2017.02.12
17:54
3728 
Sometimes going out is not possible and you are stuck at home. Playing video games or watching TV is always an option but you wonder what else can you do to kill the boredom? Best thing to do is call some friends home and play fun classic games.
Classic children games are a great alternative for entertainment and they can also help you make some good friends. There are lots of options and most of them you already have at home.
Let's take a look at some good ideas for fun games that you can play at home.
1. Twister
Twister is a popular interactive game that is always full of funny moments. You need a big board with coloured spots and a spinner to indicate colours. Each turn a colour is picked and all the players must put one hand or leg on the indicated colour. The game finishes when there is only one player still touching all the colours. If you do not have a board you can try to make one yourself. Take some sheets of paper and connect them with scotch. After that draw some circles and paint them in different colours. Circles in one line must be coloured in the same colour. You can draw a circle of colours on another paper and rotate a bottle to select the colour in each turn of the game. To make a more stable base you can use linoleum that is stronger and can survive more than one game. You can use pens to draw on top of it.
2. Ludo
Ludo is one of the most popular board games world wide. It is fun and easy to play. It can be played by one to four players at the same time. Each player has four pieces. They are coloured in red, yellow, green and blue for the different players, so they can be differentiated. All pieces must take a whole turn along the path and in the end reach the final point in the middle. Players roll the dice one after another and move their own pieces with the exact number of moves as the number of the dice shows. There are some additional rules. One piece can be put on the start point of the board only when the dice shows 6. Moreover when the dice shows six the player have the right to roll the dice again and make another turn. One piece can send another back to the start point if it reaches the same field. The game is won by whoever put first all of his pieces at the finish.
If you don't have a Ludo board, you can have some more fun by drawing and colouring one yourself. Make pieces out of paper or use something else that you have. You can also make a dice out of paper and glue it up into the shape of a cube.
3. Hide and seek
Hide and seek can be played both outside and inside. It can be played by children of all ages. The game starts while one of the players takes predefined base point, close his eyes and counts until the rest are hiding. Until the counting finishes everybody needs to be well hidden. When the player open his eyes he has to find all the others. When he sees somebody, he must run back to the base point and say his name. If someone reaches the base without being seen he is safe. The game finishes when all of the players are found or got safe. The player that is found last must search the others in the next one. If you decide to play the game outside you need to limit an area where it is allowed to hide, otherwise someone may go too far and never be found.
4. Associations
The game of associations can be very entertaining. There may be lots of variations of the game. The basic idea is that one has to explain something without talking and the others must guess what is it. Usually it is played by two teams. A certain topic can be selected, like movies, celebrities, sports, etc. Each player of a team can pick up a certain number of titles and write each one on a separate sheet of paper without showing it to anyone else. All the papers are mixed up. Then the actual game starts. One of the team takes its and has a limited amount of time to guess the maximum amount of titles possible. One of the players picks up a sheet of paper, reads what it is written and tries to explain it to the rest members of the team that has to guess it right. The game is won by the team that can guess more items.
5. Monopoly
Monopoly is a board game where players compete for a full control of the playing field. The game can be played by up to eight players and uses playing money. It is a turn based game where each player rolls a dice and moves his piece on his turn. Players can buy the real estates on the fields where they reach. If the field where they step is already owned by someone else they must pay him rent. There are also fields with other special functions. One of the field gives the player an opportunity to draw a card from a deck. The cards can give various bonuses to the players.
6. Soldiers
The main goal in the game of soldiers is to hide and find the soldiers. The game can be played by many players at the same time. Usually two teams are formed. It can be played in any room of the house. The room is divided into two parts by a imaginary line. Each team has the same number of soldier figurines. One of the teams gets first the chance to hide the soldiers. They must hide them only in their half of the room. At this time the members of the other team must stay in their own half of the room with their back turned so they cannot look. The soldiers can be hidden behind various objects on shelves or at the floor, at the desk, inside drawers or cupboards. After that the other team gets the chance to hide their soldiers. Then the actual game can begin. Each team has a turn to decide where to attack. They have to guess where all of the soldiers of the opponents are hidden by pointing different objects. The game ends when all of the enemy soldiers are down.
