Dead Ant

Make a list of your players in any order you choose. Player 1 now gets to choose the best moment to shout "Dead Ant" whereupon all the other players must lie on their backs with their legs in the air.

Players are exempt if it would be dangerous, eg if they are holding a sharp object at the time, or if it is universally agreed to be an unacceptable time to call, eg. during Midnight Mass (in which case the caller loses a life). However if a player refuses solely because of embarrassment or discomfort they lose a life. Once Player 1 has called, play passes to Player 2. This is best played over a whole weekend, or longer, to allow players to pick their moment wisely. You can decide how many lives people start with.

The Chair Game

Each player sits on a chair. The aim is to circle round the back of the chair, and back to the seat, without touching the ground. It sounds simple but no-one I know has ever actually managed this. Don't play immediately after Christmas Pudding.

The Cornflake Box Game

Again, not one to play immediately after pudding... For this you need one cardboard box and a number of reasonably flexible players. Each player must bend down and pick up the cornflake box (which is standing upright on the floor) using only their mouth. No part of them other than feet may touch the floor. The catch is that for hygiene reasons a bit is trimmed off the box after each player. How large a trim is up to you!

After Eight Racing

Each player starts with an After Eight (minus its envelope) on their forehead. The aim is to wriggle it down to your mouth, using only your facial muscles. Fun to play, hilarious to watch, especially that crucial decision as to which side of the nose players are heading for. If it falls off, you have to start again back on the forehead.

Here you can see that both Katy and Maddy start strongly, and by the nose it's neck and neck, but Maddy then drops hers and has to start again, while Katy catches her After Eight and claims a decisive (and delicious) victory.

We should point out there are alternative thin square chocolates available, including the fairtrade Divine brand, which you can buy in Oxfam shops. Though they are a little thicker, and may affect results...

Assassins

This is a sort of giant physical Cluedo: you are all super-assassins, out to get each other and take over each other's business. Every player writes down an "implement", ie a common household object, such as a loo roll or sock (the less dangerous the better), and a location, such as the front door step or sofa. You also need a list of all the players. Each player then picks out a victim, implement and location, or is allocate them if you have a handy non-player.

You must then kill your allocated victim, by getting them to the chosen location and brandishing your implement. Once killed, they give up their victim/location/implement, which pass to you as your next target. Last assassin standing is the winner.

Mafia / Werewolves / Vampires and Villagers

This is a straightforward idea that has been through a lot of incarnations. It began probably through psychology research in Russia, and models the conflict between an uninformed majority and an evil minority.

You need:
a narrator
cards to designate the following characters
-one detective
-one medic
-two or three werewolves/mafiosi/vampires depending on the size of your group (a group larger than 12 needs three baddies)
-the rest are villagers

Everyone closes their eyes. The narrator asks the werewolves to open their eyes, so they can see each other and know who is on their team. They agree on one player to kill. They then close their eyes again.

The detective opens their eyes, and points to one other player. The narrator indicates thumb up if they are a villager or medic, and a thumbs down if they are a baddy. The detective closes eyes.

The medic is invited to open their eyes and nominate one person to be saved.

Everyone opens their eyes and the narrator announces either "X has been killed in the night (X then dies dramatically)" or "Someone was killed and then saved in the night".

It is now day, and everyone discusses who might be a werewolf. Everyone is free to tell the truth or lies - werewolves can claim to be villagers, villagers can claim to be the medic or detective - at will. At the end of the day everyone decides on someone to lynch (by majority vote). They die, and the narrator reveals whether a werewolf or an innocent has been lynched.

The aim of the game is for the villagers to identify all the werewolves and kill them, or for the werewolves to kill all the villagers or get them lynched. You can choose to start with a round where no-one is killed by werewolves, they merely identify who they are to each other. There are commercial sets available, but all you need is slips of paper or playing cards to determine who is who.

A similar game, again free but this time involving some modern technology, is Spyfall. Each player needs a phone and a good wifi signal. Set up a game and everyone can join it. One of you will be allocated the role of Spy, while everyone else is given the name of a location. Can you find out who it is before the spy works out where he is?

People in a Pot

A lovely team game that is a step up from name-on-the-forehead favourite Who Am I? For this you need two teams. Each player individually writes down the name of three people (or five if you want a longer game). These should be people they think there is a good chance the group will know, so it could be friends or famous people. All the names go in a pot.

Player 1 of team 1 has a minute to get their team-mates to guess as many of the people as they can. Any that are guessed, they keep the bits of paper. Any they don't guess go back in. Play passes to Player 1 of team 2, then Player 2 of team 1, Player 2 of team 2, and so on back and forth between the teams. Team 1 must not shout out answers to Team 2's people no matter how INCREDIBLY OBVIOUS it may be!

