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Indoor Games for Families: 3 Family Games to Play At Home…Kid-Friendly & With Unique Twists (Part I)

Games to play at home

Nothing says fun indoor games for the family more than home game room products. In this special at-home feature, we’re taking a look at popular games that have been altered to make playing at home more fun, and they’re also kid-friendly

Perhaps you’re one of the many families who have played all the games in your home game room so much that you don’t even wanna look at them anymore. You might be experiencing A.H.B. (At Home Boredom) and are searching for ways to reignite the fun. Don’t fear…Games For Fun is here to help bring you a roomful of entertainment in your time of need!

What we’ve learned during the pandemic is that there are ways to stay entertained even when the entertainment gets, well, stale, to say the least. One of the easiest and most effective ways we’ve been able to combat at-home boredom is by tapping into our creative side with unique twists on popular indoor games. By adding or removing a rule, your home game room can take on an entirely new personality! In part 1 of this article, we’ll be talking about variations of billiards, foosball, and ping-pong. And in part 2, we’ll be talking about air hockey, shuffleboard, and darts. You name it, we’re playing it!

 

Teach the Family How to Play A Game of Billiards At Home…With A Korean Twist

We’ve written about billiards before. This game might be considered a “simple” game to play in homes all across America, and that’s why that billiard table might be collecting dust as we speak. But adding a cultural twist to this well-known pastime could give you a run for your money. Korean billiards, known as “danggu” in Korea, isn’t really what you would call a “simple” or “popular” game in America. In fact, there’s a general lack of danggu tables in this country.

Traditionally, this four-ball billiards or four-ball carom is played on a pocketless table with four billiard balls, usually two red and two white, one of the latter with a spot to distinguish it (in some sets, one of the white balls is yellow instead of spotted). However, this article explains that this version of the game is played with two red object balls, one white cue ball, and one yellow cue ball (or sometimes both cue balls are white, with one having a red spot).

Each of the two players is assigned a white or yellow cue ball; whether the opponent can use it as an object ball is a difference between the version you want to play. A point is scored when the shooter caroms on two balls. A carom on only one ball results in no points and ends the shooter’s inning.

How can you recreate this game at home? Your pool table could be used in the place of the danggu table. American billiards requires players to knock the pool balls into six evenly placed pockets. In danggu, two white cue balls and two red balls are used on a table similar to an American pool table — but with no pockets. To achieve this “pocketless” table, simply stuff the pool table pockets with some sort of cloth to block the balls from going in, or place disposable cups upside down on the pockets to cover them. To keep the cups from moving around, tape them down if they don’t fit snug. A yellow ball can replace one of the white cue balls to avoid confusion.

If a player hits both red balls on a single hit with one of the cue balls, the player receives one point. A player is allowed to continue to hit until he or she misses a ball. A wooden box mounted on the wall with score chips helps keep score. Chips are deducted from the amount set at the beginning of the game.

Another great thing about this game is that the number of people allowed to play doesn’t matter, as long as it’s an even number. So the whole family could play! If there’s an uneven number, you can do rounds and the winner can play the next family member.

 

When the Family Is Bored at Home Try This Foosball Game Variation

Multiball foosball is basically the same as standard foosball, except instead of 1 ball being served, multiple balls are served each time. In this case, 3 balls are served each time. A point is given to the person who scores the most goals. Only 1 point is given each time, even if one player scores all three goals. The game progresses until someone reaches 10 points.

Wanna add more crazy to the already-crazy? Introduce the idea of Crazy Multiball to the family. In this game, you layout maybe 9 or 11 balls at the center (you can use as many balls as you want, but really it needs to be an odd number to avoid ties.) After a countdown from 3, the players try to get as many of the balls as they can into the opponent’s goals. The winning player is the one who scores the most goals.

Some more ways you could make this game even more fun is by using weighted balls to increase the overall challenge of the game or try playing a one-handed game where each player can only use one hand of choice and hands cannot be swapped during a game.

 

Ping-pong for Kids vs. Ping-pong (After Hours)

The name in itself is already fun, but start incorporating some new rules and it takes this traditional table game to the next level. Let’s start off with the kid-friendly variation of ping-pong. Rotating ping-pong requires a minimum of three players. The players respectively position themselves on either side of the table. The side with more players is the first to serve.

