These are quick, one-minute games. They are competitive and incredibly fun because the participants are racing against the clock and bring out their playful sides. They do not need fancy props. You can use almost anything you can find around your house and set it up quickly. You might be familiar with some of the games, while some are not well-known. So, make yourself a party star with this collection of minute-to-win-it games. Scroll down.

Style 1: For Individuals

This style is played between man vs. the clock. An individual tries to complete a task in 60 seconds. If they finish, they win. If not, they lose. Simple! After every minute, the game shifts to another individual. Alternatively, one can give the person up to three chances or play on until they complete the task or surrender (however, this may get boring for the others waiting their turn).

Style 2: For Groups

This style involves picking two players, one from each team, who try to finish a challenge. A clock may or may not be used here. Whoever completes the task first or within the minute wins.

Style 3: For Teams

In this style, you may split your guests into two or multiple groups. Each team chooses their player for a round of the challenge. One member from each team competes together on the same task. Whoever finishes first wins. There is usually a scoring system in this style. For instance, the first team gets five points, the second gets three, and the third gets one. Minute-to-win-it games are equally fun for kids and adults. Check out some simple games for kids in the next section.

7 Best Minute-To-Win-It Games For Kids

1. Puzzle Race

What You Need: A simple puzzle – blocks or jigsaw How To Play: Jumble the pieces and start the clock. Players have to complete the puzzle within a minute. In the case of team players, whoever finishes first, wins.

2. Pom Pom Race

What You Need: Plastic straws, small pom-pom balls, and white or black sticker tape How To Play: Mark a starting and finishing line distanced across the room. Place the balls at the starting line. A player puts a straw in their mouth. As the clock starts, they blow into the straw to push the ball towards the finish line, trying to finish within the minute. The trick is to keep the balls in a straight line to finish fast. This game can also be played without a clock, where multiple players race simultaneously, and whoever reaches first wins.

3. Kisses And Mittens

What You Need: Oven mittens and a bowl of Hershey’s kisses chocolates How To Play: Each player wears a pair of oven mittens, making this game a little tricky and fun. The objective is to unwrap as many Hershey’s kisses as possible in a minute. The player with the maximum number of unwrapped chocolates wins.

4. Noodle Pickup

 What You Need: Uncooked spaghetti and uncooked penne pasta How To Play: Each player puts a hard spaghetti noodle in their mouth. As the timer starts, they try to pick penne pasta with the spaghetti noodle. The player’s hands must be kept behind the back or on the table for balance.

5. Human Ring Toss

What You Need: Hula hoops or swimming tubes How To Play: This game requires kids to toss one hoop at a time into a human stand. One person stands at a distance as a target post. The player tosses the hoops, trying to ring them onto the person. The individual who hooped maximum rings in a minute wins.

6. Defying Gravity

What You Need: Two or three balloons How To Play: This may not be as simple as it looks, but it’s a whole lot of fun for kids. The idea is to keep all the balloons up in the air for the entire minute using any body part or blow without touching them with your hands. If you drop one balloon, you will lose. In a multiplayer game, whoever keeps the balloons up the longest wins. For younger players, even a single balloon is challenging enough, so use only one.

7. Bowling

 What You Need: Bowling pins or cups or empty drink cans, and 5 small balls (size of a TT ball or slightly bigger). How To Play: The cans or pins are lined at the end of a table. A child stands on the opposite side of the table with five balls. At the start of the timer, they roll the balls, trying to drop all the pins. Whoever drops maximum pins in a minute wins. Some minute-to-win-it games can be challenging and nerve-wracking yet super enjoyable. Let’s now look at the games ideal for adults 

7 Minute-To-Win-It Games For Adults

 What You Need: A cookie (usually an Oreo) How To Play: Place the cookie on the player’s forehead. The aim is to get the cookie into their mouth using only the facial muscles to move it. No hands and no dropping, otherwise you lose.

2. Shamrock Shake

What You Need: An empty tissue box, a rope, and small ping pong balls How To Play: Fill the tissue box with the ping pong balls. Tie the box with a rope around the player’s waist, with the box at the back. The objective is to shake your bums and hips and drop out the maximum number of balls from the box in a minute. It is hilarious to watch the player jump and dance to drop the balls.

