Best Funny & Easy Minute-To-Win-It Games For Adults & Kids

How To Play Minute-To-Win-It Games

Minute-to-Win-It Games can be played in various ways involving different forms and challenges such as brain games, team challenges, skill-based games, creative challenges, sensory games, and food challenges. Some require balance and coordination, others focus on fun and interaction, and some encourage innovation. Such games allow you to easily select activities that suit your group’s preferences and energy levels, ensuring everyone has a fantastic time!

Depending on the type or form, minute-to-win-it games can be played individually, in groups, or teams. Here’s how to play these games with several participants.

Style 1: For Individuals

This style is played in the person vs. the clock format. An individual tries to complete a task in 60 seconds. If they finish, they win. If not, they lose. Simple! After every minute, the game shifts to another individual. Alternatively, one can give the person up to three chances or play on until they complete the task or surrender (however, this may get boring for the others waiting their turn).

Style 2: For Groups

This style involves picking two players, one from each team, who try to finish a challenge. A clock may or may not be used here. Whoever completes the task first or within the minute wins. You can also try relay games to form connections between two different groups of friends.

Style 3: For Teams

In this style, you may split your guests into two or multiple groups. Each team chooses their player for a round of the challenge. One member from each team competes together on the same task. Whoever finishes first wins. There is usually a scoring system in this style. For instance, the first team gets five points, the second gets three, and the third gets one.

Holly, a blogger, organized a cowboy minute-to-win-it challenge for her class on Pioneer Day. She divided the class into two teams and asked each team to pick a person to be the sheriff and a deputy to help the sheriff get dressed. She added that the team who’s sheriff dressed up the fastest would win the challenge. She said, “What a fun day we had! The students loved it. The winning team was awarded a trophy (i).”

This is an ideal example of youth group games that can be used as a team-building activity.

Minute-to-win-it games are equally fun for kids and adults. Check out some simple games for kids in the next section.

7 Best Minute-To-Win-It Games For Kids

These 7 best Minute-to-Win-It games for kids will keep them entertained and laughing. If you are also planning a gathering with teenagers, these games can easily double as fun party games for teenagers. Ready to get the party started? Let’s dive in!

1. Puzzle Race

What You Need: A simple puzzle – blocks or jigsaw

How To Play: Jumble the pieces and start the clock. Players have to complete the puzzle within a minute. In the case of team players, whoever finishes first, wins.

This is one of the most common indoor games that require determination and focus and keep the kids engaged for quite some time.

Quick Tip

For kids, it is best to use jigsaw puzzles with pictures of their favorite character or cartoon so that they will be more interested in finishing it.

2. Pom Pom Race

What You Need:

 Plastic straws, small pom-pom balls, and white or black sticker tape

How To Play: Mark a starting and finishing line distanced across the room. Place the balls at the starting line. A player puts a straw in their mouth. As the clock starts, they blow into the straw to push the ball towards the finish line, trying to finish within the minute. The trick is to keep the balls in a straight line to finish fast. This game can also be played without a clock, where multiple players race simultaneously, and whoever reaches first wins.

You can play timed games like this one with different props or hurdles to hype the excitement quotient in your child’s birthday games.

3. Kisses And Mittens

What You Need:

 Oven mittens and a bowl of Hershey’s kisses chocolates

How To Play: Each player wears a pair of oven mittens, making this game a little tricky and fun. The objective is to unwrap as many Hershey’s kisses as possible in a minute. The player with the maximum number of unwrapped chocolates wins.

These easy games are loved by kids and adults alike– because who doesn’t like chocolates? Remember to stock up on a lot of them!

4. Noodle Pickup

 What You Need: Uncooked spaghetti and uncooked penne pasta

How To Play: Each player puts a hard spaghetti noodle in their mouth. As the timer starts, they try to pick penne pasta with the spaghetti noodle. The player’s hands must be kept behind the back or on the table for balance.

5. Human Ring Toss

What You Need:

 Hula hoops or swimming tubes

How To Play: This game requires kids to toss one hoop at a time into a human stand. One person stands at a distance as a target post. The player tosses the hoops, trying to ring them onto the person. The individual who hooped maximum rings in a minute wins.

6. Defying Gravity

What You Need:

Two or three balloons

How To Play: This may not be as simple as it looks, but it’s a whole lot of fun for kids. The idea is to keep all the balloons up in the air for the entire minute using any body part or blowing without touching them with your hands. If you drop one balloon, you will lose. In a multiplayer game, whoever keeps the balloons up the longest wins. For younger players, even a single balloon is challenging enough, so use only one.

Creative games like this help develop balance and coordination skills in kids.

Quick Tip

You may make this game more interesting by assigning a particular color to each child and asking them to make the other balloons fall along with trying to keep theirs safe.

7. Bowling

 What You Need: Bowling pins or cups or empty drink cans, and 5 small balls (size of a TT ball or slightly bigger).

