At the Höstglöd camp I organized some circus games and I wanted to share some game ideas!
I first got contact with circus games when I visited the British Juggling Convention, although I had played some games at Greentop as well. At the Swedish juggling convention there was also some games, and the rest are just silly ones that I have come up with, sometimes together with others in the juggling club Phire at Luleå University of Technology.
So here are my list of silly games, general game ideas, some games grouped after discipline and some thoughts on organizing the games.
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| So many props - so many possible games!!! |
Ellinor's list of silly circus games
Poi and club fighting game (Hogwarts game)
Rules: Each participant takes a poi in one hand and a club in the other hand. Then while spinning the poi the aim is to use the club to hit others pois so that they stop spinning. When someones poi stops spinning (for any reason) that person is out. This game can be done either as a gladiator game or as a duel game.
Winner: The last person with a spinning poi.
Trivia: I call this the Hogwarts game because me and J invented it as a battle between Hufflepuff (I was wearing a Hufflepuff shirt) and Slytherin (J had green poi), and in the magical battle the poi is the spell and the club is your magic wand!
Diabolo with the nose
Rules: A race where the participants race by putting their diabolos on the ground and making it roll forward only by using their nose.
Winner: The first person to cross the winning line
Club thrust
Rules: The participants stand on a line and have one club between the legs with the handle poiting forward. Then they put the other club on top of the handle of the first club and make a thrust motion with their hip so that the club flys forward. This game just looks ridiculous.
Winner: The persons who's club flies the furthest.
Pass the juggling ball
Rules: This game is done in teams where each time lines up along a lin. The first person in the team then out a juggling ball under the chin and tries to give it to the net person in the line, who pass it on to the next and so on. If they drop they have to start over from the last person who had the ball.
Winner: The team where the last person gets the ball first
Club crown gladiator
Rules: Everybody puts three clubs in a triangel so that the handle is always under the "body" of the next club. Then they put this "crown" on their heads and walk around, trying to knock down other people "crowns".
Winner: The last person with a crown.
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| People playing the crown game gladiator at Swedish Juggling Convention 2015 |
Crash in the air game
Rules: This game is quite the opposite of club passing and done in pars. The pairs stand with equal distance between them and trow their clubs/balls/other and make them crash in the air. If they crash, they are on to the next level and one person takes a step back and they throw their objects again. If their objects meet and crash in the air, they are on to the next level, but if they miss, they are out.
Winner: The pair that can make two objects crash from the furthest distance.
Gesture game
Rules: This game is played in pairs. The leader shouts a word, for example "Hello" (or candy/pain/driving/fotball/Churchill and so on) and then say "3,2,1 pose". On "pose" everyone has to do a pose that they think about when they heard the word. If the two participants in the pair made the same gesture, the are on to the next round, but if they made different gestures, they are out. For example for the word "hello", the pair could do either hand shake gesture or weaving gesture or something else as long as both people in the pair do the same.
Winner: The last remaining pair.
Everything or nothing
Rules: This game can be done with many different things, like coins, grapes, fruit or something else. Every participant bets three of the decided thing. Then the game is to juggle the things the longest. If you drop, you are out and has to put your "balls" eg coins/fruit in a bowl and the winner wins the whole bowl!!
Winner: The last woman/man juggling.
I have played this game once with coins at the BJC and there was an impressive amount of coins for the lucky winner. For Höstglöd camp I made this as the last game to use up all the remaining dried banana crisps, so every participant got 3 crisps to bet into the game, and the winner got all of them!
Rings and heads game
Rules: This game is played in pars; one thrower and one catcher. The throwers line up nehin a line and the catchers stand opposite them. Then the throwers are going to throw the rings so that their catcher can catch it on their head. If they make it, they are on to the next round and the remaining catchers take some steps backward and the game is on again. If the catcher miss the ring, the pair is out.
Winner: The last remaining pair!
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| Unicycle gladiator game at the British Juggling Convention 2014 |
General game ideas that can apply to almost every discipline
Since there are always different people with different skills here are three general ideas that can be applied to almost any skill.
Simon says
Rules: In this game, the leader gives instructions to the participants to do different tasks, but starting some of them with Simon says. If the task starts with Simon says, then the participants should do the task, but if the leader just say the task then the participants should NOT do the task. If someone do the task anyway, or forgets to to the task when they should, they are out.
Winner: The winner is the last participant left.
