You are going to love this activity!!
We created this competition for a youth activity for 36 teenagers. It was a hit! We have shared it with other groups who have had great success using it for both adult gatherings and large family gatherings. All we can say is, “You’re welcome!”
We will include all of our clues and questions but you may need to adapt some of them to your own situation. Our youth were all members of the same church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) so we have some songs and trivia questions specific to their faith. It should be easy for you to swap these clues/questions to fit your own needs.
Large Group Game Show Competition
Instructions
Divide your group into teams. You’ll need about 6-9 people per team.
Spread your teams out so they are each sitting in their own semi-circle. Make sure they are positioned so they can watch the other teams when it’s not their turn.
Divide each team into three sub-groups. Our teams had nine people so we had three groups of three people on each team. If you have less people, some individuals will need to participate in two sub-groups. Each threesome will be assigned to be Artists, Actors or Singers. For example, my team has seven people: Roy, Joy, Kate, Tate, Jill, Phil, and Bill. We decide that Roy, Joy and Kate will be our artists. Tate, Jill and Phil will be our actors and Bill, Joy and Tate will be our singers. Three for each competition.
Artists: The artists receive a card with three clues. They can look at the clues together and decide who will draw each clue. The artists all draw on the whiteboard at the same time. They have 40 seconds for their team to guess all three words. They get one point for each correct word. Then, if the guessers can solve the riddle of how their three words are connected or what they have in common, they get a bonus point.
Example Clue: Car, Tree, Elephant / Bonus: They all have trunks.
Go around from team to team, allowing each team to have a turn while the others watch. If you have time, you can have a second round.
Actors: The three actors work together to act out four group-charades clues. They may act the clues out in any order. Their team has 80 seconds to solve as many clues as possible. One point per correct answer. Have an adult (non-player) hold the clues to the side where the actors can see the clues, but their team cannot.
Example Clue Card: Zoo, Olympics, Trick or Treating, Jonah & the Whale
Go around from team to team, allowing each team to have a turn while the others watch. If you have time, you can play a second round.
Singers: The game is “Name That Tune”. The singers have 60 seconds to name as many songs as they can on their list. Each singer must hum/da-de-da two songs on the list. No words allowed. Again, have a non-player hold the clues to the side where the singers can see the clues, but their team cannot. The songs can be sung in any order. One point for every correct answer.
Example Clue Card:
- Amazing Grace (Hymn)
- Piano Man (Billy Joel)
- Let It Go (Frozen)
- Rewrite the Stars (Greatest Showman)
- Ring of Fire (Jonny Cash)
- Shake It Off (Taylor Swift)
Go around from team to team, allowing each team to have a turn while the others watch.
College Bowl: The final game is a trivia showdown. Everyone stays with their team in their own semi-circle. Everyone stands up. The host circles the room, going from team to team asking trivia questions. One person from the team must answer the question. The team can discuss who will answer the question after they hear it. (Example: Finn says he knows this one, but Kate does too. The team decides to let Kate take this one and save Finn for another category. Maybe no one knows the answer. Allie volunteers to take a guess and use up her turn.) Once an answer is given, that person must sit down. Each person only gets to answer once. Right or wrong, they sit down after they answer. Right answers receive one point. As the game progresses, each team has fewer and fewer players to answer. The last person standing must answer the last question. No questions is ever repeated. You simply get it or you don’t—no stealing. A time limit is usually not necessary, but you could put a 20 second clock on each answer if it seems necessary. It is important that every team have an equal number of players in the College Bowl. If a team has less, one of their players should be randomly chosen to answer two questions.
Note to Host: Write/Print the clues on individual cards as shown below for the artist, actors, and singers. Do not print the answer to the riddles on the artist cards. The College Bowl can be printed as-is for the host to give a clue in each category for each team member. We had 9 people on four teams (36 people), so we needed 36 total questions– 4 questions from 9 categories. Adapt as needed for your group. My list has many more questions in case your group is larger than ours.
Print our clues/questions here: Large Group Game Show Competition