How To Play: The cans or pins are lined at the end of a table. A child stands on the opposite side of the table with five balls. At the start of the timer, they roll the balls, trying to drop all the pins. Whoever drops maximum pins in a minute wins.

Some minute-to-win-it games can be challenging and nerve-wracking yet super enjoyable. Let’s now look at the quick games ideal for adults 

7 Minute-To-Win-It Games For Adults

Check out these 7-minute-to-win-it games for adults that will have everyone laughing and bonding. They are perfect for breaking the ice and are among the best adult party games to keep the energy high and the fun flowing!

1. Face The Cookie

What You Need: A cookie (usually an Oreo)

Setup Time: Approximately 5 minutes

How To Play: Place the cookie on the player’s forehead. The aim is to get the cookie into their mouth using only the facial muscles to move it. No hands and no dropping, otherwise you lose.

2. Shamrock Shake

What You Need:

 An empty tissue box, a rope, and small ping pong balls

Setup Time: Approximately 10 minutes

How To Play: Fill the tissue box with the ping pong balls. Tie the box with a rope around the player’s waist, with the box at the back. The objective is to shake your bums and hips and drop out the maximum number of balls from the box in a minute. It is hilarious to watch the player jump and dance to drop the balls.

3. Rice Bowl

What You Need:

Chopsticks and uncooked rice

Setup Time: Approximately 5 minutes

How To Play: The player uses the chopsticks to transfer as much rice from one bowl to another in a minute. A popular variant of this game is to suck in M&Ms with a straw and transfer them to another bowl. The player who makes maximum transfers in a minute wins.

4. Traffic Yam

What You Need:

 A yam (or any roundish vegetable, like cabbage, potato, etc.)

Setup Time: Approximately 10 minutes

How To Play: Mark a starting and finishing line. The player has to take the vegetable from the starting point to the finish by pushing with their nose.

Indoor games like this can also leave you rolling over the floor laughing.

5. Stack ‘Em Up Or Pyramid Game

What You Need: 36 plastic cups

Setup Time: Approximately 5 minutes

How To Play: In this game of skill and patience, each player is handed 36 plastic cups. They need to stack the cups in a pyramid shape and bring them down line-wise without toppling over the pyramid. You can make this game more challenging by allowing the use of only one hand.

6. Spray Off

What You Need:

A spray bottle, a balloon, and a trash can

Setup Time: Approximately 10 minutes

How To Play: A tougher variant of “Defying Gravity”, this game requires the player to keep the balloon up in the air and guide it towards dropping it in a trash can by continuously spraying it with water. If the balloon falls, you start over from the starting line.

7. Pin The Bunny’s Tail

What You Need:

Cotton balls, spoons, Vaseline, and a poster of a bunny

Setup Time: Approximately 5 minutes

How To Play: Each player is given a cotton ball and a spoon of Vaseline. The poster of a bunny is put on the other side of the room. Each player must dip their nose in Vaseline and pick up the cotton ball on their nose (try to stick it with the Vaseline). They must run across the room without dropping the cotton and try to stick it on the bunny’s tail. Every time the ball drops, the player must go back to the starting point and begin again. The player who sticks the tail first wins.

Christmas parties are the best for friends and family games. It brings everyone together. Celebrate this colorful season with the minute-to-win-it games using Christmas paraphernalia.

8 Easy Minute-To-Win-It Games For Christmas

These easy Minute-to-Win-It games for Christmas are perfect for spicing the holiday cheer. They are also great family games to play, bringing everyone together for a merry good time. Let us check out how you can get a little extra joy for your holiday gathering!

1. New Year’s Eve Countdown

What You Need: Tissue or cardboard boxes and Christmas bells

How To Play: Fill each box with a different number of bells from 10 to 1. Players need to shake each box to gauge the number of bells in each box and line them up in ascending or descending order within a minute.

2. Marshmallow Munch

What You Need:

 Hot chocolate, small cups, and mini marshmallows

How To Play: This game is usually played by multiple participants, where they face a bowl of marshmallows and a cup of hot chocolate. The players have to drink the hot chocolate and eat the maximum number of marshmallows in a minute. The winner is the player who finishes everything first or eats the maximum number of marshmallows and finishes the drink.

3. Name That Tune

 What You Need:

 A music player, paper, and pen or pencil

How To Play: Play 5-second snippets of 12 Christmas songs in a minute. This memory game requires the players to recognize and write down the names of the songs played in order within a minute. The player finishing first with all correct answers in the correct order wins.

4. Candy Cane Catch

What You Need:

Chairs, Christmas candy canes, and Christmas tinsel, string, or ribbon

How To Play: Tie a red Christmas ribbon or tinsel between two chairs tightly. The players need to stand on the chair. Once the game begins, they must try to drop the candy canes onto the string to hold and hang. The player with maximum candies on the string wins.

