Ideas for team-based games to enliven a party
When you’re put in charge of a company drinking party or banquet, the biggest headache is often the entertainment and performances, isn’t it?
In particular, coming up with games that everyone can enjoy together can be quite a challenge.
So in this article, we’ll introduce a wide range of games that are easy for everyone to join, as well as group-versus-group games you can enjoy in teams!
With a little twist, even classic games can be transformed into plans that instantly liven up the venue!
Be sure to check out these team-based games that will energize any banquet.
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Ideas for team-based games to liven up a party (41–50)
Illustration Telephone Game
It’s a game that tests members’ ability to communicate and understand each other—both the willingness to convey your message and the skill to grasp what others want to express.
Players depict a given prompt through a drawing; the next person interprets the prompt from that drawing and then passes it along with their own drawing to the next participant, and so on.
The final person states, in words, what they believe the original prompt was, and everyone enjoys seeing whether they got it right.
If the group reaches the correct answer, you can feel a strong sense of unity; even if they don’t, it’s fun to analyze how the meaning shifted along the way.
The ability to capture distinctive features and one’s drawing skills are also part of what makes this game enjoyable.
Team-competition game ideas (51–60) to liven up a party
Candle relay
How about trying a “candle relay,” where you pass a candle to the next person and the team that reaches the goal fastest wins? If you rush, the wind will blow out the flame, so you have to hurry yet pass it carefully—a slightly nerve‑wracking game.
But when played in a dark venue, it creates a nice atmosphere and can really liven things up.
Birthday line
It’s a game where you derive answers using only gestures, helping build participants’ trust and understanding.
Express your birthday through gestures and line everyone up in order of their birthdays.
Since numbers can be shown with hand shapes, conveying your birthday itself should be fairly easy.
We recommend setting a time limit or competing by team speed to encourage smooth communication.
Once everyone gets used to gesturing, you can change the prompts—such as “height” or “the most expensive recent purchase”—to adjust the difficulty and keep things lively.
Spinning Glasses Speed-Drinking Showdown
Have you ever seen those straws shaped like glasses at variety shops? Let’s try a speed-drinking contest using them! You can use any drink, but ones with a dark color make it more exciting because you can clearly see the liquid move through the straw.
It seems easy, but the straw is longer than you’d expect, so it actually takes more lung capacity than you think.
Pedometer Rapid-Shake Showdown
A pedometer that tells you how many steps you’ve walked in a day—the kind you attach to your waist.
This game uses that pedometer: hold it in your hand and shake it as hard as you can to see how high a count you can get within the time limit.
Holding and shaking it by hand is fine, but since that’s ordinary, it’s also fun to try attaching it to your head or foot.
The unusual movements you don’t normally make are hilarious and really liven things up.
Two-person hane-ori showdown
Nininbaori is a classic staple for skits and performances.
You often see it on variety shows, too.
Two people wear a single outfit: the person in front shows their face, and the person in back puts their hands through the sleeves.
In that state, they eat food and so on.
Just the fact that the person in back can’t see makes the movements incredibly funny.
It could also be great to try a team-versus-team makeup challenge!
back telegram
There’s a game like telephone where you see if a message can be conveyed accurately.
This version, called ‘Back Telegraph,’ doesn’t use spoken words—you write on the person’s back to pass the message along.
Each team gives a prompt to the first person, who then writes that prompt on the back of the person in front.
This continues down the line to see if the message reaches the last person correctly.
The longer the prompt, the higher the difficulty.