Games to Play with Family without Anything: Fun Evenings

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Searching for games to play with family without anything? Look no further. In this article, you’ll find fun family games to play anywhere with little to no supplies.

Whether bad weather is keeping you indoors, or whether you just need some quality family time, sometimes it’s nice to play fun family games that don’t require special tools or expensive gaming equipment.

And if you’re looking for some fun games to play with family without anything, you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, you’ll find the answers to all your questions about fun games at home. Many of the games listed require nothing more than common household items. No screens. No board games required. Just plain old-fashioned fun.

Ready to get started? Let’s dive in!

What Are Some Fun Indoor Games to Play?

Pen & Paper Games

Scattergories

When it comes to board games, Scattergories is a classic family game. However, if you don’t own the game, you can always do a homemade version at home!

Winning Moves Scattergories 30th Anniversary Edition, Brown, for ages 12 and up

List different categories on a piece of paper. Pick a letter and set a time limit. Someone says, “go,” and everyone tries to think of answers to each category starting with the letter chosen.

Once time is up, players share their answers. If the player has a two-word name answer, and the first letter of both names begin with the chosen letter. the player gets double points.

For instance, if the letter is “B” and the category is “cartoon characters” and someone writes down “Betty Boop.” If two or more players get the same answer, it doesn’t count. Tally up the points, and the person with the highest score wins.

Dots & Boxes

This simple game only requires a piece of paper and a different colored pen for each player. The object of the game is to close as many boxes (or squares) as possible.

To begin, lay out a grid of dots. You can choose how large you want your grid to be. I like to do 10×10 for plenty of space, but it’s up to you.

Each player chooses a different color pen. The first person draws a line between two adjacent dots. The next person draws a line between two dots.

Play continues until someone can close a box. After closing the box, that player puts their initials inside the square to claim it. You’re allowed to close as many boxes as you can in one turn. Then it goes back to the other player.

When all the boxes are closed, count up how many squares you claimed. The person with the most squares wins.

Exquisite Corpse

Exquisite Corpse is a drawing game that’s super fun, even if you or your family members aren’t the best artists. In that case, it’s even more hilarious.

All you need is a sheet of paper for each player and a pen or pencil. Each player folds their paper into thirds, with the top and bottom as the short sides.

Each player draws the head of their corpse in the top third of the paper without showing it to the other players. They fold that third over so that the next person can’t see.

When all the players have finished drawing the head, the paper is passed to the left where the second player draws the body of the corpse (clothes required for family game night!).

This continues until the Exquisite Corpse is complete. The original drawer reveals the beautifully hideous drawing. Laughter will almost certainly follow.

Guessing Games

Guess Who

Guess Who is a great game for kids and families. It’s the perfect game for practicing deduction skills and descriptive language. But you can play this classic guessing game at home with no supplies.

Winning Moves Games Guess Who? Board Game,2 Players, Multicolor (1191)

To begin, one player secretly chooses a person. The other players get 20 questions to find out who that person is.

You can narrow it down to different categories to make it easier to guess. For example, you might choose Disney characters or your favorite singers. You can even use people you know, like friends or family.

Charades

Charades is a classic family game that’s perfect for a night at home. You’ll need at least four people to play this game.

Split up into two teams. Have each team write down things to act out on paper slips. It could be a movie, a famous person, an object, or an action. Determine how many points you need to win.

The first person takes a slip of paper. Without speaking, they act out the clue. The other people on their team try to guess the answer. If they guess within the set time, their team gets a point.

Enjoy playing charades? You might like Guesstures.

Name That Tune

Based on the popular television show, this fun game involves guessing the name of the song. Players hum a tune, and the other players try to name the song. See how many tunes you can correctly guess in five minutes.

Two Truths & a Lie

This is a great icebreaker for a game night with friends. Each person thinks of two truths and a lie. They say them out loud in random order. The other players tell which statement they think is a lie.

Card Games

Even a deck of playing cards can make a night indoors more fun. There are so many easy games you can play with family or friends.

Spoons

Spoons is intense, fast-paced, and one of the best games to play indoors! Place spoons in the middle of the table, one fewer than the number of people playing. Deal four cards to each player and place the rest in a pile next to the first person.

The object is to get four of a kind. The first person draws a card, then passes one of their cards to the person on their left. Play continues around the circle until someone gets four of a kind. That person picks up a spoon, and then it’s a race for everyone else to pick one up as well. Only one person will be left without a spoon, and that person is out!

