Four on the Couch Help our collection grow -
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Submitted by: Tommy on 04-Feb-2009

Game categories: Team building games, Relaxing games, Icebreaker games, Bible games

Materials: One chair for each person + one extra, one couch (optional)

Object:
To have only your gender sitting on the couch.

Set-Up:
If you don't have a couch large enough to fit four people, just designate four chairs as the "couch." Circle the rest of the chairs, with the couch include in the perimeter of the circle.

Divide the group into two teams, guys versus girls (if you have a larger number of one gender, someone will have to play for the other gender's team). Have them sit boy-girl-boy-girl in the chairs and on the couch, but leave the chair by to the left of the couch empty.

Have everyone write their name on a slip of paper, fold it up, and put it in a cup. Shake the cup and have everyone draw a name from the cup without letting anyone else see what it is. The name they have drawn from the cup is their name until they get a new one.

Instructions:
The person the to left of the empty chair calls out the name of someone sitting in the circle. The person who drew that name (NOT the person actually named that) sits in the empty chair and trades names with the person who just called them. Now there is an empty chair and the person to the left of the new empty chair calls out a different name. Play continues until only one gender (team) is sitting on the couch.

Rules:
After a name has been called it cannot be called again until after a different name is called (e.g. if the person sitting next to the empty chair calls out "Tom", the next person to call out a name can't say "Tom" but the person after him can).

Example round:

Sally, who is holding the name "Mike", is sitting to the left of the empty chair. She calls out "Tom". Betty, who was sitting on the couch, has the name "Tom" and must sit in the empty chair, leaving an empty space on the couch. When Betty sits down, she and Sally trade names so that Sally now has "Tom" and Betty now has "Mike".

Mike, who is sitting on the couch to the left of the empty seat and has the name "Sue", cannot call the name "Tom" because it was just called. He wants to get a guy on the couch, so he calls the name "Cindy". Tom, who has the name "Cindy", goes and sits on the couch next to Mike. They trade names, so Mike now has the name "Cindy" and Tom now has the name "Sue".

Looking for more youth group icebreaker games? Check out our ice breaker games.