Disaster survivors who live through long blackouts, sieges or isolation often say the same surprising thing: after the fear wears off, the enemy is boredom. Days without screens are long, and long idle days are hard on morale and on group harmony. Fun is not frivolous in a crisis. It is maintenance. Here are twelve games and activities that need nothing but people and whatever is lying around.
Games for a group
1. Mafia (or Werewolf). A secret-role game where a few players are secretly villains and everyone else has to work out who. It needs only a moderator and some folded paper, and it scales from six players to twenty. Fitting, too, since it’s a game about deciding whom to trust.
2. Charades and Pictionary. Both need nothing but paper, a pencil and a willingness to look ridiculous. Use the titles of movies nobody will ever see again.
3. Twenty Questions. Ideal for long walks and night watches, since it’s quiet and needs no light.
4. Card games. A single deck of cards covers dozens of games, including Hearts, Spades, Rummy, Crazy Eights, Cribbage and solitaire for slow nights. It weighs almost nothing and belongs in every emergency kit.
Games that keep you moving
5. Capture the Flag. Teams, strategy, stealth and running, which is also a fair rehearsal for scouting and teamwork.
6. Zombie Tag. One player starts as a zombie; anyone tagged becomes one too, until the last human standing wins. Set clear boundaries well inside your safe area.
7. Kick the Can. A classic hide-and-seek variant that kids and adults both love, and an excellent way to learn every hiding place near camp.
Creative contests
8. The Great Apocalypse Cook-Off. Everyone gets the same limited pantry ingredients and an hour. Judge on taste, creativity and how little was wasted. Our pantry recipes make good starting points.
9. Survivors’ Talent Show. Songs, stories, impressions, magic tricks, juggling. You will learn who can do what, which is useful information as well as entertainment.
10. Scrap Art. Give everyone a pile of salvaged junk and see what they build. The results tend to end up as decorations, and occasionally as useful tools.
Quieter pleasures
11. Book club and read-aloud nights. Reading aloud by firelight is how families passed winter evenings for centuries, and it stretches a small library a long way. See our apocalypse reading list for ideas, though you may prefer something cheerier.
12. Singing. No instruments needed, though a few spoons, a bucket and a comb wrapped in paper make a perfectly good band. Our apocalypse playlists have suggestions, if you can remember the words.
One rule for all of these: keep someone on watch. Play is when groups are loudest and least alert.
What’s your favorite no-power game? Tell us in the comments, especially if it’s one we’ve never heard of.