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Town Council Group Game Instructions

The holidays recently ended, and I love looking back and reminiscing at all of the fun we had. We were able to get together with family multiple times, played games, ate good food, and laughed a lot. I’m so grateful for anything that give us an excuse/reason to get together with the people most important to us. One of my families favorite things to do when we get together is play games. Today I want to share with you how to play one of our favorite party games for all ages called Town Council.

We love playing Town Council because it’s fun, quick to play, easy to learn, and fun for all ages. Plus, you will need very minimal prep or supplies. It is really the perfect big group game.

What is Town Council?

The premise of Town Council is simple really. Your goal will be to collect all the other players onto your council. This is done by correctly guessing their previously chosen fake name. The first person to collect all players wins the game.

It usually takes between 10-20 minutes to complete the game.

Town Council Group Game Set Up

To set up this fun party game for all ages you will need just two supplies:

Small strip of blank paper for each player (scratch paper works great!)
Pen/pencils

That’s it!

Before the game begins pass one strip of paper to each player. Ask them to write a name onto the paper. This can be any name: it could be a celebrity, a friend, a cartoon character, or a random name. There is no rule!

Once every person has written down a name ask them to fold their paper in half one time and put it into a bowl.

Related: How To Play Fish Bowl

How To Play Town Council

Now that all of the slips of paper have been put into the bowl, nominate someone to be the “Mayor”. The mayor will pull out each of the papers and read them one at a time to the group. While the names are being read the rest of the players will need to listen closely to each of the names and try to remember as many of the names as they can.

The names will only be read one time, so everyone should pay close attention.

After all of the games have been read the game can begin!

Sitting in a circle, take turns having each person guess who wrote down each name. If you guess someone’s name correctly then they will come sit by you and join your “Town Council”. You now work together as a council of two.

Play continues until one player has all of the other players on his council.

If you are able to guess someone else’s council of multiple players, then you get the entire team to join your council. It can be wise strategy to guess the large councils to help your team grow quickly.

Example Game

Here is a sample game to help you understand the process.

Let’s say there are 6 people playing Town Council: Jessica, Jordan, Claire, Kelly, Greg and Luke.

Jessica goes first and asks Claire: “Are you Bugs Bunny?” Claire did not write down Bugs Bunny so she replies, “No.”

Next it is Jordans turn, Jordan asks Jessica, “Are you George Washington?” Jessica did write down George Washington, so she replies, “Yes.” Jessica now sits by Jordan and joins his council. They can now work together to guess the rest of the group.

Now it is Claires turn. She asks Greg, “Are you Bugs Bunny?” Greg wrote down Bugs Bunny so he replies with, “Yes.” He now goes and joins Claires council.

Kelly goes next. He asks Jordan, “Are you Lebron James?” Jordan replies “No.”

Luke asks Jordan, “Are you Lizzie McGuire?” Jordan replies “Yes.” Now Jordan and Jessica goes and joins Luke’s Council.

Play continues again around the circle. This game is all about memory, make sure to pay attention while players are guessing so that you can remember who says no and yes to each of the names.

Claire asks Luke, “Are you Walt Disney?” Luke replies, “No.”

Next Kelly asks Claire, “Are you Dwight Schrute?” Claire is Dwight Schrute so says, “Yes.” Claire and Greg join Kellys Town Council.

Right now the Town Councils are:
- Kelly, Claire and Greg
- Luke, Jordan and Jessica
Kelly and Luke are the Town Council leaders and try to guess each others name. The first person to guess correctly will collect the rest of the players in the game and win the game.

Luke asks Kelly, “Are you Walt Disney?” Kelly is Walt Disney, so Luke inherits his council and wins the game. Yay!

Related: Best Family Games Under $20

Town Council Rules and Tips

Here are a few tips and rules to remember while playing this party game for all ages:

You are not allowed to ask someone if they are the name that you wrote down. It is always tempting to use this strategy to “throw them off your scent” but it is against the rules.
As your council grows you are allowed to work together as a team to remember everyone’s names, but only the leader of the council asks the questions.
When the mayor is reading the names don’t make any sounds, jokes or remarks about the names being read. Try to stay as neutral and quiet as possible. The more comments made about a name the more the group will remember that name, and you don’t want to help anyone else remember the names.

Have Fun!

Town Council is such a fun group game to play! It truly is the perfect party game for all ages. I hope that it will become a favorite game for you to play with your family and friends for years to come.

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I hope your family has fun playing town council, the perfect party game for all ages.

