Master List of Icebreakers / Energizers

(a) Icebreakers

1. PASS THE BALL+ (best played at the start) (>10 mins)

The aim of this icebreaker is for members to get to know each other better.

Everyone will be in a circular (or square) seating arrangement, and members will introduce their names one-by-one starting from the left-hand side of the host.

At this point of time, the host will be holding a stress ball /“Angry Bird”. This object will be thrown about from one person to the other. How this game works is that everyone is assumed to have known each other’s names through the brief introduction.

The first person will call out the next person’s name, “Lydia” for example, and throw the object towards her with sufficient force for her to catch. When a person gets the object for the first time, he/she will be required to tell everyone the following:

What he/she is currently doing One main hobby

Then, this person will call the next person’s name, “John” for example, and throw the object towards him with sufficient force for him to catch. And the process continues on.

If the person throws the object to another person who gets the object from the second time onwards, the person who made the throw will have to answer truthfully one question of random nature (no racial, religious or sexual prejudices allowed), which will be asked by the person who was meant to get the object. Once the question is answered, the person who got the object will continue the throwing of the object to another person.

This game will only end when everyone has gotten the object from another person at least once. All participants are required to monitor the number of times they have gotten the object, on their own accord.

2. BLOW WIND BLOW

One YAH member is to stand in the middle of a circle formed by a group of 20. The rest of the members, who are standing in a circle, should have their positions marked with either their shoes or masking tape. The person in the centre has to say the statement “Blow wind blow, blow all..” (any characteristic or item that fellow YAH members may have or are wearing eg. people with coloured socks.) Members who fulfil the statement have to stand up and change position with any one except the person next to them, while the standing member also has to get seated. The last person standing would repeat the cycle by saying a different statement starting with “Blow wind blow, blow all...” At first, the members will be calling out things that have to do with appearance. After a few rounds, restrict them to calling only things that are not relevant to appearance like the number of siblings, the subject combination taken, the month of birth etc. This will allow them to get to each other better. This can be repeated for as long as people want it to be.

3. EGG OR CHICKEN?

Aim: To break the ice by interacting with one another through a childhood game!

Description: Evolve from egg through chicken, eagle and superman to an immortal, by winning in scissors-paper-stone!

Duration: As soon as no more immortals can be created; approximately 5 minutes

Gameplay:

1. Every player starts off squatted down, as an egg.

2. When the game starts, each player finds someone of the same stage of evolution (i.e. egg) to play scissors-paper-stone with.

3. Players should start each face-off by introducing themselves. Then scissors, paper, stone!

4. The winner will evolve to the next stage, while the loser will downgrade to the previous stage. For example, an eagle who wins will become a superman, while a losing eagle goes back to the stage of chicken. If the loser is already an egg, (s)he will stay as an egg.

5. Once a player reaches immortal, (s)he is immune and can stay out of the game.

6. The game continues until no one else can become an immortal, due to the lack of players of the same stage of evolution for face-offs.

7. An egg squats down. A chicken has his bent elbow hitting against his waist continuously. An eagle flaps his arms non-stop. A superman does the ‘superman’ pose. An immortal sits down at the side and waits.

4. REMEMBER THE NAME?

This game is basically double whacko. A chosen tapper is to stand in the middle of the group forming a circle. YAH members are to pair up and stand one behind the other, with the person at the back the caller and the person in front sitting down, or the sitting duck. The tapper has a roll of newspaper used to tap sitting ducks, whose only form of protection is from the caller, who call out the name of another sitting duck in the circle before his partner gets tapped to “save” him/ her. Once a sitting duck is tapped, he will become the new tapper while his caller takes his place as the sitting duck, while the tapper takes the place of the caller.

Safety precaution: Ensure that the tappers are not too violent, and they do not hit the faces of the sitting ducks.

Required Logistics: Thin roll of newspaper X 1

5. CLOTH GAME (Requires a narrow corridor or space to prevent cheating in the game)

PART ONEThe group will first sit around in a circle and introduce themselves by saying, “Hi, my name is (adjective)(name)” and the next person will have to repeat what the member A just said, followed by his own name. The subsequent members will do the same until the very last person who will have to repeat what the previous 20+ members said.

6. HUMAN KNOT

Aim: To break the ice by being in close physical proximity and intense physical activity…

Description: Entangle your arms, and try to untangle!

