Among the many jobs of a tour director is a mingle-inducing, barrier breaking entertainer. While we sometimes play games just for the sake of having a good time, more often than not there is a method behind our madness. We have 50 strangers who are going to be forced together in community for the duration of the tour. Everyone is excited about the trip and leery that the other passengers are going to be buzz kills, annoying, or down right mean. You have passengers with wildly different backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, preferences, religions, and fears. It is your job to get them to be a family, not to simply endure each other, but cherish the time they spend together.

It has been my experience, with only a few exceptions, passengers want to have a good time. They want to be kind to each other and to make friends. Some people are extroverted enough that they will learn everyone’s name and send them holiday cards the rest of their lives. For most people, however, they need some prompting and help getting to know their new neighbors. Games and icebreakers are a great way to accomplish this objective.

Nowadays most people have their own devices with games and movies, so they are very content to live in their own little worlds on the coach. I have been personally amazed at how quickly my senior citizen groups have become just like my middle school groups, always on their phones and whining if the WI-FI goes out. In the past we would play games on the coach because passengers would get bored of looking out the windows when there was nothing new to see. Now we play games to get them to get off their devices and interact with their fellow passengers.

When we play a game or do an icebreaker we create a “group experience.” Something that they all were a part of, a memory forged together, a topic that can spurn other conversations and experiences together. That is one of the many benefits of having group experiences on the coach. You do not want them just to bond with you through your commentary and kindness, but to connect quickly with the others that are onboard so that they can enjoy the journey together.

To state the obvious, like anything, games can be overdone. Our guests need quiet on the coach to rest and to talk with each other (an important part of processing the trip and building community). They also need time on their devices to connect with family at home or unwind. 

Each group is going to be a little different and it is your job to gauge what the group needs. This can vary widely from trip to trip and group to group. Sometimes I have a group that takes a while to interact with each other and I need to do several things to get them talking and comfortable with each other. Sometimes I have a group that gels so quickly that I don’t do the games I have planned because I don’t want to interrupt all the great conversations that are happening in that moment. I find it is best to have a wide variety of games/icebreakers in my toolbox so that I am ready when I need them.

When it comes to games on any given tour there are two main categories

1. Tie-In/Educational: Games that teach or test passenger’s knowledge of things they will experience on the tour. (Ex. Trivia, seasonal crossword puzzle, local scavenger hunt, etc.)
2. General: Does not tie into anything in particular but serves a purpose, building community or providing group fun on a long day.

While having games that are specific to each tour is fantastic that can be very labor intensive when you have many different trips. It is easiest to work on your general games (that you can use in most situations) than having to constantly be creating new games. Just like with commentary, if you can create something great that you can use in many different situations you save yourself work.

Today I want to cover:

• How to Lead a Memorable Game
• Guidelines for Leading Games
• Game Playing Ideas

How to Lead a Memorable Game

Before we get to some game specifics, let’s talk about how you lead a game. Everyone thinks playing games is child’s play. While that may be true, leading a game does take some work. We all can think of a time where someone was leading games and it went horribly bad because they were not prepared and did not do a good job getting the group excited about the game or keep the game going or provide any motivation to play. 

Watch any TV game show and you will get some great tips on building excitement and keeping it going. Think of how the host have to come up with creative ways to say the same things, to raise the stakes, to make it personal, etc.

The best illustration I can think of is: Think of leading a game like recruiting a group of strangers to go on hike with you and then leading them on that hike.

Step #1: You have to convince them that going on this journey with you is going to be worth it.

“I hope you are all ready for the greatest game of Bingo in your lives. I have been waiting for days to be able to play this with you. We have illustrious prizes from the dollar store, and I know you all want one. But you cannot all be winners. I cannot guarantee that if you play you will win, but I know with certainty that if you do not play you will not win.”

“We are in the final stretch of our ride today, but since we are just going down the interstate and I think you have had enough of the pine trees that line this road…We are going to do a little something together that I know you will enjoy. This is going to be a chance for you to work with your neighbors to solve some riddles. How many of you are good at riddles? How many of you are bad at riddles? There is no shame.  Let’s get started”

See how those introductions create a desire to be involved, build up energy that it is going to be fun? Compare that to, “well, I photocopied some games I found to kill some time. They are here somewhere in my bag. When I find them, I guess I will pass them out and we can try to do them or whatever.” 

Step #2: Once they have joined you on the journey, you need to change into the motivator/cheerleader guiding and ensuring they are having a good time.