The principle of the game is to hit the ball while circling the table. When a player misses a ball, the latter lays his or her paddle on the table. If a player who is still in the game bounces the ball on the bat, the eliminated player can rejoin the game. Once there are no more than two players, they get involved in a match to decide the winner.

If your family is composed of all adults, or maybe the kids have gone to bed, here’s a rather popular version of ping-pong: beer pong! The idea of this variation is to throw a ping-pong ball into a plastic cup filled with drink, which your opponents then have to drink. Essentially, each time the ball lands inside the cup, the opposing team has to drink its contents. The cups are positioned in a triangle on both sides of the ping-pong table and must be touching. The player designated to shoot keeps his or her elbow behind the edge of the table. It’s possible to replace the cups at any point in the game. All you have to do is position the cups where they would have been if they hadn’t slipped over.

To add more variation to this game, fill the cups with various beverages (water, iced tea, beer, vodka, apple juice, and more). The team which manages to reach all the opposing team’s cups wins the game. As a tip, opt for an outdoor ping-pong table, which is much more hard-wearing and suited to such ‘boozy’ leisure pursuits. You could still use it indoors, it’s just likely to last longer since it’s built to withstand the conditions of the outdoors.

 

Indoor Family Games Don’t Stop, They Only Get More Creative

Between Korean billiards, multi foosball, and rotating, beer-drinking ping-pong which game variation was your favorite? Which one are you most excited to try at home? Remember that being at home doesn’t mean you can’t have fun as a family!

For more inspiration on how to have fun, check out the Games For Fun blog. Each month, we discuss various gaming topics from home game room ideas to popular games you can play in the fall. And be sure to stay tuned for the second part of this blog where we’ll be talking about ways to make air hockey, shuffleboard, and darts more fun when playing at home. You name it, playing it (after we give it a lil’ twist for extra fun).

Categories
Holidays

4 Kid-Friendly Games To Play In The Fall

fall friendly games

Fall is the delightful season of ocherous leaves, chilled nights, and, of course, fall games. The reality is that a good time is just around the corner no matter what time of the year we’re in, and fall-friendly games are kind of a thing (kind of). So, how can you make the most out of this upcoming fall season? With social distancing still in effect, we’re considering some of the most fun games to play during the fall.

With the fall season comes pumpkins, so you can be sure that there will be at least one fall-friendly game that features a pumpkin. Fall is also a season of the turkey, so games centered around the big bird are bound to make an appearance. And as we highlight some of these fall-friendly games, our main goal is to inspire everyone this fall to step outside their mittens and scarves and give some of these games a try!

Candy Corn Relay ● Capture the Turkey ● Penny Toss ● Pumpkin Bowling game

 

CANDY CORN RELAY

There’s more fun to be had with candy corn than just eating it (we know that’s a bold statement to make, but trust us with this one!). The Inspired Tree House is here to teach us about this sweet kid- and fall-friendly game that uses candy corn as the main attraction.

What You’ll Need Candy corn (who’d have thunk), a spoon and bowl, yellow, white, and orange construction paper or plastic cones (or other objects that could be used as “obstacles”), and tape and scissors.

How To Play First, set up your relay course.  Make “candy corn” cones out of construction paper by cutting strips of orange, white, and yellow construction paper and taping them together to form a cone. You could also use regular plastic cones or other objects that can create an obstacle. Next, you want to set a bowl of candy corn on one end of your course and an empty bowl on the other end.  The first child in line scoops a few pieces of candy corn out of the bowl and maneuvers through the course to dump it into the empty bowl.  He then runs his spoon back and gives it to the next person in line. The next person repeats the action, taking another scoop of candy corn and maneuvering through the course to dump it into the bowl.  The aim of this game is to continue this process until all of the candy corn has been scooped from one container to the other!

Variations If you only have one child playing, turn the game into a race against the clock where the child must scoop all of the candy corn from one container to the other before the timer rings.

Tips & Tricks Try mixing up the types of movements the kids use to get through the course (ex: only tip-toe through the obstacle course, walk on knees, or crawl using only one hand).

