Thanksgiving Games: 20 Fun Games for Family, Kids and Adults

Quick Answer: The Best Thanksgiving Games

The best Thanksgiving games are the ones everyone can join: Thanksgiving bingo while guests arrive, charades or trivia after dinner, and one gratitude game at the table. Pick four games — one for each part of the day — and you get about 90 minutes of fun. This guide gives you 20 Thanksgiving games for family, kids and adults, and every game tells you how to play, how many players you need, what you need, and how long setup takes. There is also a full-day schedule and answers to the questions people ask most.

Why Games Make Thanksgiving Better

Thanksgiving is the one day of the year when grandparents, cousins and little ones who cannot sit still all squeeze around the same table. The waiting is where the day can drag — the turkey needs “just five more minutes,” the kids finish eating long before the adults, and the teenagers drift toward their phones.

Games fix all three problems at once. They fill the waiting, they get the different generations into the same room, and they give everyone something to remember. Most Thanksgiving games cost nothing: paper, a pen, a die, and things you already have in the kitchen. Pick a few that fit your space, gather the supplies, and let the friendly competition begin.

Games for the Whole Family

1. Thanksgiving Bingo

Give each player a bingo card filled with Thanksgiving words and moments — turkey, pumpkin pie, football on TV, someone says “I’m stuffed.” The caller reads items at random; the first to complete a row shouts “Bingo!” Players: 4–30 · Time: 15–20 minutes · You need: printed bingo cards, markers like dried beans or candy corn · Setup: 5 minutes to print the cards.

2. Thanksgiving Charades

Write Thanksgiving words and phrases on slips of paper — carving the turkey, cranberry sauce, a parade float, falling asleep after dinner. Players take turns acting them out without speaking while their team guesses. Players: 4–16 in two teams · Time: 15–20 minutes · You need: prompt cards, a bowl, a timer · Setup: 5 minutes to write the prompts.

3. Thanksgiving Trivia

Mix easy and tricky questions about history, food and family traditions — when was the first Thanksgiving, which state grows the most cranberries, who burnt the rolls in 2019? Play in teams, with kids and adults together so everyone can contribute. Players: 4–30 in teams · Time: 15–25 minutes · You need: a question sheet, pencils · Setup: 10 minutes to write the questions.

4. Gratitude Jar (Guess Who’s Grateful)

All day, everyone writes something they are thankful for on a slip of paper — without signing it — and drops it in a jar. After dinner, each person draws a slip, reads it aloud and guesses who wrote it. Players: any number · Time: all day, 10 minutes to play · You need: a jar, paper slips, pencils · Setup: 3 minutes.

5. Two Truths and a Pie

Each player shares three things about their year, and one of them is made up. The table votes on the fake, and you score a point for every person you fool. It works best with stories from real life — the wilder the truth, the harder it is to spot the lie. Players: 4–20 · Time: 10–15 minutes · You need: nothing · Setup: none.

6. Turkey Bowling

Line up empty toilet paper rolls like bowling pins and roll a small ball or an orange at them. Two rolls per turn, and the most pins wins. Kids love it because they can actually beat the adults. Players: 2–20 · Time: 10–15 minutes · You need: toilet paper rolls, a ball or orange · Setup: 5 minutes to set up the pins.

Games for Kids

7. Pin the Feather on the Turkey

Draw or print a big turkey without feathers, blindfold the player, spin them around once, and let them try to stick a paper feather on the right spot. The closest feather wins. Players: 3–20 · Time: 10 minutes · You need: a turkey poster, paper feathers, tape, a blindfold · Setup: 10 minutes to draw the turkey.

8. Roll a Turkey

Each roll of the die adds a part to your drawing: 1 is the head and body, 2 the eyes, 3 the feet, 4 a feather, 5 the beak and 6 the wattle. The first player to draw a complete turkey wins. Players: 2–12 · Time: 10–15 minutes · You need: paper, crayons, one die per player · Setup: 2 minutes.

9. Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt

Send the kids around the house or garden to find a leaf, something orange, something that smells like pie, and a fork. The first one back with everything wins a small prize. Players: 2–15 · Time: 15–20 minutes · You need: a printed list for each child, a small prize · Setup: 10 minutes to write the lists.

10. Turkey Waddle Relay

Players race across the room with a balloon squeezed between their knees, waddling like a turkey. If the balloon drops, they go back to the start. Run it as a relay so teams cheer each other on. Players: 4–20 · Time: 10 minutes · You need: balloons, two buckets or chairs as turn points · Setup: 3 minutes.

11. Gobble, Gobble, Turkey

A Thanksgiving version of duck, duck, goose for the little ones. The kids sit in a circle, one child walks around tapping heads and naming a food — “mashed potatoes, cranberry, stuffing” — until they tap someone and shout “turkey!” That child jumps up and chases them around the circle. Players: 6 or more · Time: 10–15 minutes · You need: nothing · Setup: none.

Games for Adults

12. Thanksgiving Would You Rather

Take turns asking impossible choices: would you rather eat stuffing for every meal for a month, or never eat pumpkin pie again? Would you rather cook the whole dinner, or wash every dish? The arguments are the fun part. Players: 3–20 · Time: 10–15 minutes · You need: nothing, or a list of questions · Setup: none.

13. Guess the Dish

Blindfold a player and give them a spoonful of a side dish to taste. They have to name the dish — and the cook who made it. Mashed potatoes with a secret ingredient and two kinds of stuffing make it harder than it sounds. Players: 4–16 · Time: 10 minutes · You need: small tasting bowls, spoons, a blindfold · Setup: 5 minutes to portion the dishes.

14. Thanksgiving Imposter

Everyone gets a secret word on their phone or a slip of paper — except one person, the imposter, who gets nothing. Players take turns saying one word as a clue, and after a few rounds everyone votes on who the imposter is. Players: 4–12 · Time: 10–15 minutes · You need: word slips or one phone passed around · Setup: 5 minutes to write the words.

15. Left-Right Thanksgiving Story

Everyone sits in a circle holding a small prize. One person reads a Thanksgiving story aloud: every time the story says “left,” everyone passes their prize left; every time it says “right,” it goes right. Whoever holds the prize at the end keeps it. Players: 6–20 · Time: 10 minutes · You need: a small prize, a printed story · Setup: 5 minutes to print the story.

16. Football Squares

Draw a 10-by-10 grid, let everyone buy squares for a dollar or a chore, then fill in the numbers 0–9 along the top and side. After each quarter of the football game, the person whose square matches the last digits of the score wins the pot. Players: 10–100 · Time: all game long · You need: a printed grid, a pen · Setup: 5 minutes to draw the grid.

Quick No-Prep Games

17. Thankful A to Z

Go around the table and name something you are thankful for, starting with each letter of the alphabet: A for apples, B for a warm bed, C for cousins. If someone gets stuck for more than ten seconds, they are out. Players: 3–20 · Time: 5–10 minutes · You need: nothing · Setup: none.

18. The Forbidden Word

Ban one word for the whole meal — “pie” is the classic. Every time someone says it, they get a tally mark on a slip of paper. The person with the fewest marks at dessert wins. It gets very hard once the pie actually arrives. Players: 3–30 · Time: all meal · You need: paper slips, pencils · Setup: 1 minute.

19. Thanksgiving 5-Second Game

Draw a prompt and name three things before five seconds run out: three things you would eat for Thanksgiving dinner, three things that rhyme with turkey, three reasons to be thankful. Fast and loud, perfect between courses. Players: 3–20 · Time: 5–10 minutes · You need: a list of prompts · Setup: 2 minutes.

20. Question Under the Plate

Before guests sit down, tape a question under each plate: “What was Thanksgiving like when you were a kid?”, “What is the weirdest side dish you have ever tried?”, “If our family wrote a cookbook, what recipe would you add?” Between courses, people flip their plates and answer. Players: 4–30 · Time: 10–15 minutes · You need: slips of paper, tape · Setup: 10 minutes to write the questions.