1. For Interactive Games that you lead

Channel your inner game show host! Think about how quickly gameshows would get finished if they just played the game. But they don’t just play the game, there is not one of them that does not ask about the background of the person playing. Or make inside jokes, or dramatically postpone telling whether someone is correct or not. It is not only to delay and make you watch longer so you see more commercials and they make more money. It is because you really would not care at all if there was no human element to the game. When watching a gameshow you have absolutely nothing on the line, you are not going to win and you are not going to lose. Yet you are taking time to watch a stranger compete for money they did not earn and you cry with them when they lose. Why? Because you connected with them in some way and you did that because the host made it personal. Take away the lights, dramatic music, and the prizes and at the core of all those gameshows is a connection to another human being, joining them in their story for those few minutes. You may be cheering for them or against them, but you are connecting to them in that moment.

            You may feel like that is a way too philosophical look at game shows but I believe it is the reason why we watch them. How does this translate to leading a game where you are giving away not one million dollars, but a piece of candy? True the stakes are not as high, but the general principles still apply. They are:

• Make it personal. Use people’s name when you call on them. If you don’t know them well enough tell them that you are going to treat the game like a gameshow and ask, “Tell us your name and where you are from”. Then interact with them, “How did you get to Nebraska”, or “How do you celebrate Christmas at the beach in flip flops?”, or “What made you want to come on this trip”
• Don’t just say whether they have the correct answer. “What makes you think that is correct?”, or “is that your wife with you, does she think that is the correct answer?”, or “You answered really confidently, is that because you know or because you like to appear like you know?”, or “Why do you know so much about this subject?”. The purpose of all of these is to get an insight or funny comment out of the other person. By doing this the people who are not answering are enjoying the game because it is interactive.
• Follow-up with a question. “You trusted your wife on that one, is she usually correct?”, or “You were lucky on that one, should we stop at a convenience store so you can get us all lottery tickets?”
• Running jokes are the best. For some personalities this is easier than others, but often you will have passengers that will provide these for you. If you have a wife in the beginning who says that her husband, Frank, has never been wrong in his life. To which he laughingly says, “That is true”. Go with it, if someone is stuck on a question say “Why don’t ask Frank?” When you create this sort of back and forth generally the group will join in and it is very interactive and fun. If you are making fun and harmless comments throughout the passengers will do it as well.
• Remember the purpose of the game. A good game show host knows that their audience is the larger audience, not the person that is in front of them. They are catering to the attention span of the entire group. While the competitive folks will be foaming at the mouth to win, the purpose of the game is to have fun and bring the group together. You have to foster that atmosphere. Keep your comments light and fun, never demeaning anyone for not knowing an answer, or coming across condescending. When you keep it personal and not about winning you will have guests makes comments like, “I didn’t win anything, but I had a great time”, “I never have liked games but that was a lot of fun”, “We have such a great group”, “Wasn’t that so funny when _____ said ______, that was worth the game”.
• Keep your eye on the clock. A good game show host knows when to get down to business and cut the chit chat. I know I just spent the last bit telling you to interact with your guests and now I am telling you to move the game along. That is the balance of being a good host, feeling out the group. If they are enjoying the banter or if they are starting to become disinterested or look out the windows or get their phones out. This, like any skill, takes practice. When you are done with a game and the passengers are talking amongst themselves do a little evaluation in your head. What went well? Where did it feel awkward? What do you never want to do again? And so forth. You will build up a library of funny comments and ways to get the group interacting and it will become second nature.

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Returning to the analogy of taking them on a hike, you need to have some water breaks along the way. If it is an interactive game like Bingo or Trivia then have some breaks where you tell a short funny story. You should have a little collection of short funny stories from your life or travels that can fill a little time, give them a little break or a laugh. You can tie them very easily, “speaking of _____….” “That reminds me _____” “This traffic reminds me…”. Or you can do like a stand-up comic and change the subject, “Did I ever tell you about when my uncle went on a coach tour?” “Yesterday while we were at lunch…” “Did you know I once was in the Olympics?” “Some of you have been asking me about…” I have found that passengers love these little tidbits. After I have done a few they start to laugh even when I am setting it up because they know something funny is coming. You can also take an actual break, it could be a candy break where you come through and give out candy, or you can just say we are going to take a five minute commercial break so you can chat for a moment or do some research online for out next round of trivia.

As a testimonial, after years of doing this I have gotten pretty good at it. I had a trip where there was an accident on the interstate and we were stuck for two hours. It was at the end of a long trip and I had used most of my go to games already, but there were bingo cards on the coach. We played BINGO for two hours. When traffic started moving, after everyone cheered they said, “Do we have to stop playing bingo? Just a few more games please!”.  That is a testament to the fact that the game was about the group and interacting with each other and not about the cheap prizes they were getting (which many just handed back to me). *a note on Bingo: this seems one that is hard to make personal since you are just calling out numbers, but you can interact with the winners, really ham up presenting the prizes like they are amazing (listing all their uses, or giving a backstory of their invention), and also adding your little stories throughout as breaks.

