Ideas for Pop Culture Games
If You’re into Pop Culture, You’ll Love Playing These Pop Culture Games
When we say, “pop culture games,” we mean any sort of game that requires a certain knowledge of or interest in pop culture—fashion, music, movies and all those life activities that were celebrated in mass media. In other words, the fun stuff.
For example, in Boom Again, the new pop culture trivia game of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, you’ll find questions on everything from Rock & Roll to advertising jingles to TV shows and more.
So here from the game experts at Boom Again are ideas for other games you can pull together to play that will bit a hit with your friends who are into pop culture.
Bingo—or rather, a twist on Bingo
We’ve all played Bingo. You sit with a Bingo card in front of you and mark off spaces as a caller calls out numbers until you get five in a row (up, down or diagonal) and shout, “Bingo!” Pop culture Bingo borrows from that idea but is tied to pop culture events.
As an example, let’s pretend we’re making an Academy Awards Bingo game. You start by making a set of special Bingo cards (plenty of free templates are available online, or if you want to kick it old school, you can just write them out).
In each of the usual Bingo squares that would contain a number, you write something you might see or hear at the Academy Awards. Squares might say things like, “winner thanks his mom,” “Meryl Streep wins Best Actress,” or “music cuts off speech.”
Have a get-together, either in person or via Zoom, and play Bingo as you watch the Oscars.
Other ideas for pop culture Bingo could be Miss USA (contestant says she wants world peace), political debates, or episodes of your favorite TV shows to watch together.
Who Am I?
This pop culture game is a great way to get people mingling at a party. To play, you tape a sign to each guest’s back as they arrive with the name of a famous celebrity on it. Cher. Elton John. Mr. Rogers. Or you can choose other categories, like comic book superheroes, fictional characters, or famous athletes.
As people make their way through the party, they ask questions to find out their identity. “Am I a musician?” “Male or female?” “Do I play the ukulele?”
It gets the conversation flowing, and the goal is to find out who you are—and help others discover their identity as well.
Show & Tell
This classic kids’ school activity can make a fun “get to know you” game for adults. Invite guests and ask them to bring a favorite item of theirs—whether a beloved toy from their childhood, a CD they’ve listened to 10,000 times, the designer shoes that changed their life or a plate handed down to them through several generations. The options are endless.
Who knows? You might have a whole new view of that buttoned-up nerd friend who shows off his souvenir tickets to Woodstock.
Variation: You can specifically gear it to pop culture by setting a theme, such as “bring in your favorite book” or “share an old item of clothing you for some reason still hang onto.”
Charades
It’s an oldie but a goodie, and one of the most famous pop culture games of all time. To play, you fill a bowl with folded up titles of books, songs, movies or TV shows. One person picks from the bowl, and then attempts to pantomime whatever it is that was written on their paper.
Physical comedy and at least a few smiles ensue.
Match-Up
This game requires a bit of preparation on your part. To make a Match-Up game, pick a category that sounds fun, and then create a list in two columns. Players then have to match column A with column B.
Categories could be “match the song with the artist,” “match the TV show with its star,” “match the dog with the comic, commercial, movie or TV show it appears in,” or “match the car with its manufacturer.”
So let’s say the topic is “match the fictional hero/heroine with their book.” Column A might list Elizabeth Bennett, Captain Ahab, Holden Caulfield, Atticus Finch, etc. Then column B—not in the same order—would list the books we meet them in.
Print out enough copies for each guest. Players draw lines to connect columns A and B. Whoever gets the most matches right wins.
These are some simple pop culture games. Maybe you can think of a few.
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