Recommended games for two people that you can enjoy without any equipment
When it comes to games you can play without any tools, many of them use words.
Word-based games are great because many can be enjoyed by just two people, making them perfect for friends or couples! In this article, we’ll introduce wordplay and brainy games you can play in pairs without any equipment.
We’ve gathered a variety of games—from classics like Shiritori, the Yamanote Line game, and games where certain words are forbidden, to activities that have trended online and on social media.
There are also plenty of games you can play remotely, so try them out with friends or partners you can’t easily meet in person!
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Wordplay, Shiritori, and Brain Games (1–10)
No-Foreign-Language Game
If you play a game where foreign words are forbidden and you have to carry on a conversation using only Japanese, you’ll realize there are a lot of foreign words you use unconsciously in everyday speech.
If you can’t use the foreign words you take for granted—like “Please check that” or “Let’s have a coffee break”—the conversation doesn’t move along so easily.
It actually takes more brainpower than you’d expect, so it might be better to avoid it when one of you is driving.
Why not enjoy the halting conversation, prepare a funny penalty, and give it a try together?
Who am I? quiz
It’s a game where you set a certain item as the theme and present several hints, and the other person tries to figure out what the theme is from those hints.
The way you give hints is important: start with broad clues like size or category, then gradually move to more detailed ones, so the player can enjoy the feeling of the answer coming to them.
A pattern where the respondent asks the quizzer questions is also recommended—have them pose yes-or-no questions to the quizzer and predict the answer based on the responses.
If you make something nearby the answer, people will start searching for clues around them, so it’s important to choose the answer from your imagination as much as possible.
Magical Banana
Magical Banana is a game where you answer with related words to the rhythm! For those who watched the quiz show “Magical Zunō Power!!,” it’s a nostalgic game.
You connect words like, “When you say apple, I say red,” “When you say red, I say tomato,” and so on.
If you miss the rhythm or can’t come up with a word, you’re out.
Even though you could think of plenty if you were calm, it’s surprisingly hard to answer smoothly when you have to keep the rhythm.
Why not try it as a little brain training when you’re relaxing at home?
Wordplay, Shiritori, and Brain Games (11–20)
Antonym Game
It’s a game where you present a word in time with a rhythm, and the other person answers with a word that has the opposite meaning.
Simple pairs like hot versus cold—things you’d find in a dictionary—work fine, and you can also go by intuition and come up with opposites based on imagery, like the opposite of concrete, which makes it lively.
The challenge is how clearly you can visualize the given word and from what angle you flip it to find an opposite.
Keep the conversation snappy, allow a bit of friction, and only stop the rally when there’s an obvious miss to check whether the answer is truly an opposite.
Shiritori
Speaking of shiritori, it’s a classic game you can play without any equipment.
If there are two of you, picking a theme is recommended! The more narrowly you define it—like song titles by your favorite artist or video game characters—the harder it gets.
If you share a hobby, playing shiritori with words related to it sounds fun, too.
To spice up this simple, classic game, you can also add small penalties like “the loser has to do the dishes” or “buy coffee at the next rest stop.”
Gesture Game
Let’s play a gesture game that’s fun for small or large groups.
It’s perfect for school or at home when you want a quick game—no props, no prep, just start whenever you like.
The rules are simple: it’s an easy guessing game, so you can jump right in anytime.
You try to guess what the other person is acting out, and you’ll likely burst into laughter at the funny moves from the person giving the prompts.
It should also be great for passing the time during long waits outdoors.
No-dakuten game
It’s a game where you set rules within a casual conversation and enjoy the frustration of how hard it can be to keep the talk going.
Points are added whenever you use a voiced consonant (dakuten) in the conversation, and the person who uses more voiced consonants within the time limit loses.
Simply removing dakuten from your usual words makes your meaning hard to understand, so it’s recommended to find alternative expressions that don’t use dakuten.
If you stay silent out of fear of making mistakes, the game won’t be fun, so set a discussion topic and make sure each turn moves the conversation forward.