Req’ments: Preferably a group of 10 or 11 for moderate difficulty; hence, 2 human knots will be formed.

Duration: As soon as the players untangle their arms; approximately 10 minutes

Gameplay:

1. Players are to form a circle, shoulder-to-shoulder.

2. Each player is to place both arms in the middle circle and grasp somebody else’s hands. Make sure that no one is holding to both hands of the same player.

3. Not letting go of their hands, the group has to think of ways to untangle themselves.

4. The game ends as soon as a smooth circle is formed out of the mess!

7. WACKO, WITH A TWIST

Aim: To remember one another’s names!

Description: Sitting in a circle, a name is called and the person in the centre of the circle tries to “whack” the person whose name was called with a rolled-up newspaper before (s)he can call another name.

Materials: Newspaper, tape

Req’ments: An odd number of players

Duration: 10 minutes

Gameplay:

1. Form an inner and an outer circle, each consisting of 10 players. Players of the inner circle are seated down while those of the outer one stand. Each player of the outer circle should position himself directly behind a player of the inner circle.

2. Begin with introductions: each player in both circles gives his/her name.

3. Tip: The ‘outer’ player has to remember the name of the ‘inner’ player (s)he is standing behind, as well as those of the other ‘inner’ players.

4. One person stands in the middle with the rolled-up newspaper.

5. The sector head (who should be in the circles too) starts by calling the name of one of the ‘inner’ players, and the ‘middle’ person has to “whack” the person whose name was called with the newspaper before the ‘outer’ player attached to him/her calls out the name of another ‘inner’ player.

6. Yes, that’s right. The ‘outer’ player is in-charge of calling another ‘inner’ player’s name before the ‘inner’ player (s)he is attached to gets hit by the ‘middle’ person.

7. If the ‘middle’ person succeeds (i.e. the ‘outer’ player failed), the ‘middle’ person will take the place of the ‘inner’ player, while the ‘inner’ player moves to the outer circle, and the ‘outer’ player will become the ‘middle’ person.

8. The game continues…

8. TRUTH, TRUTH, LIE

Aim: To find out some facts about one another. This, hopefully, can promote better memory of faces or names.

Description: Each player writes down two things about themselves that are true, and one thing that is a lie. The rest of the group has to guess which the lie is.

Materials: 20 pieces of paper, 20 pens

Duration: 10 minutes

Gameplay:

1. Each player is to write down three interesting things about himself/herself, of which, two are truths, and one is a lie.

2. The sector head should encourage players to write a lie that sounds true, to increase the fun factor!

3. In a circle, each player takes turn to share the three interesting things.

4. The rest of the players have to guess which the lie is.

9. COMMUNICATION GAMES

(a) Standing in a straight line, 2 teams will have to arrange themselves in terms of birthday months without verbal communication.

(b) Teammates will have to teach a blindfolded teammate to build a Lego set by giving verbal instructions only.

(b) Energizers

1. ELOPE

The group forms a circle with boys and girls alternating and holding hands. One boy-girl pair is sent to roam around the outside of the circle, and they are to tap a random pair of joined hands and are then to continue to complete one lap around the circle. The pair that has been tapped is also to run one lap around the circle, but in the opposite direction to the roaming pair. The pair that reaches the empty space in the circle fills up the gap and the game can be repeated subsequently.Safety precaution: Ensure that YAH members do not fall down or collide into each other while running.

2. CHARADES

Everyone can be split into 2 or 3 groups for this game.

Cards will be drawn in each round and only the first person of the group and the audience will know of the details written in the card. Respective first person of the group starts to use their actions to act out the details in the card to the 2nd person of the group and so on. The last person of the group will need to guess the details. Teams are supposed to compete with each other to be the first to guess the words correctly. The team that guesses first will win the round. At the end of the game, the team that gets the most points win and everyone in the team will all be given a prize each.

3. CLOTH GAME (Requires a narrow corridor or space to prevent cheating in the game)

PART TWO (IF PART ONE IS DONE)The YAH group is then divided into two equal groups, standing equal distance away from each other. A large piece of cloth will be held up in between the groups such that the two groups cannot see each other. The groups then send one person each up to the cloth. On three, the cloth is dropped and the two people then see each other. The first person to shout out the name of his counterpart wins one point for his/her group. The game then continues on until the IC sees fit to stop the game. Each person from the YAH group must go up to the cloth and participate in the game at least once.

