Games of skill

Often these games pit guests against each other to determine a winner. Find out who among your friends and family has great aim, or wields a hammer with amazing skill!

For more games, check out the games of chance or the silly games pages.

Tossing

A surprising number of Stag and Doe games involve throwing things...

Toonie toss / Loonie toss

Put a prize on the floor and tape a line at seven, ten, or perhaps even twenty feet from the prize. Guests stand behind the line and toss, slide, or roll toonies towards it. The guest with the coin closest to the prize at the end of the night wins.

There are a few ways to play this - you can have guests put their names on their toonies with marker and tape, or clear away all failed attempts immediately and keep track of the current winner on a board. Some play with the rule that coins that hit the prize are disqualified.

Toonie toss tournament

Similar to the Toonie toss, but with several rounds. Place a bucket on the floor and tape a line several feet away from it. Start close to the bucket and have 3 or 4 rounds. At the end of the round everyone in the bucket advances, all others are disqualified. The line moves further away from the bucket each round, until you have one winner.

Cowboy hat

Guests buy and toss playing cards into a cowboy hat from an increasing distance until a winner is found.

Paper airplanes

Guests buy in to build a paper airplane from a supplied sheet of paper. Folding only - no additions or paper removal! Furthest flying plane wins.

Basket toss / Bra pong

Attach a number of baskets or bras to a board, guests buy attempts to land ping pong balls in them from a set distance. Bigger prizes or payouts for difficult targets.

Poker darts

This game works best outside! Put up a board somewhere that won't be damaged by errant darts, and that people won't be behind or near. Tape up all the cards in a standard deck in random order on the board, face up. Guests get five darts each to attempt to make the best poker hand. Build it yourself, or find a party game store that can rent you one.

Water loonie/toonie toss

Place a shotglass in the bottom of a large jar or goldfish bowl and fill the jar with water. Guests try to drop loonies (or toonies) into the shotglass.
Winners names are added to a board. At the end of the night, 50% of the take goes to the couple, and the remainder is split amongst the winners. Alternatively, when a coin lands in the shotglass, the winner gets a free shot - although you may want to look into the liquor laws in your area before deciding on this option.

Estimating

Best guess wins!

Guess the number / Beer cap count

You set up a large number of small items in a container of some sort. Often it's jelly beans, beer caps or condoms in a jar or bucket. Guests pay to enter a guess as to how many are there. You can allow unique guesses only, or split the pot if multiple people guess the same.

Weight times two

At the start of the evening, record the combined weight of the wedding couple. Guests pay to record their guesses, and the closest to the truth at the end of the night wins.

Feats of strength and dexterity

For most of these, you can set it up as a tournament, as unrelated rounds throughout the night, or as a high score for the night with a possible tie-breaker finale. Buy in prices are typically low ($1-$3), and prizes can be 50% of the take, or an item (kegs and two-fours are popular!). You can also give out some kind of token (for example, mardi-gras beads, poker chips, or glow sticks) to winners and have the person with the most at the end of the night win a prize.

Hammer and nail tournament / "Great Canadian Whack Off" / Hammer Time / Nailing game

Using stumps or boards, guests compete to hammer in nails either in the shortest time, or with the fewest strikes. On counting strikes: a miss is a swing, taps to straighten bent nails count as well. Provide safety glasses!

Lost my shoes

Collect many shoes before the event, put them in a big pile or very large box. Give each guest a shoe, and they compete to find the matching shoe the quickest.

Balloon stomp / Pop and stomp

Each guest can buy a balloon to tie to their ankle. Similar to musical chairs, while the music plays they try to stomp and pop other guests' balloons and protect their own. Last balloon unpopped wins.

Limbo contest

You can rent a limbo game from most party game rental companies, or play with two helpers holding any long rod for a less-formal version. It's a rod set up at various heights, and people compete to pass forwards under it without falling, leaning back further and further as the bar gets lower each round.

Hold the beer case / 2-4 hold / Timber Two Four

Guests compete at holding up a case of beer or a similar size/weight item that won't smash if dropped, like a stump. Winner gets a case of beer (not to be opened on site). Often this game is split into "his" and "hers" competitions.

Walla balla

It's a set of baskets you strap to a guest's waist, with a ball on a string. The objective is to swing the ball into a basket - but the guest can't use their hands, only the motion of their hips, within a short time limit.

Mini-putt / Hockey shootout / Golf chipping / Bean bag / Corn hole / Ring toss / Horseshoes

Throw, putt, or shoot with higher scores for difficult targets. You can rent equipment for most of these, or build you own. Mini-putt, hockey shootout, and corn hole are easy enough to put together with plywood, basic tools, and some paint for the hole scores.

Musical Chairs

Run a musical chairs tournament, but be prepared to handle any guests who are getting overcompetitive!

Races

Guests buy in to participate in silly races for prizes. It can be anything you like, from tricycle races to a three-legged race.

Pairs / Couples' games

These are great fun and a little saucy. You can run them with a prize each round, or best high score of the night, or as a tournament. Cash prizes, or "couples" prizes to a restaurant or an adult shop are great here.

Strokin'

Pairs of guests compete to inflate beach balls or basket balls with bicycle pumps. One holds the bike pump between their legs and the other applies the pump.

Plungers / Plumbing

Buy a few plungers, sandpaper and a red sharpie. Each round, draw a mark on the plunger handles and have guests compete to sand the mark entirely away. Can be played as a couples' game, where one partner has to hold the plunger between their legs while the other one sands (similar to Strokin'). Alternately you can paint the handles red.

Toilet Paper Roll and Broom Handle

Pairs of guests compete. One player holds a toilet paper roll between their knees (or higher up for a saucier version), while the other is blindfolded and must try to get a broom handle through it. Fastest wins.

Balloon Pop

Each couple gets a slightly underfilled balloon, which is tied to the belt of one of the two players. They must pop it as fast as possible but may only do so without using their hands.

Tournaments

Any kind of short game will work great here - table tennis and table soccer (foosball) are favourites.

What about...?

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