There’s nothing like setting up camp somewhere and enjoying the sounds of nature, and that goes double if you’re with good company. Whether it’s family or a group of friends, there are lots of games to play around the campfire that can make an evening come alive!
Let’s dive into the ultimate list of campfire games!
Adult campfire games
Cards Against Humanity
Number of people: 3+ (ideally at least 4)
What you need: Cards Against Humanity set, an active imagination, a dirty mind (optional)
You may want to put the kids to bed (ehm, sleeping bag?) for this one, but it’s one of the best adult games to play while camping at night.
Each Cards Against Humanity deck is made up of black and white cards. The black cards feature incomplete prompts, and players need to fill in the blanks with a white card.
Each round, a player acts as the Card Tzar, reading out the prompt on the black card. The other players are dealt ten white cards each, and they place one face down in a group pile.
Once every player has placed a card, the pile is shuffled. Then, the Card Tzar reads out every black card-white card combination, before voting for the funniest one.
Never Have I Ever
Number of people: 3+
What you need: Alcohol (optional), plastic cups (optional)
You can have lots of fun with this one without alcohol, but it’s hard to deny it’s one of the best campfire drinking games you could play.
If you’re a fan of games like Truth or Dare, Never Have I Ever is like its older, more twisted cousin who loves to put you on the spot!
Players take turns saying a statement about themselves starting with “Never have I ever”, and whoever’s done the action has to take a shot or raise their hand.
In the most fun version of the game, if only a single person in the circle has done the action, they have to tell the full story of what happened.
You can imagine things get pretty spicy with this game, especially if you don’t know everyone in the circle all too intimately!
Beer pong
Number of people: 2+ (ideally at least 4)
What you’ll need: Beer, plastic cups, ping pong balls, foldable/picnic table
This one’s a tried-and-true classic, and it’s especially fun when you’re camping in the middle of nowhere and can afford to get a bit rowdy.
Fill a number of plastic cups with beer, and place them on both sides of a picnic table. Teams take turns throwing a ping pong ball into the opposing side’s cups. If one of the balls lands inside a cup, someone from the opposing team has to chug the contents.
One way to play the game is to have everyone take turns drinking. On the other hand, there’s often that one brave player who “takes one for the team” and downs several cups in a row.
The tipsier people get, the harder the game becomes - you’re guaranteed to have a good laugh by the end of it!
Campfire games for kids
I Spy
Number of people: 2+ (ideally at least 3)
What you need: /
Small children usually get a kick out of this game, and it’s twice the fun for them when you’re out in nature.
The game probably needs no introduction, but here it goes - players take turns looking around for an object, and they say the first letter out loud.
The other players have to guess what the object in question is. Depending on your campsite, your kids might get pretty creative with their picks!
Broken Telephone
Number of people: 5+
What you need: /
This can be one of the best games to play around the campfire regardless of age, but children tend to make it that much funnier.
The group huddles around a campfire, and one person whispers a sentence or phrase into the ear of the person sitting next to them. This person then passes on what they heard to the next guy or gal, and it continues until you go full circle.
In the end, the person who started the circle repeats the original phrase out loud.
For obvious reasons, you’ll want to start out with something convoluted to make things harder. It’s always cute when the final version sounds nothing like the original!
Do a magic show
Number of people: 2+
What you need: Magic kit
Kids tend to adore silly camp games, and they especially like it when they feel they fooled the adults. That’s why you should buy them a magic kit and let them channel their inner Houdini!
A quality box set lets children pull off dozens, if not hundreds of different tricks. Give them enough time to practice, and you could be in for the magic show of a lifetime.
Campfire activities for adults & kids
Playing guitar by the firepit
Number of people: 2+
What you need: Guitar (or any other portable instrument)
It’s a bit of a cliche at this point, but having a singalong by the firepit is a time-tested way of getting people’s spirits up.
You don’t have to be much of a musician to learn some basic singalong tunes. Hearing a wonky version of Wonderwall by the crackling fire is a rite of passage among people who enjoy camping!
Even if you don’t have any instruments, you can make do with random tins or even just hand claps. After all, the point is to have everyone singing along!
Charades
Number of people: 2+ (ideally at least 3)
What you need: Charades kit or app (optional)
This is a great campfire game for families, although there’s arguably no setting where it isn’t fun.
One player thinks of a person or event and reenacts it with pantomime and other bodily gestures. The goal of the other players is to guess what the imitator is doing.
If you don’t feel like coming up with ideas, you can always fall back on a Charades kit or download an app to streamline the game.
Mafia
Number of people: 4+ (ideally at least 8)
What you need: Playing cards (optional)
This is the ultimate camping game if you have a competitive spirit and enjoy calling people’s bluffs.
In short, people are divided into doctors, sheriffs, civilians, a mayor, and mafia members. The objective is for the players to successfully identify the mafia.
The rules take some getting used to (you can have a look at them here), but the payoff is that the game is extremely dynamic in the right company.
All in all, you can expect a lot of double-crossing, on-the-spot thinking, and method acting!
