Another fun group game: Celebrate the Failure of Counting from 1 to 20

Published on January 25, 2019

Last updated on November 1, 2024

In this game, players stand in a circle and need to count from 1 to 20, determining who says the next number by body actions. When someone messes up (the wrong person says a number, or someone doesn’t say a number when they should, or doesn’t do the correct action), then everyone celebrates the failure.

In the first round , a person starts by saying the number 1 and puts her hand on her left shoulder, indicating that the next person to go is the person on her left.

The person to her left says the number 2 and then indicates by putting her hand on her shoulder which way the counting should go.

You do this until you get to 20. This is actually pretty simple, and probably fairly easy to do.

In round 2, the person puts her hand on her left shoulder and that means the person to the right of her says the next number, and so on.

In subsequent rounds you keep adding complications so that it is more challenging to determine who goes next.

Each failure results in starting over from 1, with the person who failed.

Complications:

The Pointer: Point at someone other than your neighbor with two hands and ten fingers, only on prime numbers (or even numbers, or multiples of 5).

The Neighbor: The person to the right of the person saying the number determines the next person to give the next number.

The Color Wheel: The counting goes counter-clockwise based on what color someone determines will say the next number. For example, Sarah says the number 1 and the color purple. The next person around the circle counter-clockwise who is wearing purple says 2, and so on.

Animal Cards: Give each player an animal, and while counting, a player needs to identify who goes next by the animal they have.

Anything else you can think of!

I learned this game while playing it at a meeting with Ed Elements.