5. Thread It

What You Need: A needle, thread, and red and green Christmas beads

How To Play: Mix the beads in a bowl. Each player is given the bowl, a needle, and a thread. The goal is to thread the needle and bead the string with alternate-colored beads. The person who can tie maximum beads in a minute wins the game.

6. Reindeer Wrap

What You Need:

 Brown crepe paper and reindeer headband

How To Play: This two-player game is a different take on the regular “Mummy Wrap” game. Two members of a team get ready with the paper roll and headband. At the start of the clock, one member wraps the paper around the entire body of the other player from neck to toe and places the reindeer headband on their head. Complete your reindeer dress-up in a minute to win this game! It is a fun game for couples or anyone who enjoys a playful challenge.

7. Snowball Fight

What You Need

: White ping pong balls, cotton balls, and a fish bowl (or any round bowl)

How To Play: The objective is to bounce or toss each ping pong ball into the bowl from a short distance while other players try to defer the balls by throwing cotton balls at them. For an individual player, whoever throws maximum balls in the bowl in a minute wins. For multiple players, the first player to get a ball in the bowl wins.

8. Elephant March

What You Need:

Baseball, 8 plastic water bottles, and a pair of pantyhose

How To Play: This game involves many participants. Each player is given a pantyhose with a baseball inserted inside it. The goal is to wear the pantyhose on the head along with the baseball and do elephant-like movements such as swinging trunks to remove obstacles (8 plastic water bottles) which are placed on either side of the players. You can make this game more challenging by adding multiple teams and asking the participants to swing their trunks from left to right and knock down the bottles. The team that manages to get past the obstacles first wins the game. You can play music in the background to make the game much more fun and inclusive.

Outdoor games like this are great for kids and adults as they help develop motor skills in kids and allow grown-ups to be kids again.

Now that you have a list of these fast-paced games, you must ensure everyone has a good time. Of course, just as significant events require planning, even this event necessitates some preparation to ensure the free flow of fun. Dive into the following section to learn the much-needed tips to help you!

Tips For Hosting Minute-To-Win-It Games

If you want your Minute-to-Win-It event to be memorable, being enthusiastic is not enough; you have to plan meticulously. And here’s how you can make your gathering fun-filled:

• Select games that allow for the participation of people with different skill sets and interests.
• Most games require minimal equipment, but the right tools make a difference. Each game might need different materials, so have your stopwatches, cups, balloons, or any other props that are required ready. You can get most items on short notice, so ensure they’re easily accessible for quick transitions between games.
• Make sure that all players understand the rules of each game, and keep a stopwatch to keep track of the time. Having someone to referee will help maintain fairness to the players.
• Create an exciting, fun environment with enjoyable music, vibrant decorations, etc. Ensure to host the games at a place with sufficient open space for different activities.
• Be prepared to change games based on preferences or even abilities to accommodate participants. Flexibility will be invaluable so that nobody feels left behind or bored at the event.
• Scoring systems should make competitions even more engaging so that the performance rate is higher and people enjoy it more as well.
• Keep the competitive spirit high through fun prizes, be it quirky, a trophy, or candy. Those small prizes create excitement and motivate participants to give their best.

By following these steps and tips, you will be able to have a wonderful time with your friends, family, or colleagues. Ready, set, go!

Infographic: Top 5 Minute-To-Win-It Games For Kids And Adults

One of the simplest games to play at any party is the minute-to-win-it game. These games can be played on any occasion, in every season, and on every subject imaginable. Be it adults or kids, anyone can participate in these contests. But how do you know which one to pick? Well, we have made your job easier by choosing the best minute-to-win-it games for you. Check out the infographic below to learn more.

Illustration: StyleCraze Design Team

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you play hot potato?

To play hot potato, the players should sit in a circle and pass a ball as the music plays. One player is in charge of playing and stopping the music. Whoever has the ball when the music stops is out. The last person left with the ball is the winner!

What is the Oreo cookie challenge?

The Oreo cookie challenge is played just like the ‘face the cookie’ challenge discussed in the article. The only difference is that you use an Oreo cookie instead of any other cookie.

How do you play minute-to-win-it in a classroom?

To play minute-to-win-it games in a classroom setting, select a game that suits the age group of the students and their ability level. Explain the rules to the students, divide the class into teams or have them play individually and set a timer to keep track of the time. Some examples of minute-to-win-it games for the classroom include “Cup Stack,” “Junk in the Trunk,” “Cookie Face,” and “Defying Gravity”.

How do you keep the score in minute-to-win-it games?

In the Minute-to-Win-It games, each player or team has one minute to complete any task or challenge. Awarding points to each player or group based on how many challenges they met within the given time limit can help keep the score. In some games, the score may be determined by how quickly one can complete the task instead of the number of successful completions. Establishing clear scoring rules before the game can help ensure fairness and avoid confusion.

Get ready to have a blast with these 14 Minute-to-Win-It party games! From stacking cups to cookie face challenges, these games are sure to bring laughter and excitement to your next gathering.