7. Chess
The game of chess is always interesting for children. Besides lots of fun it can be also a great challenge for someone's brain. This game will help you develop a strategical way of thinking. There are quite some rules but once you get it the game becomes very easy. The game is played by two players. Each player has a packs of pieces, there is one white and one black. The players have their turns to move one of their pieces. The whites always start the game. Each piece can move in different ways. You can look up the different pieces and the basic moves in more details in the page Basic Moves in Chess. The main goal in the game is to capture the pieces of the opponent. The game ends when one of the kings is captured.
If you do not have a chess board, you can easily draw one yourself. You can also fabricate the pieces out of paper. This can be a lot of fun. Check out the link given above for detailed description of all pieces.
8. Dots
In order to play the game of dots you need pencils and a sheet of paper. It is better if the pencils are of a different colour. Before the game starts the sheet must be prepared. You must draw dots all over the sheet. The dots must be positioned in straight lines alongside the two sides of the paper as it is shown at the picture above. Once you have the sheet ready the game can start.
The game can be played by various number of players. All you need is a bigger sheet and more pencils, one for each player. Each player has his turn where he can draw a line, connecting two dots. The goal is to make squares. When a square is made the player earns one point. The square needs to be marked with the players initial letter or filled with his colour. In the end when the dots are connected, all players' squares are counted and the one with the most points win the game.
9. Scrabble
Scrabble is a board game where letters are used to make words. It is usually played by 2 up to 4 players on a board with 15 squares long in each side. The players use blocks with letters that they have to place on the board. Each block also has a number indicating the points that the player wins when he places it on the board. Each player have to make words using the letters that he owns and at the same time combining them with the letters that are already on the board.
10. Bulls and cows
Bulls and cows is a paper and pencil game for two or more players. Each played must think of a four digit number. The main goal of the game is to break the code of the opponent. First both players write their own secret number on a sheet of paper. The digits must be all different. Then, in turn, the players try to guess their opponent's number. In response to each guess the player must give the number of matches. If the matching digits are in their right positions, they are bulls, if the numbers exist but they are in different positions, they are cows. For example:
Secret number: 5671
Opponent's guess: 1275
Answer: 1 bull and 2 cows. The bull is the number "7", the cows are the numbers "1" and "5".
The game is won by the first player to reveal the other's secret number. As the first player has a logical advantage, the game can be balanced by granting the second player of one more try at the end.
11. Hangman
Hangman is a paper and pencil guessing game that is usually played by two players. One player thinks of a word and the other has to guess it by suggesting letters. The guesser has a limited amount of guesses. At the start the word to guess is represented by a row of dashes at the paper. Each dash represents each letter of the word. When the guessing player suggests a letter which occurs in the word, the other player writes it in all of its positions. If the suggested letter does not occur in the word, the other player draws one element of a hanged man stick figure. The hangman is shown in the figure at the right and each line represents one element, thus giving the guesser about 9 tries.
The player guessing the word has the right to attempt to guess the whole word at any time. If the word is correct he wins the game. Otherwise, he is penalized by an additional element to the hangman diagram. If the guesser makes enough incorrect suggestions to allow his opponent to complete the diagram, the game is also over, this time with the guesser losing. Alternatively the guesser can also win the game by guessing all the letters that appear in the word and complete the word before the hangman diagram is completed.
12. Buildings
In the game of buildings you can build everything you can think of in your own home. Use your imagination and anything available at home to build castles, homes, small houses, construction sites and forts.
Get everything that can serve you as building blocks, such as empty cardboard or plastic containers, toilet tissue and paper towel, cardboard tubes. You can also build a fort with boxes, blankets, pillows, chairs, tables or other furnitures that you have at your home. Important thing in this game of buildings is trying not to break the objects that you are using. Ideally when the game ends you still want to use the objects for their main purpose.
