5 Favorite Family Fun Night Games

Who doesn't love family game night?  So, turn off the TV, make a big bowl of popcorn and enjoy playing all or some of these games!!

1.  Fruit Basket  -  One member of the family is chosen to be the caller. The rest of the family members sit in a circle on chairs. The caller gives each member, including himself, the name of a different fruit. When he calls out the names of two fruits, such as apples and pears, the two who were given the names of those fruits must change seats. The caller tries to slip into one of the seats, leaving someone else without a seat. The one without a seat is the new caller. At any time the caller may say, “The fruit basket tipped over.” Then all must change seats, and the caller tries to get any empty seat, leaving another person as caller.

2.  Whirlwind - All stand or sit in a circle. One person says, “I’m thinking of something.” He then gives three clues, such as, “It can swim. It doesn’t live in the water. It has webbed feet.” When someone thinks he knows the answer, he whirls around in his place and says, “Whirlwind.” Then he tells what he thinks it is. The one who guesses correctly gives the next three clues.

3.  Ball tag - Play tag with a ball by letting everyone run around and dodge the ball that the person who is “it” is trying to touch players with. The player who is touched becomes “it” and tries to touch someone else with the ball.

4.  Guess Who - Have one member of the family think of some favorite or unusual scripture character. One at a time the rest of the family can ask him questions about this person, taking turns around the family circle. The first one who thinks he knows the correct name raises his hand and asks to answer the questions about the character himself. If his answers are right (the one who chose the personality will know), he continues until someone else guesses and takes over the answering. If someone’s guess is wrong, he will answer the next few questions incorrectly (as judged again by the person who chose the name) and will be out of the game to sit by and watch while the others play until everyone in the family knows the correct personality. If two people guess on the same turn, the first gets to answer at least one question before the second one takes over as the answerer.

5.  Ghost - The players sit in a circle. The first player says the first letter of a word he is thinking of. It must be a word with more than two letters. The next player thinks of a word beginning with that letter and adds the second letter. The third player adds another letter. The game continues in this way until someone makes a complete word. Each player tries not to complete a word. Suppose the first three players had named the letters n-e-x and the fourth player can think of nothing but the word next and adds the t; he then becomes a “half-ghost.” The next player starts another word. If a half-ghost ends another word he becomes a “ghost” and may no longer participate in forming words. Anyone who speaks to a ghost becomes a ghost also. The ghost remains in the game by trying to draw others into conversation with him.

A player must always have in mind a word of more than two letters. If one player doubts that another has in mind a legitimate word, he may challenge that player. The player challenged must then state the word. If he cannot, he becomes a half-ghost or a ghost. If he does state a word, the person who challenged him becomes a half-ghost or a ghost.