekuri” (peel-peel).
Solo movie theater
When it comes to indoor activities or adult pastimes, some people are looking for ways to kill time on their own.
For those folks, the “solo movie theater” is a perfect fit.
Everyone’s probably thought at least once, “Wouldn’t it be great to have a movie theater all to myself?” or “I want to feel like I’m at the movies at home.” This dreamy idea can actually come true with just things you have at home: a cardboard box, tape, and a smartphone! All you need to do is cut a hole for your neck and a hole to see your phone screen in the cardboard.
It’s definitely not a look you want others to see, but try enjoying a private movie-theater experience all by yourself!
Experience/Sensory Games (31–40)
Tasting Game
Don’t you often see this on TV variety shows? It’s a game where you’re blindfolded, someone feeds you a bite of food, you eat it, and try to guess what it is.
Just being blindfolded is exciting enough, but if you also pinch your nose while eating, you can’t sense the smell or aroma, so you have to rely solely on texture, which makes it really difficult.
It’s harder than it looks, and you get to enjoy the thrill of being fed something by someone else without having any idea of its taste or smell.
It would probably be a blast as a team competition, too!
Thumb game
Many of you may have played this game, also known as “Yubi-suma,” when you were in elementary school.
The name varies by region, but the rules are simple: someone calls out a number, and the participants either stick up their thumbs or keep them down.
If the caller guesses the exact total number of thumbs raised, they get to hide one hand behind their back; if they guess correctly a second time, they’re out (they finish) and leave the round.
You don’t need any equipment, and it’s perfect for quick moments of free time—so you can play anytime, anywhere.
Be sure to learn it and give it a try!
Balloon Time Bomb Game
Many people may be bored of classic party games like the Yamanote Line Game because they get played so often.
For you, we recommend the Balloon Time Bomb Game.
By simply using a device that pops a balloon after a set time, even standard games like Shiritori or the Yamanote Line Game become incredibly exciting.
You can also incorporate punishments at the same time, so it’s killing two birds with one stone.