How to Plan Thanksgiving Game Time

You do not need to organize all 20 games. Pick four — one for each part of the day. Start with a warm-up game while guests arrive, play one at the table, get everyone moving after the meal, and finish with a quiet game before people leave. That is about 90 minutes of play, and most of it costs under $15.

Match the game to the moment. Active games like Turkey Bowling belong after dinner, when everyone needs to move. Seated games like bingo and trivia belong at the table. For mixed ages, pair younger children with older teammates, and let guests who prefer not to play help as scorekeepers or judges. Keep it light: the moment a game feels like homework, stop it.

Thanksgiving Day Games Schedule

Here is a simple schedule you can copy — shift the times to fit your dinner.

If you only have time for one game, make it bingo: it is simple enough for a five-year-old, yet surprisingly competitive once the adults get involved.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Planning too many games. Twenty games on a list does not mean twenty games on the day. Four is plenty — people need time to eat, talk and rest.

Picking games that are too long. A game that drags past 30 minutes loses the room, especially after a big meal. Keep each round short and end while people are still having fun.

Making games too complicated. If the rules take five minutes to explain, the game is too complicated for a holiday. The best Thanksgiving games need one sentence of rules.

Excluding the kids — or the grandparents. A game only the adults enjoy leaves half the table bored, and a game only the kids enjoy leaves the adults on their phones. Pick games where a five-year-old and an eighty-five-year-old can play together.

Forgetting the quiet guests. Not everyone wants to perform. Offer seated roles — scorekeeper, caller, judge — so shy guests can join in without being put on the spot.

Thanksgiving Games by Situation

Small family (4–6 people): Two Truths and a Pie, Thankful A to Z, the 5-Second Game and Guess the Dish work best — they need no teams and no supplies.

Big crowd (20+ people): Bingo, trivia in teams, Football Squares and the Scavenger Hunt scale up easily. Split into teams so nobody waits long for a turn.

After dinner, when everyone is sleepy: Keep it seated and gentle — the Gratitude Jar, Question Under the Plate, and a round of Would You Rather.

Friendsgiving: Would You Rather, the Left-Right Story and Thanksgiving Imposter suit a friends-only table, and a Leftover Auction — bidding on the food people want to take home — always gets laughs.

Rainy day, stuck indoors: Charades, Pictionary on a paper tablecloth, Roll a Turkey and the 5-Second Game all work in one room with no outdoor space.

Frequently Asked Questions about Thanksgiving Games

What are the best Thanksgiving games?

For most families: Thanksgiving bingo while guests arrive, trivia or charades after dinner, and one gratitude game at the table. These three cover every age, need almost no supplies, and take about 45 minutes.

What are good Thanksgiving games for kids?

Pin the Feather on the Turkey, Roll a Turkey, a Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt, Turkey Bowling and the Turkey Waddle Relay. They are active, simple to explain, and use things you already have at home — balloons, paper, crayons and toilet paper rolls.

What are good Thanksgiving games for adults?

Would You Rather, Guess the Dish, Thanksgiving Imposter, the Left-Right Story and Football Squares. They give adults a real competition without anyone having to run around.

Are there free Thanksgiving games?

Yes — almost all of them. Bingo cards, trivia questions, charades prompts and scavenger hunt lists can be made at home with paper and a pen for free. The only games that cost anything are the ones that need a small prize or a printed pack, and even those stay under a few dollars.

What Thanksgiving games need no supplies?

Two Truths and a Pie, Thankful A to Z, Would You Rather, the 5-Second Game and Gobble, Gobble, Turkey need nothing at all — no paper, no props, no setup. They are the best backup plan when you have forgotten to prepare anything.

What games can you play after Thanksgiving dinner?

Charades, trivia, Turkey Bowling and the Gratitude Jar work best after dinner, because they get people moving again after a big meal. Keep them seated and short if the room is sleepy — the Gratitude Jar and Would You Rather are gentle enough for a full stomach.