Games to play with no equipment, for two people or a group of friends

The best games to play with no equipment need only your hands, your voice and sometimes a patch of grass. The games here work for two players in person or for a group of friends, outside, at a table, or while you wait for food or stand in a queue. Each game lists what it needs, the rules in a few lines and roughly how long it runs.

An example: Wren and Kofi have walked to the park to throw a frisbee, and the frisbee is still on Kofi's kitchen table. So they stand face to face on the grass instead, an arm's length apart, with only their palms allowed to touch. Kofi sets his feet wide, which Wren calls cheating. She pushes first anyway. Their friend Lucia bends forward with her hands on her knees, laughing, and says the referee hasn't seen a thing.

Games for two people with nothing at all

Two player games in person can need nothing more than your hands. These work on a sofa, a train platform or a front step.

• Thumb war. You need one hand each. Hook your fingers together with your thumbs up, count to four out loud, then try to pin the other person's thumb under yours for a count of three. Best of five wins. About 5 minutes.
• Hot hands. You need both hands. One player holds their hands out palms up, and the other rests their palms on top, facing down. The bottom player tries to slap the backs of the top hands, lightly, before they pull away, and you swap roles after a miss. About 5 minutes, and it gets fast.
• Chopsticks. You need both hands. Each player starts with one finger up on each hand. On your turn, tap one of your hands on one of the other player's, and that hand adds your fingers to its own. A hand that reaches five is out, and the first player with both hands out loses. About 10 minutes.

Games to play outside with no equipment

A park, a beach or a quiet path is enough. These outdoor games for adults need nothing you'd have to carry.

• Palm push. You need flat ground, grass if you can find it. Stand face to face an arm's length apart with your feet together, and push only against each other's palms. Anyone who moves a foot loses the round, and so does anyone who falls forward when the other pulls back. About 5 minutes for best of five.
• Step guess. You need a walk and something to aim at, like a tree or a lamppost. Each of you guesses how many steps it will take to reach it, then you walk there together and count out loud. The closer guess picks the next target. About 15 minutes of a walk.
• Standing long jump. You need sand or soft ground. Draw a line with your heel, jump from both feet without a run-up, and mark where your back heel lands. Each player gets three jumps, and the best one counts. About 10 minutes.

Games to play at the table with nothing

These work at a kitchen table after dinner or anywhere you sit facing each other.

• Morra. You need one hand each. On a count of three, everyone shows zero to five fingers and calls out a guess for the total at the same moment. A right guess scores a point, and the first to five points wins. About 10 minutes, for two to four players.
• Don't say twenty-one. You need nothing. Take turns counting up from one, and on each turn you can say one, two or three numbers. Whoever has to say "twenty-one" loses. There's a trick to winning every time, and finding it is part of the fun. About 2 minutes a round.

Pictionary needs only paper and a pen, and these pictionary ideas give you the words to draw.

Games to play with friends in real life

When a group of friends is together in person, the games that make people move and laugh work best. These need at least four players.

• Ninja. You need room to stand in a circle. Everyone shouts "ninja" and jumps into a pose, then players take turns making one quick move to try to hit another player's hand. The defender can move only that hand out of the way, a hit hand goes behind your back, and a player with both hands hit is out. About 10 minutes.
• Who's the leader? You need six or more people. One player steps out of the room while the group picks a secret leader, who starts a movement like clapping or tapping knees that everyone copies. The leader changes the movement every so often, and the player in the middle gets three guesses to find who's leading. About 10 minutes a round.
• Pterodactyl. You need a circle of friends. Everyone hides their teeth behind their lips, and you say "pterodactyl" to pass the turn to the next player, or screech like a bird to send it back the other way. Anyone who shows their teeth or laughs is out. About 10 minutes, and keeping a straight face is the hard part.

For a group where not everyone knows each other yet, icebreaker games for adults helps people meet. And charades ideas for adults needs no props, only a list of things to act out.

Word games with no paper

Word games to play with friends without anything work wherever you can hear each other.

• Words inside a word. You need nothing. Pick a long word like "temperature," and take turns saying shorter words made from its letters, like "tempt," "rate" or "pure." No word can come up twice, and the first player who can't find a new one loses. About 10 minutes.
• Compound chain. You need nothing. One player says a compound word, like "sunflower," and the next starts a new one with its second half, like "flowerpot," then "potluck." A player who gets stuck for five seconds is out. About 10 minutes.
• Before or after. You need nothing. One player thinks of a word, and the others guess words out loud. For each guess the thinker says only "before" or "after," meaning where the secret word sits in the dictionary, until someone finds it. About 5 minutes a word.

The ideas for friends at home have more talking games, played with voices alone.

If someone does turn up a pencil and some paper, Scattergories lists has twelve ready lists of categories for a word game on paper.

Games to play while you wait

A slow restaurant or a long queue is a good time for a small game. These stay quiet enough that nobody around you minds.

• Guess my order. You need a restaurant and a few minutes before anyone orders. Each player says what they think the others will choose, and you score a point for each right guess when the orders go in. It lasts until the food is ordered.
• Spot the change. You need nothing. One player looks at the other for thirty seconds, then turns away while the other changes three small things, like rolling up a sleeve, tucking hair behind an ear or undoing a button. The first player turns back and has to find all three. About 5 minutes a round.
• Tongue twister duel. You need nothing. One player gives the other a short tongue twister, like "red leather, yellow leather," and the other says it five times fast. Count the slips, swap, and the fewer slips wins. About 5 minutes.

On a long drive, road trip games for adults has games the driver can join by voice.

Games for the talker and the mover

In any group, some people want to talk and some want to move. The games above have something for both, and nobody has to bring anything. Typeza sees personality type as part of which game someone picks. Seven of the 16 types:

• Vitalizer gets the whole group into ninja and makes it loud and fun.
• Analyst works out the trick in don't say twenty-one by the second round and keeps it quiet.
• Commander loves a contest of strength and balance and asks for a rematch of the long jump.
• Dreamer senses who's getting bored before anyone says so, and knows when to start the next game.
• Strategist likes word games with a system, like before or after, where each guess cuts the list in half.
• Encourager tells the slowest player they're getting better, and means it.
• Craftsman has quick hands and quietly wins at hot hands and thumb war.

These sketches lean on type theory and won't describe every player. Read them for fun, and don't take them as advice about your friends.

Find out how you two play together

Type is often part of why. Typeza shows how two people get along, like why one friend wants a word game while the other is already pushing palms on the grass. Take the free compatibility test and compare your result with the friend you play with most.

Questions people ask

What games can two people play with nothing?

Thumb war, hot hands, chopsticks and morra all need only your hands. Step guess and palm push work outside with no equipment at all.

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