Minute to Win It Games

Minute to Win It

Divide the group into two teams. For each match, pick a player (or two, depending on the challenge you pick) to race against the other team.

Do a variety of games or contests (most timed for a minute) and keep track of the scores for a winner!

Great games for Minute to Win It include:

Face the Cookie

Supplies: Oreo Cookies

Each player lies down and places an Oreo on his or her forehead. When the game begins, players must try to move the cookie down their face and into their mouth to eat it, but you can’t use your hands! If it falls of you must put it on your forehead and start over. First one to get the whole cookie in his or her mouth wins.

Noodling Around

Supplies: Spaghetti noodles and penne noodles, uncooked

Each player stands next to a counter with three penne pasta in front of them and holding a spaghetti noodle. When the game begins, each player puts the spaghetti noodle in his or her mouth. The first one to get all three penne on the spaghetti noodle wins. No hands and no using anything else (wall, another item, etc.).

VARIATION: Time players for a minute and player with the most penne on the spaghetti noodle after a minute wins.

Saltine Whistle

Supplies: saltine crackers

Each player gets four saltine crackers (number may vary). At the same time, players must eat the crackers and the first one to be able to whistle wins the round.

Penny Hose

Supplies: 1-2 pair pantyhose, 4 pennies or nickels

Two pennies are placed in the ends of the legs of a pair of pantyhose. Using only their hands, players must inch their way down the legs to retrieve the pennies and pull them out. Each arm must work independently and the player cannot use one hand to stretch or hold the hose for the other. 

Paper Dragon

Supplies: Two rolls of crepe paper per player

Each player holds one roll in each hand. When the game begins, player must unroll the entire rolls of crepe paper without using any other body part or item to assist. Person with the best time wins.

Elephant March

Supplies: 6-8 water bottles (unopened), one pair pantyhose, one baseball or large orange

6-8 unopened water bottles are placed in two parallel rows on the ground, precisely eight feet apart. The contestant must wear a standard pair of pantyhose over the head, with a baseball (or orange) placed inside the end of one leg. Keeping one foot on each side of the centerline, the player must swing back and forth using the momentum of the baseball to knock down all the bottles.

Blown Over

Supplies: 7 Plastic picnic cups, one balloon (not inflated) per player

Line the cups up on a counter top (cut right side up for the first round and upside down for a harder challenge). One at a time, players must inflate their balloon over and over and let the air escape from it to try and knock over the cups. The person who does it the fastest, or the person who knocks over the most in a minute wins.

Paper Airplane Mayhem

Supplies: paper for an airplane for each player (no tape!), one large tarp with about 12 holes the size of a cereal bowl cut into it (write a value next to each hole for a number of points)

Players each make a paper airplane and take turns trying to get their airplane through the holes in the tarp. When the plane goes through, the player gets the corresponding amount of points. You can hold the tarp or tape it in a large entryway or from the ceiling.

Team Yogurt

Supplies: One container yogurt for each pair, one spoon per pair, one ruler per pair, one blindfold per pair

Tape a spoon on the end of a ruler for each pair. Team members sit across the table from each other. One player is blindfolded. The blindfolded player feeds the yogurt to the other player, who holds the yogurt container and can tilt it, although it must sty on the table. First team to finish the yogurt wins.

Ping Pong Clipboard

Supplies: One clipboard per pair with a 4-5’ string attached to the top, 25 ping pong balls per pair, one small bucket per pair

Each pair has a minute to try to get as many ping pong balls as they can into the bucket. However, players must bounce the balls off the clipboard, hanging around the other player’s neck (standing above the bucket). Players cannot touch the clipboards.

Shaving Cream & Cheese Puffs

Supplies: shaving cream, one bag of cheese puffballs

Players get into pairs. One person in the pair must put shaving cream on the other’s face. Make two marks on the floor 6-8 feet apart. The players stand behind the marks and cannot cross over. The person with not shaving cream is allowed 6 cheese balls. They must throw them at the person with the shaving cream on their face and see how many they can get to stick to the shaving cream. The team with the most stuck to the shaving cream wins.

Pencil Elevator

Supplies: two pencils taped together (per player), long strings attached to the end of the pencils, M&M’s

Each player places the pencils hanging in front of their chest by draping the strings up and over their ears. Players must balance three M&M’s on the pencils while they raise the pencils to their mouth and try to eat them. No touching the pencils or anything but the end of the strings, and they can’t fall or you must start over!