 

CAPTURE THE TURKEY

While the fall season grants us the opportunity to stuff our faces with all things turkey, it also gives us a reason to replicate the heavy-bodied, ground-feeding birds — an excuse to look and act wild without anyone pointing a finger. In this classroom-friendly article, the fall-friendly game is used to teach us the importance of teamwork and how to strategize while implementing simple yet helpful physical exercise.

What You’ll Need 18 “eggs” which are just small or medium-sized objects that are easy to grab (ex: bean bags, oranges, tennis balls), pinnies/jerseys that are three different colors for teams, an exercise mat, 3 hula hoops, and 8 cones.

Set Up Place the three hoops equal distance apart on the ground. Place six “eggs” inside each hoop (these are the “turkey nests”). Place the 8 cones and the exercise mat at the opposite end of the ground/playing space. The cones and the mat will be used for physical activity when the students are tagged by the Mama or Papa turkey.

How To Play Split the participants into three teams, each wearing a different color pinny. One member from each team will be chosen to be the “Mama” or “Papa” turkey while the rest of the team are gobblers. The Mama or Papa turkeys stand inside their nests and are responsible for protecting the nest and tagging gobblers who try to capture their eggs. The gobbler’s job is to take eggs from the opposing team’s nests and place them in their turkey’s nest. The gobblers can take only one egg from a nest at a time. If they are tagged by the Mama or Papa turkey, the egg stays where it is and the gobbler must go to the physical activity arrangement and perform the designated physical activity (ex: 10 jumping jacks, 5 push-ups, jump rope). The goal is for a team to collect all 10 eggs.

Variations This specific game is fall-friendly but could be switched to other holidays by changing the name of the taggers.

Tips & Tricks To ensure that others have a chance to be the Mama or Papa turkey, the game can be played with a time limit of 2-3 minutes per round, rather than ending the round when a certain amount of captured eggs.

 

PENNY TOSS

This fall-friendly game, also known as Pitching Pennies or Penny Pitch, is simple enough for children but could be challenging enough for adults. Though this article explains everything you need to know about the game to cater to children, it could be tweaked to suit adults.

What You’ll Need A dishpan (or baby bathtub or kiddie pool), water, open plastic container, and, of course, pennies!

How To Play Fill a dishpan, baby bathtub, or kiddie pool halfway with water and place an open plastic container carefully on top of the water so that it floats. Have each player stand 3 feet from the dishpan, tub, or pool. Give each player the same number of pennies and have them take turns tossing pennies at the floating container. For each penny that lands in the container, one point is awarded. The player with the most points after all the pennies have been tossed is the winner.

Variations If you have one child playing, they can keep track of how many pennies land in the container in a row. For adults, increase the challenge by using a normal-sized pool and various coins. The points could be based on the coin that was tossed, and the winner could keep all the coins.

 

PUMPKIN BOWLING GAME 

Bowling in itself is a gnarly game. Fall is a gnarly season. Put the two together and you get a gnarly fall-friendly bowling game! With this pumpkin bowling game, it’s exactly what it sounds like — it’s just plain bowling with a fun seasonal twist!

What You’ll Need 10 plastic 2-liter bottles, sand (or other solid objects like marbles or beans to fill the bottles with), and pumpkins.

How To Play Use empty 2-liter plastic bottles filled with a little sand or other weighty, fillable objects to make the bottles harder to knock over. Set up the pins about 30 feet away from the rolling line. Give each player 3 pumpkins to throw at the pins and keep score. The goal is to knock down all the pins.

Variations For adults, you could also make this game more enjoyable and challenging by blindfolding the tosser or having them balance a cup of pumpkin seeds on their heads while trying to toss the pumpkin.

 

Games, Fall, and More Games For Fun

If you feel like these are games you would like to play during the fall, give them a try. Remember that these are all kid-friendly but could be adjusted to suit an older audience. All it takes is creativity, a willing crowd, and sweater weather to set the theme! If you’re interested in more games that could be played during the fall, be sure to reach out to us at Games For Fun. Our assortment of indoor-friendly games — from machines to tabletop games — will also give you one more reason to stay inside during the chilled nights.

Games For Fun