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I’m sure we can all agree that any BBQ is a good time, but what about some fun games? Kids have tons of fun games, but what about the adults? We have compiled a list of 30 fun BBQ games specifically for adults.
Tips for a Good BBQ Party
- Preparation -It’s essential to be prepared before guests arrive to help things go smoothly. That may be prepping the meal, bbq, games, or setting up a buffet/appetizers.
- Games -Fortunately, in this list, we gave you tons of fun game ideas for an adult BBQ, but this is crucial and can make it the best BBQ your guests have ever been to. Something as simple as a board game can be the best time!
- Sides/snacks -Another important thing, especially while waiting for the main meal, is sides and snacks. Having good sides with the BBQ is essential. That could be fries, onion rings, salad, or maybe just some chips! Setting up a snack and drink table will help keep your guests preoccupied and social.
- Dessert – This one isn’t top tier since most BBQs tend to be casual, and dessert doesn’t often come to mind, but this will make the event over the top. Surprise your guests after the great BBQ, sides, and games with a yummy dessert! It doesn’t need to be homemade; it could be anything store-bought, as long as it’s tasty!
- Music -Our last tip for throwing a good BBQ party is music! You can keep it outside and find some good, fun music for the BBQ! If you want to make your BBQ stand out or just be a great memory with some family or friends, I suggest getting a good BlueTooth speaker off Amazon!
30 Fun Game Ideas for Your Next BBQ
1. Horseshoes
First on our list is the horseshoe game! This one is super fun for anyone to play. Horseshoe tossing was one of my personal favorites as a kid, and still to this day! It’s great for a BBQ because it’s an excellent outdoor type of game!
The goal of this game is to get the horseshoe onto the pegs on the lawn’s ground. You alternate until you run out of horseshoes to toss, and the person to get the most onto the peg wins!
2. Ladder Toss
The next BBQ game we have is called ladder toss. Ladder toss is another favorite of mine, and I played it a lot as a kid! Ladder toss is also a great outdoor game.
The goal of this game is to toss and aim onto the ladder tiers. There are three tiers in total on the ladder, and the top is worth the most points, the bottom level is worth the lowest amount of points. Both players take turns and have three tosses each per round.
Try to aim for the top tier to get more points!
3. Giant Jenga
I’m sure you all know and love the game Jenga, but have you ever played a giant Jenga game outside? It sounds like a whole lot of fun to me!
You have to stack the blocks assorted into rows to play Jenga, creating a tower-like form if you don’t already know. Each person removes one block per turn, trying not to knock over the tower.
The first person to somehow make the tower fall during a turn loses. Try to take as many blocks from the upper part of the tower as possible. The base is the strongest and likely to fall if too many blocks are gone.
4. Giant Checkers
The next game on our list is giant checkers. There’s something about any big type of outdoor game that is so intriguing and seems to make the game, in general, a lot more fun.
This is precisely like standard checkers, just enlarged. The goal is to move your pieces around the board, avoiding any chances of getting jumped over by another player.
Giant checkers is also a perfect backyard game for a BBQ as long as the ground is flat enough to lay a checker’s board onto and keep it steady.
5. Giant Bowling
Some of my favorite childhood memories are going bowling with family or friends, especially glow bowling! Now imagine a giant bowling game in your backyard.
This is something you can find on amazon, and typically you get a giant ball and pins that need to be inflated to play. Just like regular bowling, you try to knock down as many pins in one turn as possible. If you knock them all in one go, that’s a strike!
The great thing about giant bowling is that you have a better chance of aiming and knocking down more pins than you would in regular bowling! So don’t worry if you aren’t the best player or not great at precision.
6. Badminton
This one is more laid back, but it’s a great backyard game for a BBQ. Badminton is great because there’s not a ton of crazy moving around, other than moving places and hitting the birdie.
You can purchase anything you’d need to play badminton, including the net, brackets, and birdies! You can never go wrong with a classic game for an adult BBQ that all will enjoy.
The great thing about this game is that as long as you have enough brackets and room, you can pretty much have any number of players on each team that you’d like. Just make sure you’re spaced out enough and have good playing strategies.
