This vacation, all 10 of my kids were under one roof! I don’t know how many more times this is likely to happen; but while it lasts, we’re going to enjoy it.

One thing we like doing is playing games—video games, certainly, and board games, sometimes. But my favorites are the ones we can play without any equipment except our own goofy brains.

Here are some of them:

1. Stinky Pinkies

A rhyming riddle game that you can play at all different levels, with kids who just barely know how to rhyme, to people with complex and mysterious brains. My seven-year-old loves to play this in the car. One person thinks of two words that rhyme and have the same number of syllables, and supplies hints, and everyone else has to guess. Whoever guesses correctly first gets to think of the next riddle. If the words have two syllables each, you say you have a stinky pinky. If they have three syllables each, it’s a stinkity pinkity. Four syllables, a stink-inkity pink-inkity; and so on. One syllable word pairs are a stink pink, of course.

Example:

• A stink pink that’s a container for an orange animal with a big tail. Answer: Fox box.
• A more complicated one: What’s a wild, irresponsible string of pearls? Answer: a reckless necklace.

2. Excuses, Excuses

Charades mashed up with ‘The Office’ can entertain the whole family for hours. This one involves getting out of your chair, unfortunately. It’s good for ages 6 to adult, and it’s very easy to drop in and out of, and is very entertaining to watch other people play.

Setup:

• One person is the boss, one person is the employee who is late for work, and one person is the co-worker. The boss faces the employee, and the co-worker stands behind the boss, so the employee can see him, but the boss cannot.
• The boss barks at the employee, “Why were you late?” The employee starts to make his excuses — but he has to describe what the co-worker is miming. Remember, the boss can’t see him.
• The co-worker is marching, dancing, swatting imaginary flies, being strangled, fighting invisible gorillas, etc., and the employee is narrating it.
• The boss, at any point he wants to, whips his head around to and yells at the co-worker, “What are you doing?” And the co-worker has to instantly come up with a plausible, office-appropriate explanation for whatever he was caught doing.

3. Fictionary

Okay, just for this one, you do need some equipment, but I had to include it because I love it so. You will need a thick dictionary and a bunch of paper and pens. It’s best for players at least 8 years old and up, and you need at least four players to make it fun. More is better.

Setup:

• The person who’s “it” finds a word that no one is familiar with, and he writes down the real definition. Everyone else writes down a fake definition. The person who is “it” reads them all out loud, and everyone but “it” has to guess which one is real.
• You get a point if you guess the real one, if someone votes for your fake one, or if you’re “it” and no one guesses the real one. Everyone gets a turn being “it” to complete one round of play.

4. Ghost

A spelling game, but it’s more fun than it sounds, and also involves more psychology than you’d think. A group of people spells a word out loud together, one letter at a time. The goal is to draw the word out as long as possible without being the one who says the last letter.

Example:

• The person who starts will say, for instance, “R.” Then the next person will add the next letter — say, “E.” Then the next person will say “S.”
• The idea is to force someone else into ending the word. So if I am thinking of the word “restaurant,” and I supply the “T” when it’s my turn, then the round is over, because I’ve spelled “rest.”

5. Get Down, Mr. President!

This is a game that only works if no one announces that you’re playing it. It replicates the experience of being a member of the secret service whose job it is to protect the president.

Setup:

• One person begins by holding two fingers up against his ear as if listening intently to some intel coming through an earpiece.
• If you notice someone is doing this, you will realize that the game is in session, and you must silently begin to also hold up two fingers against your ear.
• When there is only one clueless person remaining who hasn’t noticed what is going on, then that is the president, and everyone else can simultaneously shriek, “GET DOWN, MR. PRESIDENT!” and tackle that person to the floor.

6. In the Manner of the Adverb

One person thinks of an adverb, and everyone else has to guess what it is, by watching him do things in the manner of that adverb.

Example:

Say I’m thinking about “bitterly.” The others shout, “Make some biscuits in the manner of the adverb!” so you commence muttering resentfully about the stupid butter not being cold enough, and how everybody else has a pastry blender, but you have to get along with two pathetic butter knives, and how you certainly hope they appreciate how much trouble you went to, but it doesn’t seem likely, and so on.

7. Jebrahamadiah and Balthazar (also called “Master and Servant”)

Another role-playing/narrative game, but you can sit down for this one.

Setup:

One person gives orders, the other person explains why he can’t carry them out. The answer has to be part of a consistent narrative — you can’t just make up a new excuse for each command.

Example:

Jebrahamadiah! Go get me a glass of water.
I would, but I just broke the last glass.
Then go get me a cup of water.
I would, but when I broke the glass, I cut my finger, and I can’t use my hand.

8. Shatner!

This one can be played all day long, while cooking, while setting the table, during the meal, and so on, until you put your foot down and tell them to knock it off or you’re going to strangle somebody.

Rules:

Life goes on as normal, until someone shouts, “Shatner!” — and then everyone has to do what they’re doing as William Shatner.

8a. Companion game: Duchovny

The opposite of Shatner. You respond in such an understated way that people have to fight the urge to check your vital signs.

9. Pluralize

You sing a song, except everyone in it becomes two people.

Example:

Moana’s cri de coeur: “We are some girls who love our islands, We are some girls who love the sea, It calls us...”

10. Greg

This one benefits more than others from either having a few glasses of wine in you, or being eleven years old (I cannot recommend both).

Rules:

You sing songs, but instead of “I,” “me,” or “mine,” you say “Greg.”

Example:

“With or Without Greg” by U2; “Amazing Grace” (How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like Greg); and “Till There Was Greg” from The Music Man.

These games are sure to bring laughter and fun to any family gathering. Enjoy your time together and make the most of these moments! 😊

#FamilyFun #NoEquipmentGames #SimchaFisher #CreativePlay #FamilyBonding