Father's Day games for adults: games and a trivia round about Dad

The right Father's Day games for adults depend on the dad you have. Some dads want a winner, a score and a rematch. Others would rather stand back and watch their grown kids play, with nobody keeping count. You'll find both kinds here, for the house, the yard or a walk around the block. With every game you'll see what it takes from the house, the rules and how long a round runs. For the rest of the day, our Father's Day ideas have plans that go beyond games.

An example: Russ draws the map at the kitchen table the night before, in pencil on a plain sheet of paper. It has the house, the big maple and a dotted line that wanders all over the yard before it reaches a small X. On Father's Day afternoon he stands on the back lawn with the map while his grown kids, Corey and Kendra, wait for instructions. He holds it up, points at the maple and says, "Start there. Ten steps toward the fence, then look under something green." Both of them laugh and set off at once. Russ stays where he is and watches them argue about how long a step is.

Games with a winner, for the competitive dad

These keep score. Let Dad decide every close call, because he will anyway.

Dad's treasure map

You need a sheet of plain paper, a pencil and one thing to hide, like an old tin with a folded note inside. Dad hides the tin somewhere in the yard and draws the yard from above, with the house, the trees and a few false trails. He writes three clues along the way in his own words, and whoever brings the tin back first wins and hides it for the next round. A round takes about twenty minutes. On a rainy day, he can draw the inside of the house instead, one room at a time.

A Father's Day trivia round

You need paper, pens and ten questions that Dad writes himself. He reads them out like a quiz show host while his grown kids answer in two teams, and he decides whether a close answer counts. Ten questions take about twenty minutes, longer if he stops to tell the story behind each answer.

Questions about Dad and the family:

• In what year did Dad get his driver's license?
• Which room in the house did Dad paint first?
• How many cars has Dad owned, counting the one that never started?
• On which family trip did Dad drive the longest without a stop?
• What is the oldest tool in Dad's garage?

Questions about the day itself:

• Which Sunday in June is Father's Day in the US? The third one.
• In which city did the Father's Day we keep today begin? Spokane, Washington, in 1910. A church in Fairmont, West Virginia, held a one-time service two years earlier.
• Which president first named a date for Father's Day in a proclamation? Lyndon Johnson, in 1966.
• How many years passed between the Spokane celebration and the law that made the day permanent? 62, from 1910 to 1972.

A round of who knows Dad best works the other way around, with Dad answering about himself in private and the kids guessing, and our questions to ask your parents have plenty to choose from.

The knot race

You need two pieces of rope or old clothesline, each about an arm long. Dad ties one knot slowly while everyone watches, like a square knot or the one he always uses on the truck. Then each player ties it from memory, and the first correct knot wins the point. Dad judges by pulling on every knot, hard. Five knots take about fifteen minutes.

A knot taught across the lawn is the kind of side-by-side time our father and son relationship piece describes.

The nut and bolt sort

You need a handful of loose nuts and bolts from Dad's garage, mixed on a tray. Each player gets one minute to pair as many bolts with the nut that fits as they can, and Dad checks every pair by screwing it on. The most pairs wins. Four rounds take about ten minutes, plus the time it takes Dad to put them all back in the right jar.

The tape measure guess

You need Dad's tape measure, paper and pens. Dad picks five things in the yard, like the length of the garden hose, the height of the back door or the distance from the porch to the nearest tree. Everyone writes a guess in feet and inches, and the closest guess wins each round once Dad has measured. Five things take about fifteen minutes.

The walk tally

You need a walk around the block. Before you leave, each player picks one thing to look for, like red cars, dogs on a leash or mailboxes with the flag up, and calls out each one they spot. Whoever has the highest number at the corner by the house wins, and Dad picks his thing last, after he's heard everyone else's. One loop takes about half an hour.

A walk is a good time to ask about his life, as our father and daughter relationship piece suggests.

Games with no winner, for the dad who'd rather watch

For a dad who would rather sit in his chair and see his kids play, these keep everyone together and nobody loses.

Dad's backyard bingo

You need a sheet of plain paper and a pen. Dad draws a grid of nine boxes and fills each one with something you might see or hear from the yard that afternoon: a plane overhead, a dog barking two houses down, a squirrel on the fence, a neighbor's mower. He keeps the card on his knee, and anyone who spots one calls it out so he can cross it off. The whole family fills the one card together, and a card is often full within an hour or two.

The keep-up count

You need one beach ball. Everyone stands in a loose circle and keeps the ball in the air, one tap per person and no catching. Dad sits in his chair and counts out loud, and the number to beat is the family's own best from the try before. Five tries take about ten minutes.

Dad's one trick

You need whatever his trick needs, like a flat stone for skipping, a blade of grass to whistle through or a deck of cards. Dad shows the trick he has done since he was young, then helps each of you until you can do it once. The game ends when everyone has managed it, which takes about fifteen minutes or a whole summer.

Between rounds, a few of our Father's Day jokes will get him the groans he waits for all year. And when May comes back around, our Mother's Day games do the same for Mom.

The scorekeeper and the onlooker, by type

Some dads play to win, and some are happiest watching from the side. Typeza sees personality type as part of that. Eight of the 16 types:

• Inspector wants the rules settled before the first round and keeps the score honest. The tape measure guess suits him, because he holds the tape.
• Diplomat picks the teams in a minute, since he knows who gets along with whom.
• Strategist competes quietly. Hand him the treasure map and he'll draw false trails that take an hour to see through.
• Entrepreneur wants a winner, a timer and a rematch, and he'll ask for the rematch before the first round ends.
• Guardian plays fair, calls out a cheat at once and keeps his promise of a rematch.
• Organizer would rather run a game than play it. He'll write the trivia questions a week early and read them out in order.
• Encourager cheers for everyone, forgets to keep score and calls it a tie so nobody loses.
• Craftsman watches quietly, then wins the nut and bolt sort on his first try without saying a word.

Type theory describes common tendencies, and your dad may play nothing like his type. Nothing on this page is advice about your dad or your family.

How you and your dad fit together

Some fathers and grown kids compete over everything, and some are happy just to share a yard for an afternoon. Type is often part of why. On Typeza, the relationship type you and your dad have shows where you're alike and where you see things differently. Take the free family compatibility test to start, then send your dad the invite from your result page.

Questions people ask

What are good Father's Day games for adults?

Games about Dad himself work best, like a treasure map he draws, a trivia round he writes or a knot race he judges. They need only things from home and suit grown kids of any age.

Sources

• Wikipedia, "Father's Day (United States)". Third Sunday in June; the Spokane celebration of June 19, 1910; the one-time Fairmont service of 1908; Johnson's 1966 proclamation; the 1972 law signed by Nixon.

Written by Virko Kask, founder of Typeza
Written with the help of AI tools.