Check Out This Fun Party Game For Large Groups!

Anyone else love playing party games? Games are one of my favorite activities. I love to laugh, get competitive, and enjoy time with friends and family all while playing a game together. One of my favorite group games is called Fish Bowl. This game is the perfect mix of Charades, Password and Taboo. I’m excited to share with you exactly How To Play Fish Bowl so you can enjoy it at your next party!

How To Play Fish Bowl

Fish Bowl is a really easy game to learn and play. I’ve played it in many different groups and it has always been a hit. The perfect game for a group of mixed personalities!

1. Gather Supplies

One of the reasons why I love this game so much is because it’s so easy to prepare. You do need to gather a few supplies, but you probably already have them in your house. To play Fish Bowl you will need:

Blank White Paper
Scissors
Pens/Pencils
Bowl (this can be an actual fishbowl, but is not necessary to play)
Timer (I just use the one on my phone)

2. Prepare The Fish Bowl

Now that you have your supplies, it’s time to prepare the “fish bowl.” The original game was meant to be played using an actual fishbowl, but any bowl will work just fine. Use whatever you have at home!

Cut your white papers into thin strips, they need to be big enough for players to write a word or phrase on. Each player will need three strips of paper. Once you have your strips of paper of cut, pass three to everyone playing.

Ask each person to write a noun on each one of their paper strips. For example you could write, “pine tree”, “Santa Clause” or “rollerblades.” You can make these words as vague or familiar as possible, but keeping mind that you want your team to be able to guess the word you wrote down.

Fold each of the papers in half and place them into the bowl.

3. Split Into Teams

It’s now time to split into teams! You will need two teams for this game, each with an equal amount of players in them. I call the teams, Team A and Team B (so creative, I know 😉 ). You can call the teams whatever you would like!

Have everyone sit in a circle, with teams sitting every other person. So, players will sit: Team A, Team B, Team A, Team B, etc.

4. Round 1: Taboo

Now, for the fun part! Let’s learn how to play Fish Bowl! This game is separated into three rounds. Each round is played similar, but with a different twist. The first round is the Taboo round.

Choose one person from Team A to start the round. Give that player the bowl containing the paper strips and set the timer to 60 seconds.

Once the timer begins the player will pull a strip of paper from the bowl and describe the word on their paper while trying to get their team to guess it. first player will pull a strip of paper from the bowl and describe the word trying to get their team to guess it. They can not say any part of the secret word, or use any gestures. So, if the word is, “Blanket” they can not say the word “blank” when giving the clue. Instead they might give clues like, “something warm on your bed.”

Once the team guesses the word on the strip, set it aside and draw out another strip from the bowl. Keep trying to get your team to guess as many words as you can before the timer goes off.

After the 60 seconds are done that player keeps the strips of papers their team guessed correctly, and then passes the bowl to the next player, who should be on Team B.

Play continues in this order until all words in the bowl have been guessed.

Once the round is over, have each team add up the amount of papers their team guessed correctly. Each paper is worth one point for the team.

Fold the papers in half again and then place them back into the bowl. It’s time for round 2!

5. Round 2: Password

The second round of the Fish Bowl game is the Password round. Play continues similar to round 1, where each team takes turns trying to get their teammates to guess as many words as they can within the 60 second time limit.

However, this round you can only give a one word clue to describe the word on your paper. For example, if the word is “blanket” you might give the one word clue of “bed.” It really helps to try to remember the clues that were given in the first round and try to give your one word clue based off of the first round clues.

Let Team B start this round since Team A started the first round.

Once all of the papers have been guessed correctly, add up how many words each team guessed correctly and add it to your score.

Fold the papers in half and place them back into the bowl for the last round.

6. Round 3: Charades

The final round is the charades round (my favorite!). Keep playing using the same routine as round 1 and round 1; passing the bowl around the circle and taking 60 second turns trying to get your team to guess the words in the bowl.

Only this time, you can’t say any words when trying to get your team to guess. You can only use gestures to act out the clue. So, if my word was “blanket” I would maybe act out getting into bed and pulling a blanket on me.

After all of the words in the bowl have been guessed add up the scores for each team one more time.

Whichever team has the most points at the end of the game wins!

In Conclusion

The fish bowl party game is so much fun. It’s a great ice breaker to use at a youth activity or party. I love teaching this game to new people, because everyone who plays it enjoys it! Fish bowl is a game for all personalities and interests.

Try this game at your next get together, you will not regret it!! Before long you’ll be teaching everyone else how to play fish bowl!

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