Required Logistics: Large piece of opaque cloth X 1

4. BANG!

The YAH group stands in a circle facing inwards, with 1 YAH member in the centre, who will then call out the name of any other YAH member. The YAH members standing at the left and right of the YAH member being called will have to turn and face each other, and yell “Bang!”, “firing” at each other with their hands. The YAH member who is “fired” will then be eliminated. The game continues with the YAH member who is previously called to continue calling a name next. As the game continues, more and more people will be eliminated out of the circle. When down to 4 people, the ICs will call out the names. When down to 2 people, the YAH members back face each other, and when the IC shouts “1,2,3!” , the members turn back and shout bang! Whoever shouts first will win the game.

5. 22 QUESTIONS

The group will sit a circle, and one YAH member will be chosen to select an object/person from the categories as suggested; eg. Fact/fiction character (celebrities, cartoon characters, etc). He/she will only tell the ICs the character chosen and will then stand in the middle of the circle. The YAH members sitting down will then take turns to ask one question each about the chosen character that they do not know. Anyone can guess in the course of the game. The game ends when any one YAH member correctly guesses the character.

6. HONEY, I LOVE YOU ♥

With the group seated in a circle, the IC begins the activity by picking out a person from the group, for example John, at random. The IC will go up to that person and in their best voice/mannerisms say “Honey, if you love me, will you please smile for me?” with the purpose of making his “target” laugh or smile without touching them, through the use of funny faces, high pitched voices etc. John (the target) then has to look at his IC and reply with: “Honey I love you, but I just can’t smile for you”, while keeping a straight face. If the IC cannot succeed in getting John to smile, he/she would have to pick another target. However if John laughs or even smiles, he has lost, and would then take over his IC, and target someone else in the group. Once a YAH member was made to laugh or smile, they can no longer be a target. This activity can continue until everyone has participated or until the ICs deem fit.

7. I HAVE NEVER…

The group will sit in a circle and stretch out their hands and their palms flat on the floor. They then take turns to introduce themselves and say something that they have never done. Eg. I am Xiao Ming and I have never gone to Malaysia. The YAH members that have done whatever Xiao Ming has done before will then have to keep one finger bent in. The YAH members should not be allowed to use gender restrictions. The YAH members should aim to keep all their fingers stretched out. The game ends when everyone in the group has had his/her turn, and the minority (be it the YAH members with all fingers down, or YAH members who still have fingers up) will have to do a forfeit decided by the IC/YAH group.

8. BOOMZ

Aim: To enjoy each other’s company with a mind-boggling game.

Description: Everyone has to avoid saying any numbers that consist of the number 7 or any multiple of the number 7.

Duration: 5 minutes

Gameplay:

1. Sit in a circle.

2. A player begins counting.

3. When any number with 7 or any multiple of 7 appears, the player whose turn has come is to say ‘BOOMZ’. For example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, BOOMZ, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, BOOMZ, 15, 16, BOOMZ, …

4. Players who made a mistake will be eliminated from the game.

5. Sector head should encourage the players to count as rapidly as possible to increase the fun factor.

6. The game ends with only one man left in the game!

9. KATONG LAKSA

Aim: To enjoy each other’s company with a challenging game.

Description: The katong laksa gets hotter and hotter – players get to have their number power tested!

Duration: 5 minutes

Gameplay:

1. Sit in a circle.

2. Going around in a circle, the first player starts with ‘Ka-’.

3. The second player continues with ‘-tong’; third player, ‘Lak-‘; fourth player, ‘-sa’.

4. The next player will say ‘hot’, and the player after that will say ‘Ka-‘, and step 3 is repeated.

5. After ‘Katong Laksa’ is chanted out, this time round, the katong laksa is now twice as hot; hence the next two players will say ‘hot’.

6. The number of ‘hot’s increases by one as the game continues.

7. The words that should be heard will be like this: “Katong Laksa Hot. Katong Laksa Hot Hot. Katong Laksa Hot Hot Hot. Katong Laksa Hot Hot Hot Hot. Katong Laksa Hot Hot Hot Hot Hot. Katong Laksa…”