Indoor Youth Group Games That Aren’t Silly Kid’s Games

Generally most youth groups comprise a range of ages. So it’s important to provide entertainment for the group that isn’t too childish for the older teens to also enjoy. Hide and seek or other games they have played too many times just won’t cut it. Mystery party games, scavenger hunts or escape rooms are a great solution to this problem. Let’s look in detail at each of these indoor youth group games options.

Mystery party games

Depending on the age and demands of the youth group, these can be “mystery not murder” party games or traditional “murder mystery party games.” At Merri Mysteries, we provide a number of each of these types of games.

Our kits can be used by ages nine years and upwards. Sometimes even younger children can participate if it is a mystery not a murder and they are given a particularly easy line to say. All our kits are good, clean family fun free of innuendos and make great small youth group games.

Mystery party games provide a number of activities: the creation of the costume for their character, acting, interacting with other people and solving the mystery at hand.

teens investigating at baseball mystery youth group games

Sometimes they can also act as fundraising activities for your youth group. See this page for more details on how to use mystery party games as fundraisers.

We have kits designed for small groups of say 8 to 16 guests. These are either in standard format or play format. The play format makes it more straightforward.

We also have youth group games for large groups of up to 30, 50 or 100 guests, we have a special “meet and mingle” format which is more informal. Everyone mingles and talks about their clue(s) and later some reports are read out to the whole group.

We also have some all girl kits and all boy kits.

No matter the format, you may like to have prizes for those with the best costume and for the person (or people) that work out who did it (and how and why they did it).

Scavenger hunts for teens and adults

We have a game called “The Hunt.” This is both a mystery and a scavenger hunt. A letter has been found describing where someone had hidden their vast fortune. This consists of cash, gold bars, an artwork, a building title deed, a precious jewel, an old violin, and a valuable coin.

There are versions for 6 to 18 guests and 6 to 30 guests.

Rather than have your whole house (or hall) ransacked in the search for clues, this kit is structured so that only one person at a time gets to search for a hidden item. They have to earn the right to search by solving a puzzle first.

DIY escape room kit

We have a kit called “Party Escape.” It is for 8 to 16 guests. However, you could have multiple tables doing this game at the same time.

Some imagination is required. For example, you have to imagine that the following is true:

“You cannot leave this party. If you open a door / window to the outside, it will set off tiny sensors and you will be killed by poisonous arrows, lethal gas or other deadly devices. I have cut all the phone lines and Ethernet cables and I have a cell jammer in place, so your phones and WIFI won’t work. So don’t try anything stupid. But if by the end of the party you are able to work out which guest I am and also solve all the puzzles you encounter, then I will set you free.”

Conclusion

Providing indoor youth group games can be challenging. But, Merri Mysteries makes it an easy task of just selecting the right kit and sending out the invitations.

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