At the end of each round the scores are noted, and the people all go back in the pot ready for the next round. Start with the next player/team in order.

The rounds go as follows:
Round 1 - players may describe the people in as many words as they wish - but they may not say their names.
Round 2 - players must describe the person in three words.
Round 3 - players must describe the person in actions / sound effects only, no words may be used.
Round 4 - players must describe the person in one word.
Obviously the rounds get harder, but also easier as you learn the pot of people. You will probably find different people excel in the charade round from the verbal rounds.

MLT

Everyone writes down 5 statements beginning with "Most Likely To..." and puts them in a pot. This could be a statement very much directed at one of the people present, eg "Most Likely To... get married this year" for someone who is already engaged and planning a wedding, or general eg. "Most likely to surprise everyone and win Bake Off". They can be as inappropriate or genial as suits your group.

Each person in turn takes out 5 slips of paper, reads them, and allocates each one to the player most likely to do whatever it says. Slips should be placed face down in front of the players they are allocated to, or folded up again.

Players then unfold their stashes and discover what their friends think they'll be up to this year. Warning - can reveal dangerous truths and unexpected perceptions!

The Psychotherapy Game

This is a bit mean, but can be very funny. You can only play it once, as everyone will then know the secret, so pick the best victim - they should be good-natured, and not too suspicious.

You tell the subject of the therapy that you are going to devise a dream they had, and they must guess what happened in it, by asking questions eg. "Was I wearing red socks?". The team of therapists will answer yes, no or maybe.

In reality your answers are entirely down to the wording of the questions:
If they question ends in s, n, g or t the answer is yes.
If the question ends in a vowel or y, the answer is maybe.
If the question ends in any other letter the answer is no.
And thus the peculiarities of the dream will come entirely out of their mind, not out of yours.

The Poem Game

There are several variations, but this is basically a game where you write a poem. Even if you think you can't do that sort of thing.

Version 1 (ideal for 3-5 players): Each person contributes words to a communal list. You're aiming for around 10 words all together. Everyone writes a poem including all the words. You can be as hardline as you like, but particularly for younger players it can be kind to allow stories instead of poems, allow each person one veto for a word they just can't fit in, and it is generally a good idea to allow plurals or other parts of speech so "egg" could be modified to "eggs", "eggy", or "egging on".

Version 2 (consequence-style, for 4+ players): Each person writes down a question at the top of a piece of paper, folds it over, and passes it on to the next player. They write down a word, fold and pass on. The next player also adds a word, folds and passes on. The next player opens the paper and must write a poem which answers the question using the two words.

Version 3 (ideal for 2-3 players): Take a published poem, famous if you like. Pick out 6 or 7 words. Hand the list of words to another player who must then write a poem. At the end you read out both the originals and new poems together.

Chinese Whisper Illustrations

A very favourite game! It's a sort of update of the perennial favourite Consequences. You need 3 or more players. 5+ is ideal. Start with some very long pieces of paper, and a pen each.

At the top each player writes a sentence. It could be a well-known phrase, a line of a poem or song, or a sentence you've just made up. They hand the paper on to the next player.

Player 2 illustrates the sentence, as best they can, folds down the paper to hide the original sentence, and then hands it on.

Player 3 tries to work out what on earth the illustration means, writes the resulting sentence or description, folds down the illustration to hide it, and passes it on.

And so on down the page. At some point everyone agrees to stop as they have run out of space. Pass on one more time, open up and laugh. They are a little hard to read out, but you can try and then pass round.

You'd think this was a game where it mattered a lot how good people are at drawing, but for some reason it really doesn't. It is easier to play than to explain, and works well with all ages and temperaments.

Bus Stop

This dates from primary school in the 80s, and it is a good one for kids. But with a little more imagination it can be good for all ages. It's a sort of quiz game.

Start with an A4 piece of paper, landscape, in front of you. Fold it in half, in half again, and in half again, to make 8 columns down the page. Label the first one "Letter" and the last one "Score". The ones in between will be your categories. These can be simple (boy's name, girl's name, animal, country, colour) or it could be more specific (river/mountain, bird, currency).

One person recites the alphabet under their breath, and a second person says stop. This picks your letter. Tell everyone what letter it is for this round, though if you've had it before choose again or pick another letter nearby. Someone shouts start, and everyone fills in an entry for each category as fast as they can. The first to finish shouts "Bus Stop!". (If you have younger, more easily frustrated players, you can have a timer instead.)

Each person then reveals what they put for each category. If your answer was unique within the group you score 10 points, but if someone else put the same thing you get 5. Tot up your total. Tactically you have to decide whether to score higher by finishing first and hoping no-one else has filled in all their squares, or by thinking harder and getting unique answers for each category.

Pick a new letter for the next round, and continue down the page.