Setting Up for Musical Chairs
Choose music to play. Pick music that’s upbeat and fun to dance to. The object of musical chairs is to walk around chairs to the beat of the music until it stops, so choose something you and your guests will love to move to. Keep in mind that the game will likely last more than 1 song. Make a playlist of songs that match the theme of your event or get-together. Have someone pick a favorite artist or album to play. Enlist someone to be in charge of the music. This person will start and stop the music throughout the game.
Arrange the chairs in a circle in a large, open space. Count how many people are playing, then subtract 1. This is how many chairs you’ll need to begin. Set up the chairs with the seat of the chair facing the outside of the circle. For example, if 5 people are playing, you should have 4 chairs in a circle. Arrange your chairs in an area with lots of space, like a large living room or outside patio. If you don’t have chairs, try using stools, carpet squares, pillows, or markers on the floor instead.
Playing the Game
Walk around the chairs when the music starts. Have the person in control of the music hit “play” once everyone’s ready. As soon as the music starts playing, walk around the chairs in a circle in the same direction. Follow the beat of the music and walk at whatever pace feels the most comfortable.
Sit in a chair when the music stops. After some time, have the person in charge of the music hit “pause.” When the music stops, each player needs to find a chair to sit down in. There will be 1 player left without a chair to sit in because there is 1 less chair than players.
Leave the game if you’re left without a chair. The player left standing when the music stops is out of the game. Have them stand outside the circle and watch the game until it ends.
Remove another chair and play the music again. After the person who didn’t find a chair leaves the game, remove 1 chair from the circle. Have the music controller press “play” to repeat the process for round two. How long the music plays is entirely up to the person in charge of the music! A round can be 5 seconds or even a minute long!
Continue playing rounds until there is 1 person left. After each round of musical chairs, remove a chair, keeping 1 less chair than players in the circle. The last round will be 2 players and 1 chair. The player who sits in the chair this round is the winner.
Adding Variations for Musical Chairs
Specify who can sit in which chair. A fun way to spice up a regular game of musical chairs is to play “musical chair ownership.” In this version, each player has a designated seat. Before playing, have each player put a nametag with their name on a chair. Like traditional musical chairs, they’ll walk around the chairs when the music plays, but when it stops, the players have to try and sit on the chair with their name on it. The last person to find and sit in their chair is out. Remove their chair and start again to play the next round. For this version, you will have the same number of chairs as players for each round.
Add new rules to each round. Make regular musical chairs more interesting by adding different rules to each round you play. For example, you might have the person who gets out become the music player after round 1, and then after round 2, the person who doesn’t find a chair gets to call out a color, and anyone wearing it has to be out. This is a fun way to have a game go more quickly when you have a lot of players.
Travel around the chair in a different way each round. Have players skip, crawl, dance, or shimmy around the chairs—making the movement different each round! Simply have the person in control of the music call out a fun movement before playing the music. Not sure which movement to use? Try these: Run Skip Hop on 1 foot Dance Gallop Walk on tippy toes
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