This can be done in different disciplines such as juggling, diabolo, devil stick and so on, but also is acrobatics and acroyoga. Make sure everyone knows what the leader means with all the trick names, and don't pick too difficult tricks to start with. In the beginning it is not fun to be out just because you failed the trick but did it right according to Simon.
Endurance game
Rules: Endurance game is simply an endurance challenge about who can do something the longest? If it gets to easy, then add some challenge like "continue to do it while making a turn/sit down/one one leg".
Winner: The winner is is last woman standing!
Endurance game ideas: 3-ball juggling, 4-ball, 5-ball... devil sticks propeller/helicopter
Gladiator game
Rules: The aim of the gladiator game is to do something, but at the same time crash it for the others! For example riding the unicycle, but at the same time crash/poke others so that they fall of their unicycle.
Winner: The last participant doing the thing!
Gladiator game ideas: unicycle, balancing a club in the hand/leg/face, hula hooping, poi butterflys, jumping one one leg holding the other, propeller with devil sticks
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This ball passing could be turned into a game as described above with moving further and further away from each other.
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Juggling and circus game ideas
Juggling
- Endurance juggling
- Simon says juggling
- Juggling fight
- Club balance endurance
- Pirouette game
- Passing in pairs and move further and further away from each other
Trow and run game
Rules: Trow a juggling ball/club/ring as far as you can, but you need to run after it and catch your own object.
Winner: The one that run the furthest.
Diabolo
- Thow back and forth in pairs and move further and further away from each other
Skipping rope
Rules: First everybody trow the diabolo up in the air and then doing one skipping jump with the sticks and string before catching it. Then everybody does two skips and so on. If you dont do the required number of jumps, or fail to catch the diabolo, you are out.
Winner: The person that can make the most skips while the diabolo is in the air.
Hit the box
Rules: Everybody are standing behind a line and trying to trow thir diabolo in a box. If their diabolo are in the box, they are on to the next round when the box is moved further away from the participants. After a while you can have a person running around with the box to make it even harder.
Winner: The last person hitting the box when everybody else is out
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| People doing juggling club fighting game at BJC 2014 (unknown photographer) |
Poi
- One handed butterfly endurance
Devilstick/flower stick
- Propeller endurance
- Helicopter endurance
- Propeller/helicopter gladiator
- One handed tick-tock gladiator
Acrobatics
- Handstand endurance
- Handstand against the wall endurance
- Headstand endurance (maybe with some tasks after a while)
- Simon says acrobatics
Yogamat walking game
Rules: All the participants starts behind a line on their rolled yoga mats (the need to be tied together with a rope or something). Then they walk towards the finishing line a little like you would walk on a walking globe.
Winner: The first person to cross the finishing line
Don't touch the ground game
Rules: This game is played in teams of three persons that compete in who will cross the finishing line first. To get there there is going to be one person flying and two basing. The bases are not allowed to move when the flyer is on top of them, meaning that the bases must take turs so that the flyer can "climb" forward without touching the ground.
Winner: The team whose flyer first crosses the finishing line.
Aerial games
- Climb p a rope the fastest
- Hang in a rope/other aerial equipment endurance
The climb the rope game is included because in most Swedish school gyms there are like 5 ropes (that are not aerial ropes but for training purposes) that the participants can climb.
In the hanging endurance competition, make sure everyone is hanging low and in a safe way so they don't hurt when they let go.
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| Club balance endurance game at British Juggling Convention 2014 |
Some thoughts on organizing the games
For the games to be entertaining to watch and not have too much waiting time here are some organization things to think about.
- Organize some sort of price and a designated prize giving person or point
They could be big prices or just candy, but having a prize makes it more of a competition! It is good if there is someone responsible for handing out the prices at the side of the games so the winner knows where to go. At Höstglöd the prize was either banana snacks or a cookie, so it doesn't have to be fancy.
Something upbeat or just Eye of the Tiger!
- Have a premade list of what games to include
It might be obvious, but plan the games ahead. Try to have a nice mix between juggling, diabolo, acrobatics, techinical games, silly games, games that everyone can join in to and so on.
- Announce upcoming games so that people have time to get the required equipment (if any).
- If things gets too easy for the participant, make it harder
Either try one of these or let the audience decide something they want to see.
Ideas to make it harder: Turn around, one one leg, with closed eyes, start walking around, faster, slower, switch sides/hands/partner/equipment, go down to the knees/sitting/lying down.
Let the games begin!
