Game Ideas: #32 (9 Relay Races for Perfect Fall Weather)

Hi there!

This is the week of the year I try to get everybody outside. The mornings are finally crisp, the afternoons are still warm enough for short sleeves, and the leaves are just starting to turn. It's also the week when calendars quietly fill up: soccer playoffs, parent-teacher conferences, a fall festival somewhere every weekend, and at least one kid who has already changed their mind about a Halloween costume twice.

Here's the thing I keep reminding myself: in a few weeks the clocks change and it's dark by 5. So this issue leans hard into relay races you can run on a field, in a parking lot, or in the backyard while the light is still good. If your group is stuck inside, every one of these works in a gym or a fellowship hall too. Grab a few supplies, split into teams, and go.

Three team relays made for the best outdoor weather of the year. Each one takes about two minutes to set up and ends with everybody out of breath and laughing.

Each runner tucks one balloon under each arm and squeezes a third between their knees, then waddles to the line and back without dropping any of them. First team to cycle through all its runners wins, and you can swap in beach balls, pizza boxes or even a sheet of paper for the next round. Grab the Supplies → Watch the Game →

Two lines pass a pool noodle from front to back, but the rule changes on every trip: over the head with one hand, then the other hand, then between the legs, then whatever you call out next. The first team to get the noodle back to the front wins the round. Grab the Supplies → Watch the Game →

Lay a row of hula hoops on the ground with a cone at the far end. The first player hops through every hoop, picks up the last one, drops it over the cone and runs back; the next player hops the shorter row and grabs the next hoop. The first team to get every hoop stacked on the cone wins. Grab the Supplies → Watch the Game →

Each player grabs a cone, takes one big jump from the start line and sets the cone down right where they land. Then they run back for another cone, sprint to their last one and jump again from there, leapfrogging their own cones down the field. The first team to reach the finish wins. Grab the Supplies → Watch the Game →

Teammates line up in a big space. The player in back tosses a hula hoop over the player in front, who turns around while the tosser runs past to become the new front. Keep ringing and leapfrogging each other to the far end and back; the first team home wins. Grab the Supplies → Watch the Game →

It's leapfrog with a twist. Instead of hopping one person and crouching down, each player jumps over two teammates and lies down at the front of the line, and the person at the back pops up and goes next. The whole team inches down the floor this way, and the first team into the finish zone wins. Grab the Supplies → Watch the Game →

Three of the most-watched games on the channel, and all three need nothing more than a sleeve of cups and a roll of toilet paper.

Scatter cups across the floor, half right-side up and half upside down. One team races to flip every cup up while the other team flips them down. When the timer goes off, whichever way the most cups are facing wins the round. For a bigger group, add a third team whose only job is to get in the way. Grab the Supplies → Watch the Game →

Set a cup of water on the end of an unrolled strip of toilet paper and have each player pull the paper toward themselves, slowly, until the cup crosses the finish line. If the water spills or the paper tears, that player is out. First cup across wins. Grab the Supplies → Watch the Game →

Hand every player ten cups and say go. The fastest person to build a pyramid that stays standing wins, and if a tower topples, that player simply scoops up the cups and starts again. It's a great thirty-second game between rounds of something bigger. Grab the Supplies → Watch the Game →

A coach, a youth leader, a teacher, a parent hosting a party. If you send them to the newsletter, they'll get our free book of 52 games the moment they sign up, and you'll have a new partner in crime for game night.

Looking for more? Every game we've ever filmed, along with full rules and supply lists, lives on the Dig the Games website.

Happy Wednesday! Jonathan Dig the Games

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