2. For Handout Games where the first few to complete it win.

• Have everyone start at the same time. Personally hand out the paper and give it to them face down with the instructions that they are not to turn it over until they are instructed so that everyone starts at the same time. Not only does this keep it fair, but it also adds anticipation and allows you to give the instructions right before they start so they are clear and ready to go.
• Timing: Unless there is a solid reason, I generally do not put a time frame on completing the challenge. Instead, I will say the first to finish will win. Then I observe how into the handout they are. If they seem to start giving up and talking to each other then I will say, 3 more minutes and we will see who has the most (instead of waiting for someone to have them all).
• Teamwork makes the dream work. While handouts are generally a one person challenge you can put them into teams of 2-4 people. That way they get to interact with each other and it is fun to watch them try to help each other without letting the teams around them hear all of their answers. If you are going to allow people to work together be mindful of the singles on your tour. If you tell people that they can work in pairs and all the couples pair up the singles are stuck with playing by themselves of awkwardly getting up to walk to another single and ask them if they want to play. I generally say teams of 3-4 people and that solves the issue.
• Keep the energy up. You can still keep up the energy and interact with handouts as well, getting on the mic a few times and asking, “How many do you still need?” “It look likes Frank’s team is getting close”
• Having fun with checking answers. When it comes time to go through and check the answers, don’t just read them off, use some of the tips from earlier in this article.
  • For some of the questions ask the whole group to answer
  • For others ask a specific team
  • Ask them follow-up questions
  • On answers that are divided among the group have them raise their hands if they think the answer was_____ or ______
  • Have them clap if you got the correct answer (or say “oh yeah”, “I knew it”, etc.)
  • When you have done five questions ask, “How many have gotten all five correct so far?” 4? 3? 2? 1? (repeat at 10 and 15 and then the end)
  • Embrace a challenge. If someone challenges an answer go with it. “I could be wrong, how many of you think that could be the answer? Let’s google it and see…” Make a production of it and if you are wrong, admit it (passengers love to see that you are fallible)

Step #3 Now that the hike is done, lead them in a celebration of the good times that were had and leave them wanting more adventures with you.

This does not need to be a drawn out affair, you are not leaving your high school friends for the last time in your life. But the way you end the game is going to affect how much they will want to play another one later, or in a more general sense, how they will view following you as their tour leader. Obviously it depends on what happened in the game, but it could be as simple as, “Wow, what a great group. Who knew that Tony was an expert on sushi or that Tina blames her sister Carol when she gets an answer wrong? You all did great with that trivia, but no one could catch up with Susan she won by a long shot. You should all get her number in case you are on “who wants to be a millionaire?” and need a lifeline. I know she will cherish that bookmark for years to come. We have much more fun coming our way today and for the rest of our tour together. I want to give you some time to just talk with your neighbor, thanks so much for playing.” Simple recap and excitement for what is ahead.

Hopefully this little analogy will help you as you prepare to lead your next game. Convince them to join you on an exciting journey. Walk alongside them, getting to know them and cheering them on during the journey. Finally celebrating and reminiscing the journey together at the end. Obviously your personality is going to play a huge part in all of this. Find what is authentic to you and lead in that way. Just because you are not a “life of the party” person does not mean that you can’t become great at leading games. That is the beauty of our work, we have a different audience each week. So you can try something out, step out of your comfort zone a little and see if it works. If not try something else the next week. You will find the right balance of being who you are and who you need to be in the different situations you face as a tour guide. Now let’s talk about some things to consider as you choose, set up and play games.

Guidelines for Games:

