Confessions
Ages
6 - 99
How to Play
This is a 'getting to know you' game that involves everyone answering a set of personal questions anonymously. The first step is for everyone to change their name on their own video square to 'x'. (On Zoom this is done by hovering your cursor over the three dots (...) that are in the upper right corner of your own video square. This will bring a drop down of choices, one of them being to 'rename'). Now that everyone is named 'x', then all comments typed into the chat section are anonymous. The host will ask the group a provocative question, such as, "Tell a fact about yourself that no one in the group knows about you." Everyone then types their answer in the chat, but does not hit enter/return yet. The host will do a countdown for everyone to hit enter at the same time. All answers will go into the chat at one time and all will be anonymous. The group can read through the answers and start to guess which answer belongs to whom. The host can lead the group in a discussion of guessing which confession belongs to which person. This can be done in a number of ways. One way is for each person to take a turn to link one comment with one person. The answers are not revealed until everyone has a chance to make a guess. Another way is for the group to decide the one most intriguing confession and for each person to take a guess as to who it belongs to.
More confession questions:
My favorite 'guilty pleasure' snack is...
If I could change one thing in the world it would be...
My real-life superpower is...
Mission Impossible
Ages
8 - 99
How to Play
This is a physical game which requires players to have space for standing/squatting and ideally the camera set up with a view of their room. Players take turns, one at a time, to hide an object in their room (the object can be pantomimed). This is all done to the soundtrack of Mission Impossible*. Each player acts as a spy looking for and hiding the object. Each player traces the steps and hiding spots of those that came before them. They look at each place, eventually find the object in the last hiding spot and then hide it in a different place. The next player then enters the room, in their own unique spy fashion, looks at all of the spots from the previous players, finds the object in the newest hiding spot, and hides it in a new location.
Obviously, every players' backdrop and space is different, so how they re-enact the other players will be completely unique. Players should have fun with their space, fun with how they re-create the other players' moves, and fun with the fact they are a spy and trying not to be detected.
The host will re-cue the music for each new player/spy. The host can also spotlight each player, so the focus is highlighted on just one person.
This game is ideally played with 4 - 5 spies, so if your group is larger than this then the rest of the group can sit back and enjoy the show!
*To share your computer audio on Zoom go to screen share -> advance options ->share computer audio.
Astronaut in Trouble
Ages
8 - 99
How to Play
This game involves 4 players. The rest of the group can sit back and enjoy the show!
One player is an astronaut and the other three players are science engineers.
The astronaut explains a problem they are having with the space craft. This can be a serious or trivial problem (for example, the main thrusters are broken, or, the crew is out of peanut butter). The science engineers listen to the problem and then go find an object in their space that will help fix the problem. The science engineers each have 30 seconds, one at a time, to explain how their object is the perfect object to fix the problem. However, since the communication between mission control and the spacecraft is dodgy, the astronaut cannot hear the science engineers. To simulate this the astronaut needs to have their volume off during the science engineer pitch. The astronaut can only see the science engineers speaking, but cannot hear them (however, the rest of the audience can hear the pitch). After each science engineer does their pitch to the astronaut, the astronaut then explains what they understood each pitch was. The astronaut then chooses which fix they intend to use to solve their problem.
For maximum fun everyone should take their role seriously, and the problem of the craft seriously too. The more unrelated the object and the solution, the more fun it is for the science engineers to find links and justify their 'perfect solution'. It is all made-up ridiculous storytelling!