When it comes to ideas that liven up year-end parties or family gatherings, roulette is a classic! It’s easy to make your own, and the thrill comes from not knowing what prompt you’ll land on.
That said, you probably don’t want to go with the same old prompts… If you’re the organizer, you might be struggling with that.
In this article, we’ve put together fun roulette ideas you can also use for penalties.
We’ve gathered a range from slightly daring prompts to heartwarming ones the whole family can enjoy, so please use them as a reference!
- Simple but intense! A quick-and-easy penalty game that hypes everyone up
- [Punishment Game] A collection of romance-themed prompts. Punishment games that get men and women excited
- A simple punishment game you can do anywhere without any props—even at school or outdoors.
- A party forfeit that gets everyone hyped
- With friends or couples! A set of questions perfect for penalty games
- [For Couples] Fun Punishments You’d Want Your Girlfriend to Do
- [Classic] Funny! Hilarious! A roundup of punishment games that will liven up the classroom
- [Talk] Interesting! Hilarious! A Collection of Silly Questions
- For Couples: Fun and Exciting Punishment Game Ideas
- [Easy] Punishments that will get middle schoolers excited
- Put a penalty on the line! A roundup of party games that get everyone hyped
- Punishment games that amp up the fun at year-end parties—from hilariously gross to super embarrassing!
- A fun punishment game recommended for women
Great for penalty games too! A roundup of fun roulette ideas (1–10)
Change sentence endings
One classic punishment game is changing sentence endings.
Sometimes it’s hard to decide which ending to use, right? That’s when you can use a roulette.
For reference, possible endings include “nyan,” “gozaru,” and “deyansu.” If you put both relatively easy and more challenging options on the roulette, it’ll be even more exciting when you spin it.
You can also use the roulette to decide how long the person has to keep using the ending.
Try creating a roulette that mixes in moderately tough durations, like one full day.
Living 24 hours by roulette
As a slightly extreme idea, I’d like to introduce a “24 hours by roulette” challenge.
You spin a roulette wheel at set intervals that includes punishment tasks, and whatever it lands on, you have to do.
You could spin roughly once every 15 minutes, or, if that’s too intense, once every hour.
Recommended punishments include things like “eat something” or “say a predetermined line.” Since there’s a chance you’ll land on the same punishment multiple times, it’s best to include tasks that can be repeated.
Roulette Bento Showdown
Here’s an idea that’s easy to enjoy with a group: making a “roulette bento.” You use a roulette wheel to pick foods or ingredients, then combine whatever comes up to create a bento.
The fun part is that you end up with combinations you wouldn’t normally try.
Including sweets or various seasonings on the roulette can really liven things up.
You can also switch it up by making a snack assortment instead of a bento, or by blending drinks.
Feel free to adapt it to your group and the time of day.
Live for 24 hours wearing only the clothes decided by roulette
How about living for 24 hours wearing only the outfit chosen by a roulette wheel? If you load each roulette slot with different items, you can enjoy the resulting wacky coordination.
You could also pre-set complete looks for each slot—for example, “maid style.” Plus, this punishment game works for online gatherings too.
It might be fun to use the roulette to decide in-game outfits as well.
Ten cups of rice with whatever side dish the roulette lands on
As a fun idea that lets you enjoy a meal while also adding a playful penalty game, let me introduce a roulette for choosing side dishes.
Everyone gets a serving of plain rice, and the roulette decides what you’ll eat it with.
Prepare a wide lineup, from standard sides like “egg” or “fish” to items that can hardly be called side dishes, like “salad dressing” or “yakisoba.” By the way, for laughs, options like “sushi,” which ends up overlapping rice on rice, are also recommended.
You can only eat the pizza where the roulette stops!
Pizza is a beloved staple at parties.
Why not try a roulette game that makes use of its round shape? Here’s the idea: you can only eat the slice where the roulette stops.
Place the pizza on the table and set a roulette spinner at the center.
Spin it, and eat the slice where it lands.
That alone works as a game, but if you write penalty challenges on the underside of the pizza (board/box), it’ll be even more exciting.
Decide snacks by roulette
When everyone gets together, many people end up eating snacks.
As a fun twist, how about preparing a roulette wheel to decide which snack to eat? You can enjoy the anticipation of wondering, “Will it land on what I want?” While using a roulette app on a smartphone is fine, having a special, physical roulette can make it even more enjoyable.
First, craft a standard roulette, and attach the snacks directly onto the roulette board.
It’s great because everyone can watch the result together.
Devil’s Roulette
If you’re not sure what kind of penalty game to choose, why not start by making a roulette wheel with the participants’ names on it? That way, you can reveal the penalty first and then decide who will do it, which makes for an exciting flow.
By the way, penalty games that go well with a name roulette include “answering an improv prompt” and “tackling a tough question.” The idea is to keep changing the theme or questions and repeat as much as you like.
There are plenty of other ways to use it too, so feel free to get creative.
Decide hair color with a roulette
A punishment game where you decide your hair color with a roulette sounds fun, too.
If you’re planning to dye your hair anyway, you could just go ahead and dye it.
If not, try a hair manicure or a color-depositing treatment; most of them fade in a few days.
Knowing it’s only for a short time might make it easier to try a bold color.
As a variation, you could pair it with a roulette to choose your hairstyle, or make a rule to decide the color of something other than hair.
10-minute endurance
If you think just using a roulette to decide penalties isn’t exciting enough, I recommend the “10-Minute Endurance” rule.
In this version, you keep spinning the roulette for 10 minutes and take every penalty you land on.
If all the items are too hardcore, it’ll be rough, so make sure to include some relief options.
For example, if you have an item like “eat something spicy,” also include “eat something sweet.” You can also adjust the duration to be shorter or longer as you like.