13. Hot potato
Hot potato is an old favourite game of many kids. Before the game begins everyone must sit on the floor forming a circle. Turn on some music while players pass the hot potato around. You can use a real potato or another object such as a bean bag or a small soft ball. The hot potato is passed around the circle as quickly as possible. When the music stops, the player who is holding the hot potato is out. The game ends when there is only one player left and he is the winner.
14. Touch and feel
Children of any age can find joy in the game of touch and feel. In order to play the game you will need a heavy box that you can close. Make a hole large enough for a hand to fit through. You can use a shoe box and additionally decorate it to bring some more fun in the game. Put an item inside the box and have each of the other children guess what it is. Players can ask questions that can be answered with yes and no. Each player has his own turn to put an object in the box and the rest are trying to guess it. The winner in the game is the player who recognizes the most objects.
15. Domino
Domino is a game played with rectangular domino tiles. Each domino is a rectangular tile divided into two square ends. Each end is marked by a number of spots or it can be blank. The backs of the dominoes in a set must be indistinguishable. Many different games can be played using the domino tiles.
One of the most popular games using dominos is a layout game where each player has to empty his hand. The game can be played by several players at the same time. The game starts by dividing a certain amount of tiles between the players. Some tiles are left on the side. All the players keep the tiles in a way that the other players cannot see them. The players are in a circle and wait for their turn. The player with a higher match of numbers can start the game by placing it on the field with its numbers up so everyone can see them. The next player can place on the field a domino tile that has a matching number with the tiles that are already on the field. If he does not have such a tile, he has to take another tile from the ones left aside. The winner is the player who first empty his hand. If no one can place all his tiles on the board, the winner is the player who has the least number of tiles in the end.
Alternatively you can use the domino tiles to set up a domino run. Put all the tiles standing at their long end in long lines so that when the first tile falls, it pushes the second, which pushes the third, then the fourth, until all of the tiles fall. You can begin with few dominos and increase the number to design cool shapes and figures.
16. Jigsaw puzzles
The jigsaw puzzles offer lots of entertainment. This is a puzzle that requires the assembly of interlocking tiles. Each piece usually has a small part of a picture on it. The finest reward of the complete jigsaw puzzle is seeing the complete picture. The box of the puzzle usually contains a smaller image that can be used as a guidance.
17. Playing cards
One deck of playing cards consists of 52 cards. The cards are separated in 4 different types called hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs. The playing cards offer an immense variety of games. One very popular game using playing cards is solitaire. It can be played by a single player or more players who are trying to solve the puzzle and arrange the cards. Another popular game that is santase that can be played by two players. One of the most popular game that is also subject to sport competitions is bridge. There is a more simple version of it that is called belote and uses less cards of the deck. Belote is a very interesting game with simple rules that is played by two teams of two players. You can read in details the rules of this playing cards game at the page Belote card game rules.
18. Post it note
Post it note is a fun guessing game that can be played by unlimited number of players. Get some sticky notes and a pen and align in a circle. Each player needs to think of an object. The name of the object is written on a sticky note and after put on the forehead of the next player. Thus everyone can see what is written on the foreheads of the others.
The game is turned based. Everyone, on his turn, asks a question about his own object. The questions must be formed in a way that they can be answered with yes and no. The winner of the game is the player who guesses first what is written on his sticky note. The game can have a certain theme for the objects that need to be guessed. For example they can be limited to the objects that are located in a house, they can be names of celebrities, plants or animals.
19. Tic-Tac-Toe
Tic-Tac-Toe is game for two players that uses paper and pencils. Before the game starts a 3×3 grid must be drawn. Each player, on his turn, makes a mark on the grid. One player uses X and the other O. The goal of the game is to make a straight line of three marks. The lines can be n a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row.
20. Treasure hunt
Treasure hunt is a simple and entertaining game where one must hide something in the room and the others need to find it. The people looking for the object can go around the room and the player who hid the object can give them hint by saying "cold" and "hot" depending on if they get closer or go farther from the hidden object. The players searching for the hidden object can ask questions about the object. Additionally at the hidden spot may be placed a note with clues for another place where the real object is hidden.
