Previously, we introduced you to 5 Games to Play with Your Radio Station Listeners and even suggested 5 more games for your audience to play. Now, we're approaching our radio games series from a different angle and listing 5 games that you can play not with listeners, but with special guests!
Playing an impromptu game with a guest is a great way to make your broadcast more entertaining for your audience. People will be hooked as they listen to what's happening across the radio waves, rooting for someone in your studio to win!
There's just one question...what games are best to play when radio is a specifically audial medium? It's not like your listeners can see what's going on if you play a game of Charades or Rock, Paper, Scissors.
We totally understand that problem. For this list, we're including radio games that are not only exhilarating, but best suited for an audio format. They also work for podcast guests, too! Feel free to copy each game's rules word-for-word or spice things up by adding your own unique elements.
Without further ado, here are our recommendations!
The Whisper Challenge
This game comes from the radio station WKDQ. It involves two players: one who wears headphones with the volume turned way up, and the second player who must whisper a word to their partner. The player with headphones must guess what the other person is trying to say. Whoever guesses the most whispered words correctly wins.
Make sure to create flash cards with words on the back so your players can be surprised and your headphoned player can't guess the word early. To make the game more accessible to listeners, we recommend having a player or host state the word to the audience beforehand or making sure the whispering players very clearly mouth their words into the microphone - ASMR style!
Since music will be turned up loud in one person's ears, you don't necessarily have to whisper words. Just talking at a low volume would be enough to clue listeners in while keeping your guest guessing!
Below is a video of the Whisper Challenge in action. It features the WKDQ team with their guest, Stacey Godbold.
You Laugh, You Lose
This is a simple-yet-effective game that can be played in a variety of different formats. All it entails is two players trying to make each other laugh using various jokes and verbal tactics. Whoever is the first to laugh wins!
You can have the two players exchange cheesy knock-knock jokes, funny stories, or do it like BBC Radio and have your guests exchange silly playground insults! You can either have the first person to laugh loudly lose, or raise the stakes and ban light chuckling altogether. It's up to you!
The Birthday Cake Game
This game works best with more than one guest. The Birthday Cake Game is a comedic quiz originally hosted by BBC 4's Richard Osman where guests must prove they are the best at working out random peoples' ages.
First, gather up a list of (living) celebrities. Have a host name each celebrity to the players. The players must guess the exact age of the celebrity. They can't say, "oh, Willem Dafoe is in his 60's"...it must be an exact number! Whoever's number is closest to the real age of the celebrity wins the round.
To make things more challenging, we recommend playing by The Price Is Right rules. Basically, if a player's numbered guess goes over the actual age of the celebrity, their answer doesn't count. The next closest guess that is exactly or under the age of the celebrity wins.
Throw some curveballs into the mix and add celebs who look younger or older than they are! It's really fun listening to your guests try to work out someone's age when they don't have a clue.
Remember Your Own Lyrics
Play this game with guests who are singers and have a list of songs you can play on-air! This activity is the same as the "Complete the Song Lyrics" game we mentioned on our first radio station games guide, but far more personal.
First, tell your musical guest you are going to play 3-4 of their songs. You'll stop each song at a certain point and they must sing a couple lines past the last lyrics heard. Start easy with popular songs the singer should know by heart. Then make things harder with older songs from their past or lesser-known songs in their discography! You and your listeners will be surprised to see what they know and don't know.
Guess the Sound
This game is usually played at high stakes with radio station listeners, but we think it's much more fun when it's a laid-back challenge with a special guest or two!
First, take some time before the game to record and gather random sound effects. For example: button snaps, wild animal calls, or the sound of a water bottle crushing. If you're having a hard time looking for sound effects, make sure to check out Live365's sound effects website directory here.
Once you've got all your sound recordings, play them for your special guest on-air and have them try and guess what they're hearing. The grosser, funnier, creepier, or weirder the sound is, the better! Those who tune into your station will have a fun time guessing along with the player and listening to them work out what they think the sound could be.
And with that, we're done with our radio station guest game recommendations! If we have any more game ideas for guests in the future, we'll let you know with a part 2 of this guide! But for now, go play some games, and happy broadcasting!
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Article Image: Two radio broadcasters have fun in their studio, laughing and playfully shoulder-bumping each other. (Kzenon via DepositPhotos.)