3. Rice Bowl

What You Need: Chopsticks and uncooked rice How To Play: The player uses the chopsticks to transfer as much rice from one bowl to another in a minute. A popular variant of this game is to suck in M&Ms with a straw and transfer them to another bowl. The player who makes maximum transfers in a minute wins.

4. Traffic Yam

What You Need: A yam (or any roundish vegetable, like cabbage, potato, etc.) How To Play: Mark a starting and finishing line. The player has to take the vegetable from the starting point to the finish by pushing with their nose.

5. Stack ‘Em Up Or Pyramid Game

What You Need: 36 plastic cups How To Play: In this game of skill and patience, each player is handed 36 plastic cups. They need to stack the cups in a pyramid shape and bring them down line-wise without toppling over the pyramid. You can make this game more challenging by allowing the use of only one hand.

6. Spray Off

What You Need: A spray bottle, a balloon, and a trash can How To Play: A tougher variant of “Defying Gravity”, this game requires the player to keep the balloon up in the air and guide it towards dropping it in a trash can by continuously spraying it with water. If the balloon falls, you start over from the starting line.

7. Pin The Bunny’s Tail

What You Need: Cotton balls, spoons, Vaseline, and a poster of a bunny How To Play: Each player is given a cotton ball and a spoon of Vaseline. The poster of a bunny is put on the other side of the room. Each player must dip their nose in Vaseline and pick up the cotton ball on their nose (try to stick it with the Vaseline). They must run across the room without dropping the cotton and try to stick it on the bunny’s tail. Every time the ball drops, the player must go back to the starting point and begin again. The player who sticks the tail first wins. Christmas parties always bring friends and family together. Celebrate this colorful season with the minute-to-win-it games using Christmas paraphernalia.

7 Easy Minute-To-Win-It Games For Christmas

1. New Year’s Eve Countdown

What You Need: Tissue or cardboard boxes and Christmas bells How To Play: Fill each box with a different number of bells from 10 to 1. Players need to shake each box to gauge the number of bells in each box and line them up in ascending or descending order within a minute.

2. Marshmallow Munch

What You Need: Hot chocolate, small cups, and mini marshmallows How To Play: This game is usually played by multiple participants, where they face a bowl of marshmallows and a cup of hot chocolate. The players have to drink the hot chocolate and eat the maximum number of marshmallows in a minute. The winner is the player who finishes everything first or eats the maximum number of marshmallows and finishes the drink.

3. Name That Tune

 What You Need: A music player, paper, and pen or pencil How To Play: Play 5-second snippets of 12 Christmas songs in a minute. This memory game requires the players to recognize and write down the names of the songs played in order within a minute. The player finishing first with all correct answers in the correct order wins.

4. Candy Cane Catch

What You Need: Chairs, Christmas candy canes, and Christmas tinsel, string, or ribbon How To Play: Tie a red Christmas ribbon or tinsel between two chairs tightly. The players need to stand on the chair. Once the game begins, they must try to drop the candy canes onto the string to hold and hang. The player with maximum candies on the string wins.

5. Thread It

What You Need: A needle, thread, and red and green Christmas beads How To Play: Mix the beads in a bowl. Each player is given the bowl, a needle, and a thread. The goal is to thread the needle and bead the string with alternate-colored beads. The person who can tie maximum beads in a minute wins the game.

6. Reindeer Wrap

What You Need: Brown crepe paper and reindeer headband How To Play: This two-player game is a different take on the regular “Mummy Wrap” game. Two members of a team get ready with the paper roll and headband. At the start of the clock, one member wraps the paper around the entire body of the other player from neck to toe and places the reindeer headband on their head. Complete your reindeer dress-up in a minute to win this game!

7. Snowball Fight

What You Need: White ping pong balls, cotton balls, and a fish bowl (or any round bowl) How To Play: The objective is to bounce or toss each ping pong ball into the bowl from a short distance while other players try to defer the balls by throwing cotton balls at them. For an individual player, whoever throws maximum balls in the bowl in a minute wins. For multiple players, the first player to get a ball in the bowl wins. How do you play hot potato? To play hot potato, the players should sit in a circle and pass a ball as the music plays. One player is in charge of playing and stopping the music. Whoever has the ball when the music stops is out. The last person left with the ball is the winner! What is the Oreo cookie challenge? The Oreo cookie challenge is played just like the ‘face the cookie’ challenge discussed in the article. The only difference is that you use an Oreo cookie instead of any other cookie.