Golf

Golf is an easy game for kids to learn. If you’ve ever played Rat a Tat Cat, you’ll be familiar with the concept of getting the lowest score possible by replacing mystery cards you already have with cards from the draw pile.

Deal each player nine cards from a standard deck. Players arrange their cards face-down in a 3×3 square. Everyone takes turns drawing a card from the draw pile, choosing to discard it or replace one of their mystery cards with that card. Now the card is face up.

Play until someone has turned over all their cards. At that point, the round stops. Add up all your points. The player with the lowest number of points wins the round. To start the next round, shuffle all the cards and deal again.

Numbered cards are worth their face value, while face cards are worth 10 points. The King is worth one point, the Ace is worth zero points, and the prized Joker gets you -10 points!

We usually play until the first person reaches 100 points, but you can choose a number of rounds or points at which to stop play.

War

War is one of my kids’ favorite card games to play together. It’s super easy and a lot of fun. Divide the deck evenly between two players. Both players simultaneously reveal the top card of their deck (i.e., the battle).

The player with the higher card takes both cards played and moves them to their stack. Aces are high, and suits don’t matter. The ultimate goal is to win all the cards. This game can last a while, thus the name war. It’s a great way to kill some time on a rainy afternoon.

Family Games to Play When Bored at Home

There are plenty of games to play with family without anything, especially if you’re stuck indoors. These fun family games are great for kids and adults, alike.

Hot Lava

Keep kids busy and have a lot of family fun in the process. There’s only one rule: don’t touch the floor, because the floor is lava! So throw the pillows on the floor and get ready to move some furniture around. This is the perfect game for a rainy day when your kids need to burn off some energy.

HangMan

This classic game only requires a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. One player thinks of a word and draws blanks for each letter. The other players take turns guessing one letter at a time.

If the letter isn’t in the word, the first player draws a body, one part at a time. If the person completes the person, the others have lost.

Hide and Seek

If you haven’t played hide and seek in a while, you should definitely try it. This fun game isn’t just for kids. It’s a good game for adults, too. You can play indoors or outdoors. If playing outside, use common sense to ensure safety by having clear boundaries, choosing a safe area, and never sending children unaccompanied.

Simon Says

Simon Says requires kids to follow basic instructions. Raise your hand, touch your nose, or jump up and down, but only if the caller first says, “Simon says.” If someone acts without the magic words, they’re out. The last person standing is the winner!

If Simon Says sounds fun, you also might enjoy a variation: Land, Sea, or Air. It’s a super simple game to play with no elimination.

Simply divide an area of floor into two sections: land and sea. You can use painter’s tape or even denote distinct areas. For instance, two different squares on a rug represent land and sea.

If the caller calls out, “Land!” then all the players jump to the land section. If the caller says, “Sea!” then all the player jump to that area. If the caller yells, “Air!” then everyone has to jump in the air. Kids can take turns being the caller.

Hot Potato

You can’t go wrong with this classic family game. Create a fun playlist or use one of the songs on YouTube that stop and start at different intervals. Don’t have a potato? No problem. You can use anything relatively soft, like a beanbag or a foam ball.

One fun variation is to play Selfie Hot Potato. Pass around a phone with the camera pointed in your face. Set a photo timer. If the timer goes off when you have the phone, you’ll get a funny photo of yourself.

Plus, there’s no arguing over who had the phone when the timer went off. With this selfie version, there’s photo evidence!

Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger hunts require a little advanced planning, but they are so much fun to play. Transform into treasure hunters as you scour the house for random objects.

There are different ways to complete a scavenger hunt, but the basic idea is to create a list of things that participants need to find.

You could have each family member find objects around the house that start with a certain letter. Or you could have them find as many items as possible within a category (e.g., writing instruments). Players get a point for each object they find. The person with the most points wins the scavenger hunt!

I suggest writing down the categories or possible items on a note card ahead of time to make the game go more smoothly. You could even hide some of the objects around the house to make it more challenging.

Mail Call

This is one of the best games to play with a group. Here’s how mail call works: Players stand (or sit) in a circle. One person stands in the middle of the circle and says, for example, “Mail Call for everyone who is wearing blue.” All the people wearing blue have to get up and switch spots with another person in blue.

