Fun games, quizzes and personality tests

November 20, 2008 1:06 AM

A while back someone ran a personality test called The Cube on me. I've also played a similar game whereby each participant in turn says "I have never done [name of activity x goes here]" and the others around the table have to drink if they have done x. Can you recommend any other fun games, personality tests or quizzes that can be used in social situations, can be easily memorised, don't require much in the way of additional materials and help you get to know others better? School-age, juvenile stuff is perfectly acceptable!
posted by skylar to Human Relations (14 answers total)

There is the two truths and a lie game. You tell two true things about yourself and one lie and the group has to guess which is the fib.
posted by MS_gal at 1:22 AM on November 20, 2008

There is 5 questions- the person you are playing it with must answer every question with a lie. None of the questions you ask matter- except on the 4th throw in nonchalantly "What question am I on?" and if they catch you there and answer with a lie, say "oh so you've play this game before have you?" and they will most likely say "no" in their state of joy with themselves for catching you. I have yet to not get someone with this!
posted by thegmann at 2:19 AM on November 20, 2008 [2 favorites]

there's the fingers "i have never" game. each person lists a thing they've never done. those who have must put down one finger. usually the game tends to head in a more sexual direction (e.g., "i've never had sex in a public place" and you get to laugh at the people who have to put a finger down), but of course that depends on the group you're playing it with.
posted by mittenedsex at 2:27 AM on November 20, 2008

I've had a game very similar to the cube, apparently it's called "four magic questions", but instead of the cube etc, you had to describe a few things. As I remember it:
What is your favourite colour. Describe it.
What is your favourite animal. Describe it.
Imagine standing in a room that's completely white (possibly infinite in all directions, I'm pretty sure it didn't have any exits or anything). Describe how you're feeling.
Think of water. In what form do you like it best (pond, river, ocean, etc). Describe it.

Then there's the interpreting.
The favourite colour would describe how the person answering feels and thinks about themselves.
The favourite animal would describe the person's lover.
The white room would describe the person's feelings about death.
The water would describe the person's feelings about sex.
posted by bjrn at 5:35 AM on November 20, 2008

Depending on how classy your company is, there's 'Would you Rather?' which tends to quickly go from celebrity vs. celebrity to mutual friend vs. mutual friend... 'Fuck, Marry, Cliff' (which goes under many names) is similar but for three people and generally more entertaining outcomes.

If that doesn't sufficiently lower the tone, 'An Animal or a Dead Person?' kept us going through lots of late nights in college last year. Both animal and person should be specific, and mortality status of the person in reality isn't an issue.

As for getting to know someone better, it depends whether you've ever yearned to know whether it would take a zebra, a meerkat or a whale to sway them into choosing the most repulsive person you all know.
posted by carbide at 5:54 AM on November 20, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks for these. All along the right lines. Surely the collected minds of AskMeFi must know more such games!
posted by skylar at 8:30 AM on November 20, 2008

There's a game called 'in the mix' that socializes people quite well.

Form a circle with one person standing in the middle.

The person in the middle says 'you're in the mix if you like (enter word here)'

People who like said thing run across the circle to fill an empty spot left by someone else running through 'the mix'

You can't move to an adjacent spot.

Always have one less spot than people playing, and the person who is last to find a spot stays in the middle and chooses the next mix criteria.

For the first round, have people introduce themselves, and (optionally) have them repeat their name before saying what's 'in the mix' on subsequent turns.

It's fun, funny, and a minimally awkward way of getting the ice broken in a group of any size.

Good Luck!
posted by bradly at 8:51 AM on November 20, 2008

Although it does require physical movement..
posted by bradly at 8:52 AM on November 20, 2008

There's a book called Kokology--its a collection of the same symbolic personality tests as The Cube. I memorize a few of them but have also brought the book to small gatherings and its a big hit.
posted by simplethings at 8:52 AM on November 20, 2008

Would you rather? is awesome. We usually try to find the worst combination. Flavor Flav is a good one.

You can also ask things like these.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 10:12 AM on November 20, 2008

MASH! I have fun playing this even now in graduate school. Giving random answers and getting crazy results is key. (wiki)

Or "Fuck, Marry, Kill" which others have mentioned under different names.
posted by Nickel at 2:20 PM on November 20, 2008

Or the Origami Fortune Teller Game.

Both this and Mash require paper.
posted by Nickel at 2:25 PM on November 20, 2008

There's a game called telephone pictionary (again, requires paper) wherein everyone starts with a piece of paper and writes a phrase on it. All papers are then passed to the right and the next person draws a sketch of the phrase, folds the original phrase over leaving just the drawing visible, and passes the paper to the right again. You keep doing this until all the papers are full. Super entertaining and funny! Lots of offshoots too - simply prompt and draw, group story writing, etc.

Then there's all sorts of things like this. Really, if you just google "Ice Breaker Games" you'll come up with all sorts of good stuff.
posted by lunit at 7:54 PM on November 20, 2008

We play "What if?", where everyone writes a what if question on a piece of paper. The pieces are all passed around so no one has their own question. Everyone writes an answer to the question they got. Now, one person reads the question on their paper. Here's the funny part, the person next to them reads their answer! After everyone laughs (or realizes it was nonsense) the answerer now reads their question and the next person reads their answer. It continues around the circle.

Btw, the games of telephone pictionary I have played have all devolved into laughing so hard we were crying. I highly recommend it. Just make sure to get the folding done right.
posted by soelo at 8:11 AM on November 21, 2008 [1 favorite]