7. Spike ball
This game is quite different and not all that common. Spike ball is a lot like volleyball but a bit more complicated. One player starts by serving the ball into the net, rebounding back towards the opponents.
The team receiving has three hits, trying to return the ball onto the net without interference and within the three maximum hits. This game can be challenging at first, but it’s fun once you get the hang of it and become pretty competitive!
You can find spike ball games and equipment for sale online. I highly recommend it for your next BBQ if you’re looking for a new game that’s both different and exciting!
8. Frisbee
Frisbee is super fun and an easy game to play, especially in your backyard! You can find outstanding quality frisbee discs individually or in a multi-pack to play at your next BBQ.
If you’re having trouble thinking up some good adult BBQ games and want something easy, frisbee is the way to go.
The goal of frisbee is to gain points when you score a goal. You do so by successfully catching the frisbee disc in the end zone, tossed by one of your players. This is an entertaining game and can get quite competitive depending on who’s playing!
So if you want to find an easy-going, simple but fun game, frisbee is a great idea!
9. Cornhole
This next one, cornhole, is the type of game you’d play at a fair! It’s a lot of fun and perfect for outside during your BBQ. The object of this game is to toss your bean bags into the holes on the boards. Both players take turns tossing, and any bag that first hits the ground before the board does not count.
Once both players have tossed the bags, count up the scores, and whoever has the highest score wins! You still get the point if the beanbag gets thrown onto the board and not directly into the hole, as long as it never touched the ground.
The rules of this game can be hard to remember at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a fantastic game and lots of fun!
10. Kan Jam
The object of this game is to toss your disc into the can and get a total of 21 points to win. If you can get the disc into the slot in the front of the can, it’s an automatic win!
This game is one of the easiest to play and set up. It can get competitive and enjoyable! The teams play as many matches as possible, or until one team has reached precisely 21 points.
You can play with at least two players, but typically teams are made up of 4-8 people for kan jam.
11. Ring Toss
This next game, ring toss, is perfect for your backyard! As long as you have rings to toss, and if you don’t have the actual game, you can put pegs into the grass or even use bottles! You need some excellent aim to play this game, and it can be a lot harder than it looks.
You can also find many ring toss games to purchase if that’s what you prefer. The amount of points you get depends on how the ring lands, and it’s possible to score points on each toss! The goal is to get the most points by tossing your rings onto the pegs or bottles.
If you cannot get the rings onto the pegs or bottles, your turns still count, and the next player gets their turn. The person with the most points at the end of the game wins!
12. Lawn Darts
The next game on our list is lawn darts! You can find so many different lawn dart games on Amazon, even ones that glow in the dark, which is perfect for a late-night BBQ.
The goal of lawn darts is to aim at the targets on the grass and get the dart onto the target. The person with the most points, or most darts onto the targets, wins the game! It may be tricky at first, mainly if you’re used to playing with a dartboard on a wall.
Usually, in this game, if team A gets a dart onto a target, and team B gets a dart onto the same target, both points cancel each other out. So if team A had two marks there, and team B scores one, team A would keep one point, and the other two would cancel, leaving team B with zero points.
I highly recommend this game, especially the glow-in-the-dark ones!
13. Giant Tic-Tac-Toe
Next, we have giant tic-tac-toe. This is another game that is a lot of fun! If you don’t have the game and want to make it yourself, you can make the nine-square grid with rope or even chalk/paint in the grass.
Both players choose either a giant X or an O, and the goal of the game is to make a row of your three letters diagonally, vertically, or horizontally.
The first player to make a row of their three letters wins the game. You can choose how you want to play for rounds. You could play one round or make it a best of three to keep it more interesting!
14. Giant Connect Four
Next, we have giant connect four. This game usually consists of two players, but you can make up teams if you’d like to.
The object of connect four is to create a row of four discs, being the same color, to win the game. The first person or team to do so wins. Like tic-tac-toe, you can choose to make it a one-round game or turn it into a best of three to make it more competitive.
This is a great yard game and will work best on a flatter surface of the grass to avoid anything falling or tipping over. If you like the giant games, this is a fun one to play and a great BBQ game idea!
15. Kickball
The next game we have is kickball! I remember playing this one a lot in school, and it’s very similar to baseball, but you kick it instead of using a bat. The rules are also very similar, and kickball is much simpler, using less equipment. You only need kickball and two teams.
