Fill Twixtmas Crimbo limbo lull with 101 pen and paper games

Dozens of games to fill Crimbo limbo lull

Now that we’re fully immersed in the Crimbo Limbo lull, leading British stationery brand, Pukka Pads, has pulled together a whopping list of 101 pen and paper games which are guaranteed to keep all the family entertained for hours.

The presents have been opened, all the turkey has been eaten and you’ve watched the same five Christmas films on loop since the start of December. The family is getting restless, and your Great Uncle is starting to make comments which at any moment are bound to disrupt the house’s festive cheer.

Don’t fear, the team at the leading British stationery brand, Pukka Pads, has pulled together a whopping list of 101 pen and paper games which are guaranteed to keep all the family entertained for hours.

All you simply need is a pen and some paper, meaning that you get to spend some quality time with loved ones having fun away from the screen.

Please note, Pukka can’t be held responsible for any family fall outs that come about as a result of an overly competitively relative.

1. Charades

Charades is great for getting all the family involved. It’s a game where players act out a word or phrase, syllable by syllable, until the other players guess the whole word or phrase.

2. Hangman

A game for two in which one player tries to guess the letters of a word. The other player records failed attempts by drawing gallows.

3. Noughts & Crosses

Another two-player game in which you seek to complete a row of either three noughts or crosses drawn in the spaces of a nine square grid.

4. Sudoku

A game to play solo well known for its brain training capabilities. A puzzle where players insert the numbers one to nine into a grid consisting of nine squares subdivided into a further nine smaller squares, in such a way that every number appears once in each horizontal line, vertical line, and square.

This is one to avoid if you’ve had a couple of Eggnogs!

5. Ddakji

A traditional South Korean game that recently featured in the record-breaking Netflix series, Squid Games. The game is simple, and the aim is for one player to make the other player’s paper tile flip over on the floor. If you do manage to flip your opponent’s card, you get to keep it.

6. Pictionary

Similar to charades but instead players draw their chosen word while the rest of their team tries to guess the word.

7. Word Watch

Wherever you are sitting, jot down as many words as you can see from your surroundings. Game 1: Come up with a short story with the words you find. Game 2: See if you can find a word for every letter in the alphabet. There are endless variations and categories you can come up with.

8. Mash

Predict your future with this simple game intended to determine your destiny by forecasting how many children you’ll have, your job and car etc. All players start by writing MASH at the top of their page and choosing 3 answers to the above listed categories. You then eliminate the different answers by choosing a number and deleting the answer you land on until you’re left with one final option.

9. Stop the Bus

A fun yet educational way to revise vocabulary and practise the alphabet with young children. Players create a table with different category titles such as animals, colours and countries and then chose a letter that the answer to each category has to begin with. Players then have to write down an item in each of the category columns that begins with the chosen letter. The first person to complete their table shouts “stop the bus!”.

10. Squares

It’s as simple as it sounds; this can be played on any scrap piece of paper by simply making as many squares as you can out of a grid of dots. The winner is the one with the most squares.

11. Fortune Teller Game

Similar to Mash but can predict whatever you want to know, your next holiday destination or something simpler like what’s going to be your next Christmas snack of choice, a mince pie or a chocolate…

12. Alien Drawing game

Create unique, yet weirdly wonderful aliens by taking it in turns to draw an alien’s body, legs, arms, face etc. and then folding the paper to keep the design secret as you pass it among the family, until the big reveal at the end.

13. Battleships

Recreate this board game favourite but on a piece of paper, no fiddly game pieces required. Each player draws two 10 x 10 grids, labelled along the sides with letters and numbers.

On the left-hand grid the player secretly draws rectangles representing their fleet of ships. During game the players take turns in making a shot at the opponent, by calling out the coordinates of a square (e.g. D5). The first player to lose all their ships loses the game.

14. Categories

Another grid-based game but this time players have to name objects within certain categories starting with a particular letter of the alphabet.

15. Who am I?

Each player writes the name of a famous person on a piece of paper and puts the names into a hat. Each player then picks a name and without looking places it on their forehead. Players then have to use yes or no questions to guess the identity of their chosen famous person.

16. Number Bulls & Cows

One player, the Chooser, thinks of a four-digit number and the other player, the Guesser, tries to guess it.

17. Blind Drawing

A group will describe their chosen item without revealing what it is - they are also now allowed to see what the ‘artist’ is drawing. At the end of the activity, the team whose drawing is closest to the actual item wins.

18. Finish the Story

This is a fun group activity of storytelling with a twist. This game is best played between 2 to 8 players. The aim is to create a complete story as a team. Going around in a circle each player will contribute one sentence to the story.

19. Balderdash

One player reads out a question to the others. They each write down a made-up, but believable answer and hand it to the person who reads the question. This person then reads out all the answers and the others must guess which is actually correct.

20. Bridges

Build bridges with folded sheets of paper and see how much weight they can hold using random household items like coins or the TV remote.

21. Nim

Super simple but super addictive! Players are challenged to take turns in removing dots from one of several rows. Players start by drawing several rows of dots on a piece of paper. A good start is three rows of 5, 7, and 9 dots.

The players now take turns in crossing out (or erasing) one or more dots from a single row. They must remove at least one dot, and they can remove any number up to the entire row. The first player unable to move loses.

22. Sim

First draw a board consisting of six dots arranged in a hexagon, with each dot connected to every other dot by a line. Players take turns colouring an uncoloured line. The first player forced to complete a triangle in their own colour loses the game.

23. Lasso

Draw a grid of dots on paper. Taking turns players start at one dot, draw a line to any other dot and circle it. Lines must stay within the confines of the grid.