Mail Call resembles musical chairs in many ways, except the goal of the person in the middle is to force another person to be in the middle. The next Mail Call might be for a completely different category.

Name Five

When it comes to fun family games to play, you can’t get much simpler than this. One person calls out a category (e.g., fruit, famous person, state, etc.) , and then another family member tries to name five things in that category within 30 seconds.

There is a box version of Name 5, but you could just as easily play this game at home without anything. All it takes is your imagination!

Fun Challenges to Do at Night

I love minute-to-win-it challenges. These fun games are based on the once-popular television game show where contestants had to complete a silly task within a minute.

They’re simple to create and super fun to play (and watch)! With just a few simple household items, you can turn any night at home into a fun family game night.

For minute-to-win-it games, there are different ways you can play. In the “beat the clock” version, each player attempts to complete a task within a minute. In the group style, pick two family members for each game who will go head-to-head. It’s a race against the other player.

Lastly, you can split up into two teams (or more). For each game, teams choose one player to compete head-to-head with someone from the other team. Set a predetermined number of points the teams must achieve to win.

A few supplies that are helpful to have on hand for playing games:

  • Ping pong balls
  • Plastic cups
  • Balloons
  • Plastic spoons
  • Oreos
  • Chopsticks
  • Popsicle Sticks
  • Empty soda bottles
  • Blindfold
  • Plastic buckets
  • Dice
  • Cotton balls

See the list below for some of my personal favorite relay races and minute-to-win-it challenges:

Face the Cookie: Place an Oreo (or any cookie) on someone’s forehead. Using only their facial muscles, that person must move the cookie into their mouth.

Cup Stacking: This is a head-to-head event. Give two players 10 cups each. Have them race to stack the cups in a 4-3-2-1 pyramid and then gather them into a stack once again.

Defying Gravity: Give each player three inflated party balloons. Players must keep the balloons in the air without hitting the ground for one minute. Sounds easy, but it’s tricky!

Shake It Up: Fill an empty tissue box with ping-pong balls. Tie the box around a person’s waist with a pair of pantyhose or a tie. The box should be behind their backs. They have to shake until all the ping-pong balls fall out.

Penny For Your Thoughts: Players must stack pennies on top of one another… using chopsticks. If you’re playing with kids who might get frustrated with this task, you could forego the chopsticks and use your fingers. Or swap out pennies for something easier to grasp, like hex nuts.

Marshmallow Catch: To play marshmallow catch, split into teams of two, sitting on opposite sides of a table. Give one player on each team a heaping pile of mini marshmallows and a plastic spoon. Players try to fling mini marshmallows from a plastic spoon into their teammates’ mouths. The team with the most successful catches wins! This is perfect for a small group or a large group.

Balloon Pop: In a water balloon pop relay race, each player races to a chair and sits on the water balloon to pop it, just using their body weight. They run back and tag the next person. Whichever team finishes first wins! This is one of the best summertime family games.

Egg Spoon Race: Another outdoor favorite, this relay spoon race involves players balancing an egg on a spoon and racing to the finish line. For a cleaner indoor version (no cracked eggs on the floor), use ping-pong balls instead of eggs.

Suck It Up: Give each player a straw and a note card. Each person puts the card against the straw and tries to keep it attached by sucking through the straw. The last person to drop the card wins.

Another variation involves chocolate, so it’s a popular game in our house. Put a certain number of chocolate candies in a bowl, with an empty bowl beside it. One player from each team moves the candy from one bowl to the other by sucking through the straw to pick up the candy. The first person to clear out their bowl wins the game.

Stack It Up: To play this fun game, players try to stack as many dice on top of a popsicle stick as possible. The catch? The popsicle stick is inside their mouths! Try to reach a certain number of dice in a minute or see who can get the tallest stack.

Mummy Wrap: Players divide into teams and choose their “mummy.” They then race to roll an entire roll of toilet paper around the mummy. The first team to use up their toilet paper wins!

If you want to see these fun games in action, watch the video below to see demonstrations of some popular minute challenges:

Games to Play with Family Without Anything: Conclusion

Who says playing games at home can’t be fun? With these fun family games, you’ll be sure to have the best at-home game night.

Looking for DIY board game ideas? Check out my article on making your own games at home. If you need 4-player games to play, visit my list of the best 4-Player Board Games