Since this game involves kicking and a ball, I suggest playing this farther away from the BBQ and food! Like baseball, one person starts, but you kick the ball and run to each base instead of batting. The object of this game is for one team to score the most runs.
The team who scores the most runs in total wins the game! This is an excellent choice for more competitive, intense, and physical play.
16. Water Balloon Fight
A water balloon fight may sound more like a game for younger kids, but it can be super fun for adults too! Especially if it’s a hot day outside, this is a great way to cool off. You can choose how to pick teams, the number of people, and tell the teams apart. One way to do this is by dividing up by color. For example, one group could have red balloons and the other blue.
This game can not only be entertaining but will get a lot of laughs as well. The team that hits the most with water balloons wins the game. If you want to make it even more competitive and exciting, you can allow both groups to steal the opposing team’s balloons, giving yourself a bigger chance at winning the game.
If you want to find a fun and exciting game to play, try this one!
17. Tug of War
This game is straightforward, and you don’t need a lot of equipment to play, which is excellent. All you need is a long rope. You just need to make sure that the rope is long enough, depending on how many people are playing. Any rope longer than 30 feet is a pretty safe bet.
It may be a good idea to purchase a tug of war rope instead of using one from home because it may hurt people’s hands using a regular rope. You can make up your teams how you’d like, as long as there’s room.
The first team to successfully pull the rope, causing the other team to fall or let go, wins the game. This can be a quick or long game, depending on the strength of both teams.
You can even turn this into a best of three or just do single rounds. Overall, a great BBQ game!
18. Limbo
Limbo is a great party or BBQ game. Not only is it fun, but quite satisfying as well, letting your body stretch and relax. You can either purchase a limbo bar that can stand up on its own or a bar that two people can hold. You can even use a pole or rope at home.
You can play with two people at a time or multiple all lined up and taking turns. Every time, after each person goes through, the bar moves down slightly. The last person still standing, able to bend underneath the bar, wins the game.
Your hands cannot touch the bar or the ground. Bend your knees as much as you can and try your best to get underneath the bar without touching anything! As soon as you cannot fit underneath the bar, you are disqualified.
19. Lawn Twister
Most of you have probably played twister before, maybe not for a long time. Just like limbo, this takes some good flexibility, but it’s enjoyable. You can get lawn twister games on Amazon! If you want to make the game yourself, you can spray paint big dots onto your yard, creating a big matt.
The twister dots are colored in red, yellow, green, and blue, and every color has its long row. If you have a spinner already, you can use that outside for the game, or you can always try to make your own! You can also get apps on your phone, specifically for a twister game that spins for you! Just search up “twister spinner” in the app store.
Twister is an excellent game for a challenge and anyone competitive! The first person or team to fall or fail loses the game. This can take a lot of flexibility and balance.
20. Volleyball
Next, we have volleyball. A pretty basic, well-known game, but one you can never go wrong with. As long as you have a net and a volleyball, you’re good to go! This is a great backyard game, or even for a BBQ by the beach.
You divide up into teams, one person sets, and the goal is to keep the ball away from your side and back over the net inside the bounds. You want to score by getting the volleyball onto the ground of the opposing team’s side.
If the ball hits the ground on your team’s side, the other team scores the point in the bound lines. You want to keep the ball in the bounds, and if it hits the ground outside of the bounds, you don’t get the point.
21. Giant Dominos
Next, we have a giant dominoes game! Yep, you heard that right. This one is less on the competitive side and more fun. You can play this in many different ways, or you can simply set up all of the dominos however you’d like, lined up, and knock them down.
The pieces of this game are a lot similar to giant Jenga, being large blocks of wood. If you’re simply playing this, you can even make the pieces yourself or find some big blocks of wood by setting them up and knocking them down.
This can be fun for kids, too, as long as the dominoes aren’t too giant, as they can be a hazard. If you’re really into any big outdoor games, this is a great idea, as long as the surface is flat enough for the blocks to sit steady!
22. Four-Legged Team Race
This next game is a very competitive one, usually played at parties or a game of obstacles. Both teams should have four players, and you just fasten the loops on the same foot of all players. Both teams stand beside each other before starting, and there needs to be a finish point/line.
