Games that take ten minutes or less

A quick reflex game played in pairs. On '4', try to trap your partner's finger on your palm while pulling your own away.

Two boxes, one carrot. One player knows where it is, the other has to read their bluff and decide whether to swap.

The leader reads out a name and the group decides whether it is a cheese or a font. Hands on head for cheese, hands on hips for font.

The leader reads out a name and the group decides whether it belongs to a professional cyclist or a Pokémon. Hands on head for cyclist, hands on hips for Pokémon.

A whole team stands on one bed sheet and has to turn it over without anyone stepping off.

Everyone moves around the space until the leader calls a number. Players must instantly form groups of exactly that size or they're out.

Two seconds of a song is all the group gets. First team to shout the title takes the point, and the clip grows if nobody can pick it.

Baby photos of the leaders go up one at a time and the whole group points at whoever they think it is before the answer is revealed.

The leader raises their hand silently. Group members copy, and the signal spreads until everyone is quiet and attentive.

Players pass a phrase around the circle while hiding their teeth. Show them and you're out.

A clever attention-getter that becomes a game. Get the whole group clapping in unison as fast as possible.

Two players sit either side of a desk and try to blow a lolly off their opponent's edge using nothing but a straw.

Volunteers take on a series of daft sixty-second challenges built from everyday objects while the rest of the group counts down.

The leader performs silent actions and the group mirrors them exactly, creating instant quiet focus without a word being said.

Two players face off either side of a sheet. When it drops, first to say the other's name wins.

A simple circle game where everyone says their name in turn, then races to see how fast the whole group can get through it.

A clapping pattern game where the leader claps a rhythm and everyone must repeat it, with the patterns growing longer each round.

Teach the group a simple sign, tapping fingers on the cheek, that means 'freeze and face the leader' whenever they see it.

A mid-week challenge for older groups: everyone sends the memory verse to the group chat at a set random time, and closest to the mark wins.

The group learns a special rhythmic clap that, once mastered, is used as an attention-grabbing signal to bring everyone to silence.

Blindfolded volunteers taste their way along a table of mystery foods and try to name each one while the group watches on.

The leader reads a quote and the group decides whether it is a Taylor Swift lyric or a verse from Proverbs. Hands on head for Proverbs, hands on hips for Taylor.

Two volunteers race to empty a roll of toilet paper off a broom handle, by any method they can think of.

Two volunteers face off across a box of strange objects, describing what they can see, and the other has to work out whether they are lying.

A week-by-week guessing game with one unlabelled tin. Each week a new volunteer shakes it, weighs it up and guesses what is inside.