1. Unless it is vital for some reason do not force people to play if they do not want to be involved. This is for several reasons:
   • These are adults and do not like not having choices, they already are being forced to do a lot of things on this trip that they would normally choose to avoid, so it is nice to have a choice. (You can force your students as they are used to classrooms and having to participate, but there is merit in treating them like adults. Though if it is an educational game I ask the teacher what they would prefer. Generally they want them to do all the educational things together) 
   • When people have chosen to participate in something of their own will, they generally are more excited than if it was forced. Even if they would have chosen to play in the first place.
   • You are basically demonstrating that they have a choice to follow and then you are showing them there is a reward in trusting you when you provide a good experience. Even those who do not choose to play see the fun that others are having and learn that lesson. This trust will come in handy later in the trip when you have to ask them to do things they may be hesitant to do (“I know that it is raining, but this is a once in a lifetime sight…follow me!”, “Trust me, the views on this walk are worth it”).
   • You never know why they do not want to participate. It gives them an easy out if they are not able to actually play. On my tours I have had adults who never learned to read, or they could not write or see clearly. Obviously, whenever I am told about an issue I do my best to find a way for them to be involved if they would like, but sometimes people do not want to tell you why.
     • I had a deaf man on board that wanted to play bingo with the group, so I brought him up to my seat so I could visually show him the card I was calling and gave a little extra time so he could look at it and check his card.
     • I had a deaf and mute woman on a tour who was very funny and had a lot of comments to make. I texted her before a game (that I was showing on the coach screens so she could read it) telling her that if she wanted to answer she could raise her hand and then text me and I would read it. This worked out great.
   • And of course there will be those few grumpy people that you do not actually want to play, and if you force them all they will do is complain or annoy the people around them with their comments.
2. Safety, Safety, Safety! You have to always consider the fact that you are on a moving vehicle and you never want to have your passengers in a position where they could get hurt. Do not ever have a game with them moving around in an unsafe way. When people are excited and having a good time and wanting to win, the last thing they are thinking about is holding on or what would happen if the driver slams on the brakes. The last thing you want to say at a press conference is, “Well I had all the kids in the aisle trying to keep balloons in the air. They were having such fun before they went through the windshield!” Think through how the game can be done in a safe way. Even in the simple things of saying they must be seated, at all times (since younger kids think if they stand when they raise their hand you are more likely to call on them). And even for senior citizens if you are doing an icebreaker and they are getting to know their neighbors there will be those that will want to get up and walk over to meet others. Make it clear from the start that they need to stay seated and they can talk with the others at breaks or tomorrow when the seats are rotated and they have new neighbors.
3. Have Purpose and Balance– As I have alluded to previously, don’t overdue games. Having a purpose for what you are wanting to accomplish will help give balance to your overall programming. If your purpose is to get your group to know one another, do not interrupt them if they are all talking to play an icebreaker. Your purpose is already being accomplished, you may actually hinder it by forcing them to be quiet and play a game!

Game Playing Ideas:

Prizes: Prizes do not have to cost a lot. You often get little trinkets from places along the way for bringing the group. You can stock up on some fun things at the dollar store. Even just giving candy out is a win.

When someone wins a prize pass it through the coach to get everyone involved. This allows other people to see it, gives them a chance to move a little and see their neighbor behind them. You can make it fun in giving funny ways they must pass the prize back:

• Can only use their left hand
• Can only your fingers no thumbs
• Can only touch it with the tips of their fingers
• Can only use the palms of their hands
• Can only use the backs of their hands

Consider giving privileges as prizes, winner gets:

• Off the coach first (next stop, next meal, all day, etc.)
• To be the first of the group to do an activity (first to ride on the dogsled, first to meet an entertainer, first to be seated at a restaurant, etc.)
• Be creative

Often people just enjoy playing for the fun of it, so don’t be afraid to say we are just going to play for fun on this one there is no prize. Just always let them know ahead of time so they are not disappointed. Some personalities have a hard time when their expectations are not met!

Prizes for Losers: Be creative in how you give out prizes. Don’t announce this at the beginning but after a trivia game and everyone has tallied their scores, give a prize to the person with the lowest score. Have the driver pick a number between 0 and the number of questions and if there was someone who had that number correct they get a prize (if there is a tie you can pick several of the questions at random and whoever had more of those correct gets it).

Picking Teams:

• Think through the game to decide if the team members need to talk with each other and need to all be in the same section or if they can be scattered out throughout the coach.
• 2 teams
  • Right and Left
  • Men vs. women
  • Students vs chaperones
• 4 teams
  • split the coach in the middle of the group creating four corners (front right, front left, back right, back left)
• Once you have picked teams, let the teams pick a name for themselves. This makes it much more fun than just team 1 verse team 2. If you have an adult group that you don’t think will get excited about picking their own name together as a team, then just pick one person out of the team to come up with a team name.

Trivia: One of the pitfalls of trivia is that one person can answer everything.

• Each person can only answer a certain number of times
• If no one can answer then they are allowed to try (this keeps them engaged, otherwise they check out after they are done and don’t play along)
• *For student groups, it is important to say from the beginning whether you want the adults to be involved. I cannot tell you how many times I have had teachers shout out the answers for every question (to which I wanted to say, “l hope you know these history questions since you are the history teacher!”). I also tell them not to bail the kids out. So many teachers or parents feel the need to straight up tell a kid an answer if they don’t know it…that does not help them learn. I even have a teacher who was texting her kids the answers…and she wonders why those kids don’t study for her class. If you do have teachers/parents that really want to be involved, play a round for them that the students get to ask the questions. Here is my spiel on the first day of a student trip, “Chaperones- We know that this tour is for the students. But I want to thank you for volunteering your time (have kids clap for them), and even though this is a “working” tour and not a vacation for you I also want you to have fun. Chaperones and teachers, I want you to learn as well, but the questions I ask on the coach are for the students, please do not give them answers. Students if they give you an answer, tell them “I want to learn”. Not that I think any kid is going to say that to a teacher, but it seems to bring the point home to the adults.

Check out some of my favorite games in my articles for on board coach or student tours.