Human Knot

Summary: Human Knot is an Ice Breaker game where the team starts in a knot and must untangle themselves.

Ages: From 12 and up

Recommended Number of Players/Teams: This can be played with only one team, but it can also expand if you have a larger group. Each team should have between 10 to 12 players.

Equipment:
No equipment necessary

Set Up:
No prior set-up required

How to Play:
Have everyone in the same team stand in a circle facing each other. Each player should be standing shoulder to shoulder. First, have all the team members lift their left hand and reach across to take the hand of someone standing across the circle. Next, have everyone lift their right and reach across to take the hand of another person standing across the circle. Make sure that no one is holding hands with someone standing directly beside them.

Now the real fun begins. Each team is to untangle themsevles without letting go of anyones hand.

This ice breaker game gets people talking and communicating with each other. They will usually ask for names if they are not familiar with one another yet.

Winner:
If you are playing this with several teams, first team done, wins.

Comments, Variations and Stories

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Best Advice from Dana Palmer

Picture of Dana Palmer, Owner of Perfect Party Games

Many people come to this site looking for a couple specific games. When they find them, great, the job is done. But there is one thing I want ALL my guests to know regardless of how many or how few pages they read. Therefore, if you see this box again on a few more pages, skip it and move on to finding more games for your event.

But for those reading this for the first time, here is the best advice I can pass on from my many years of experience planning and executing large and small events. Read on…

“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” These are great words from A.A. Milne, the creator of Winnie-the-Pooh. I couldn’t agree more. And a solid foundation of organizing and planning is needed for most events. But I am here to tell you even with the BEST organization, no event is going to proceed EXACTLY as planned. You may even have a Plan B, C or D as a back-up. That’s fabulous! But trust me on this one; something will happen that you had no way of anticipating. So what now? Here is the trick. Pay close attention to this because it is the single most important piece of wisdom I can share with my readers.

Are you ready?

Learn to mentally let go of your perfect plans
the minute the party, event, game
or special occasion starts.

That’s it. I could write an entire page on how to “be in the moment” and “have fun at your own party.” But neither of those will happen if you don’t have the mindset that it’s alright to have things turn out differently than you imagined. The good news is that usually what you planned in your head that didn’t come through was never even missed by most.

So if you are going along, playing a game, or any other group activity, and it leads you down a road you didn’t foresee… Enjoy the ride.

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We only played the Christmas ABC game tonight, but it was fun and funny! I have 3 more games and quizzes that I will take to my parents' house on Saturday. Thanks again!!
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