Best Funny & Easy Minute-To-Win-It Games For Adults & Kids
Discover the fun and quirky side of your friends with these one minute games.
Laura SilversteinLicensed Clinical Social Worker & Therapist 
Laura Silverstein, LCSW, is a licensed therapist with 30 years of experience. She is the founder and co-owner of Main Line Counseling Partners, Bryn Mawr, PA, and the author of Love Is an Action Verb. Laura is certified in the Gottman Metho... more
sneha teteIntegrated MA, Certified Relationship Coach 
Experience: 4 yearsSneha has a master's degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Hyderabad, a professional Relationship Coach diploma, and over four years of experience in writing. She writes about relations... more
Image: Shutterstock
Games help add some excitement to the party, and minute-to-win-it games are a wonderful way to have a wacky, hilarious time. The games are great icebreakers, particularly if there is a mixed group of friends who may not be familiar but are keen to get to know each other.
These are quick, one-minute games. They are competitive and incredibly fun because the participants are racing against the clock and bring out their playful sides. These entertaining games do not need fancy props. You can use almost anything you can find around your house and set it up quickly.
You might be familiar with some of the party games, while some are not well-known. So, make yourself a party star with this collection of minute-to-win-it games. Scroll down to check all the fun games.
In This Article
How To Play Minute-To-Win-It Games
Minute-to-win-it games can be played in three basic styles – 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
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 Tip2. 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 Tip7. 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
1. Face The Cookie
What You Need: A cookie (usually an Oreo)
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
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
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.)
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
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
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
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
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!
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.
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
Minute-to-win-it games are both amusing and entertaining. These group games can even be pretty demanding at times, with plenty of competition and fun! You can try these icebreaker games with new folks as they are ideal for two individuals or huge groups, whether a party or a little get-together. They can be done with whatever is on hand or put up in a grandiose manner. These competitive games involve talent and concentration and help break the ice between strangers and form new bonds. So, organize the holiday games shared above in the article to engage both youngsters and adults in fun challenges at your next house party!
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.
Key Takeaways
- Minute-to-win-it games are fun and can be played individually, in groups, or teams.
- They are an incredible way to break the silence and forge new friendships.
- Choosing the right games depending on the occasion and the age group (kids or adults) is important.
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.
Personal Experience: Source
StyleCraze's articles are interwoven with authentic personal narratives that provide depth and resonance to our content. Below are the sources of the personal accounts referenced in this article.
i. Cowboy minute to win it games or Pioneer minute to win it gameshttps://hollyshome-hollyshome.blogspot.com/2019/11/cowboy-minute-to-win-it-games.html
