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    You are here: Home / Games / Fun Pen and Paper Games to Cure Boredom

     

    Fun Pen and Paper Games to Cure Boredom

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    Everyone should know how to play pen and paper games! They make great icebreakers, waiting games, quick boredom busters, and fun activities for gatherings with friends or family.

    And best of all? All your need is a pen or pencil and paper to play!

    Fun pen and paper games come in several types. There are drawing games for one or more players, two player games of strategy and logic, of which the most well-known is tic-tac-toe (a.k.a. noughts and crosses), and paper games that can be played with two or more players. So whatever situation you find yourself it, there is a pen and paper game for every occasion!

    Single Player Pen and Paper Games

    Most of these pen or pencil and paper games are suitable for more than one player as well! Children can collaborate on the activity with another person, or they can play them side by side.

    Blind Drawing. Grab a pencil and paper, take a look around you and pick one object. Close your eyes and try to draw it without picking up your pencil!

    Word Flip. Click here to read the full instructions for the funny flips game. This is a fun pen and paper game to practice grammar skills and make you laugh. When you're done, pass the game off to another person if possible and have them put together sentences with your creation.

    Open example of fun word games for kids

    Drawing Game. Based on the game exquisite corpse, this is a flip picture game. While it can be played by just one person, getting another artist into the action to alternate drawing the body parts will increase the fun. Watch the video below to see how it is done.

    Two Players

    These pen and paper games require two players. Some of the games require that players have pens of different colors.

    Dot and box pen and paper game

    Dots and Boxes. You can't go wrong with this classic pencil and paper game! You can use graph paper, but it's not necessary; simply plot out dots in an array. Watch the video below to see how to play!

    Hangman. This game needs no explanation, but I'll give it to you anyway. One person thinks of a word and draws dashes along a paper to represent each letter in the word. Above the dashes he draws platform and stand. The other person guesses one letter at a time. If the letter is in the word, the first person fills in the blank(s). If not, the incorrect letter is written below and the first person draws one body part at a time.  If the person guesses the word before the body is completed (head, torso, 2 arms, 2 legs), he wins, if not -- well, he loses.

    Hangman paper game

    Apple Tree. This is a less-macabre version of the old favorite, Hangman.  One person thinks of a word and draws dashes along a paper to represent each letter in the word. Above the dashes he draws a tree with 7 apples. The other person guesses one letter at a time. If the letter is in the word, the first person fills in the blank(s). If not, the incorrect letter is written inside one of the apples.  If the person guesses the word before all the apples are filled, he wins, if not -- well, he loses.


    MORE: 8 Variations on Tic-Tac-Toe


    Bridges. Begin by drawing an abstract shape and dividing it into sections, 30-50 sections is ideal. (see photo below) Taking turns and using different colors, players build bridges by starting in one section, crossing a second, and ending in a third section. Players may not start, cross or end in a section that has previously been used. Players alternate building bridges until no bridges can no longer be built. The last player to build a bridge wins.

    Nim. Nim is a very old game that is usually played with stones or tokens. But it's also a game that can be played with pen and paper. Draw 1, 3, 5, and 7 marks in the shape of a pyramid as shown in the illustration. The objective is to force your opponent to cross out the last remaining mark. Players alternate turns crossing out as many marks as they wish on each turn. However, they can only cross out marks on one line per turn.

    Play Nim with pencil and paper

    I have a variation of a Nim subtraction-type game here, or watch the video below:

    Sim. Click here to read the full Sim instructions. Draw six dots as the vertices of a hexagon. Players alternate drawing lines from dot to dot in their own color. The first person who is forced to draw a triangle formed from their own color and three of the vertices loses.

    S

    Lasso. Draw a grid of dots on paper, as many or as few as you want. You can experiment to see how many dots you prefer. Taking turns players start at one dot, draw a line to any other dot and circle it. Lines must stay within the confines of the grid. You may only circle a dot that has not yet been used and your line may not bisect any other line. You may start on a dot that has already been used as a starting point. When there are no available moves left, the last person to draw a lasso wins.

    Lasso pen and paper game

    Tandem Drawing. This is a very enjoyable, low-stress way to connect with your child. Watch the video to see how it's done!

    Two or More Players

    These pen and paper games work well when you have more than two players. Potentially, you could try playing Bridges and Lasso (see above) as three person games.

    Unscramble. Write a list of 10 words, but instead of spelling them correctly, mix up the letters and challenge your opponent(s) to unscramble them. To make it a little more fun, select all words from a single category. For example: kcae, kieooc, epi, ssertde, eci mreac become cake, cookie, pie, dessert, ice cream. The first player to unscramble all the words wins.

    Words Within A Word. Write out a long word on a piece of paper or a white board if you have one. Set a timer for 3-5 minutes and everyone tries to find as many smaller words as they can using only the letters in the designated word. (See photo below for an example.)

    Words in word pen and paper game

    What pen and paper games will you play today?

    More games here:

    • 20 screen-free waiting games
    • Memory games - no screens necessary!
    • 15 word games
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Leslie Guhl says

      May 15, 2020 at 10:29 am

      Wonderful ideas! Thank you for compiling them.

      Reply
      • Sam L says

        November 10, 2020 at 7:25 pm

        I cant play spelling game with my kid she cant spell from a leaning problem, and most of these you need 2 or more players or need to spell!! Next time think of game for all people. Not to sound rude though i thought the games you have seen fun and easy!! I just wish there were more games for people like my son.

        Reply
        • Amanda Walkers says

          January 23, 2021 at 6:07 pm

          Is your kid a girl or boy because you said "she cant spell from a leaning problem" and then you said " I just wish there were more games for people like my son."

          Reply
    2. Sophia says

      September 28, 2020 at 7:17 pm

      Thanks for these pen and paper games, we love it! For short, we call them PP games.

      Reply
    3. Mrs. Clark says

      February 11, 2021 at 4:34 pm

      I am a virtual teacher for a large inner city urban district. I am always encouraging my students to get off the computer and these games will help! I always tell them to go look outside at the weather. Or go see if the sun is shining? They spend too much time just sitting and getting. So we do a lot of brain breaks and movement breaks.

      Thank you for putting these together! I appreciate you and your hard work.

      Reply
      • Erica says

        February 17, 2021 at 11:38 am

        So glad you found the games useful!

        Reply
    4. S. says

      July 30, 2021 at 9:10 am

      I love these games!!!!!
      Thank you for sharing!

      Reply
    5. Anuradha Joshi says

      October 19, 2021 at 4:42 am

      Thank you so much for these games... I'll definitely play this with my child...

      Reply
    6. RIck Nordal says

      August 28, 2022 at 10:38 pm

      Check out the new Trxilt paper and pen game.

      Go to Chapter 14 on this web page: https://trxiltgames.wixsite.com/trxilt-game

      For 2 players, ages 4 to adult. Game time: 5 minutes.

      Trxilt can be played 5 different ways!

      Enjoy!

      Reply
    7. R.Rose says

      September 08, 2022 at 10:06 pm

      very nice! I was playing the blind drawing game a lot and I was a lot of fun!

      Reply
      • R.Rose says

        September 08, 2022 at 10:07 pm

        I was Having*

        Reply

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