Once the game has begun, both teams must work together by speed walking to the finish or trying to run. This means that the players need to work together and develop a solid rhythm to get through the finish line successfully.
The first team to reach the finish line wins the game! This one can get very competitive, but it will be fun!
23. Balloon Relay Race
Next, we have the balloon relay race. This one needs a few people on each team and can have as many as you’d like. To play, you divide into two teams lined up beside each other. You need a start line and a mark farther ahead in the grass. You will need a balloon for each team as well.
The people in the front of each line start, putting the balloon in between your upper legs, trying to keep it there as you hop down to the marker. You need to go around the marker, which could be a peg or flag, and then hop back to the start line.
Once you reach the start line, you then give the balloon to the next player in line, and they do the same thing until every player has gone. If the balloon falls at any moment and hits the ground, you must go back to the start line and try again! The first team to get all their players there and back with the balloon wins the game.
This game can be frustrating and stressful, but it’s entertaining and an excellent game for everyone to play together!
24. Giant card game
Any giant games are perfect for the backyard, so how about a huge card game? You can play any kind of card game you’d like, as long as you have the space and people to play.
If you’re trying to find easy and laid-back games, you can’t go wrong with a giant card game. Crazy 8’s is a great one for many players! There are so many card games to play, and you can even divide them into teams.
It may take longer to play with larger cards, but it’s something different that everyone will enjoy!
25. Giant Yard Dice
You can turn all of your favorite indoor games into outdoor games by getting the giant versions! You can play so many games with dice, including board games, so why not play outside!
Not only is this great for an adult BBQ, but your family as well! You can play any games with dice you can think of, or you can even bring your favorite board games out and just use giant dice!
Just set up a table outside, and you can have some board games, card games, anything you’d like.
26. Human Ring Toss
This one is a lot easier, especially if you like anything DIY. Just like regular ring toss, but instead of pegs or bottles, you can use inflatable tubes or anything shaped like a ring to toss over actual people!
It can be hard to come up with game ideas for a BBQ and a lot of work to set up anything complicated, so if you are trying to think of some more accessible games to play that don’t take a lot of setup or equipment, this one is a great idea!
27. Keep up the Balloon
This next one is a great game idea for both kids and adults. It’s simple and one that you’ve probably all played at least once at a party. All you need is some balloons, and a group of people, any amount you’d like.
The rules are up to you on how to play or to divide up people. The goal is to keep up the balloon for as long as possible, person to person until it drops to the ground and someone fails to catch it.
Simple game ideas are great, especially when you don’t need an extensive setup or lots of equipment. You may even have balloons already at home, which is perfect!
28. Potato Sack Race
This is another game that is fun for both adults and kids. You can alter the rules how you’d like. Everyone must be lined up beside each other. There should be a start and a finish line, and to play this game, everyone needs a sack. Put both feet in, and the goal is to hop to the finish line without the sack falling below the knees.
The first person to successfully reach the finish line wins the game. This is a fun and easy game, as long as the sacks are big enough for every adult and reach the waist.
If you like games that require more movement and energy, this is a great one!
29. Croquet
This next one, croquet, is a top-rated game that has been around for a long time. Croquet is a nice laid-back game that doesn’t require a ton of skill, as long as you have the croquet set with the mallets and balls.
2-6 players can play croquet, and the game’s goal is to hit the balls through a course of six hoops. You want to hit the center peg to finish the game.
This is a pretty easy game to play and great for adults. If you want some easy, low-energy games for a BBQ, I suggest croquet!
30. Washer Toss
Our last game on the list is washer toss. It’s very similar to horseshoes and cornholes. To decide who goes first, both players need to toss a washer at the opposite target. Whichever one gets closer to the hole goes first.
The players continue to take turns tossing until all eight get thrown. The goal is to gain the most points when tossing! You can buy a washer toss set if you’d like, or you could always DIY.
The way to get more points is to try aiming at the center cup! That will gain you three points. And similar to other games, the first person to 21 total points wins!
I hope you found this article helpful and picked some of your favorites from this list for your next BBQ! Thank you for reading, and make sure to share this with your family and friends.
