20 Interesting Games for College Students in 2024

Creating games for college students is fun. Every high school student’s athletic and recreational activities include dancing, jumping, racing, and birthday parties. These activities allow kids to get some physical exercise while also improving their brain acuity.

Of course, studies have shown that physical activity improves mental acuity. This could be true or false, but that doesn’t make it any less of a fact.

According to a recent study on the impact of video games on pupils, games are the wisdom behind young people’s critical thinking and creative abilities.

So, as a teacher or a college student, while you take your studies seriously, it’s important to also make learning exciting for yourself and your students with interactive activities.

This article states the top 20 interesting games for college students that provide fun ways to engage them in academic learning.

Stay with us as we show you the fun facts about games for any college student.

Best Games for College Students in 2024

Here are lists of the top interesting games college students can engage in.

These top 20 games provide fun ways to engage your students in academic learning without them even realizing it.

Read also: 20 Benefits Of Social Media For Students In 2024

Games for College Students in the Classroom

1. Puzzle 

This creative group game encourages college students to work together and abstractly picture academic concepts.

You can turn your scheme of work into puzzles, which will require multiple students to solve them.

Game Details: Start by dividing the class into groups, then hand out a puzzle for each group to arrange together.

Or you can create 5 to 10 puzzles and divide each puzzle into 10 clues. Mix all the chits of clues in a bowl and allow students to pick randomly. Then students can start matching clues with other students to find all the clues that are related to theirs.

This way, students will have to work and search to build their group. After this, each group will solve the puzzle by finding a collective meaning for each clue.

This activity gives any student a sense of treasure hunt and mystery that engages all students in the form of groups.

2. Quiz Challenges

Quiz is a fun and engaging game that allows you to test any college student’s knowledge in any subject using a motivating classroom team activity.

Game Details: Once you’ve created or found a quiz, simply assign it to your students, and they can access it from any device. If it’s an online quiz game, they can play the quiz.

Apps like Quizalize show the results of students immediately, so they can track their score while they play.

3. Classroom Charades

This is a simple but classic game for most college students. It’s a great way to encourage your students to get out of their seats and participate in the lesson.

Game Details: You can select a student to stand at the front of the classroom and act out the word from your topic. It’s now the responsibility of the class to guess what the student is attempting to portray.

Another way to do this is to divide your students into two groups. Each member of one group comes to the front, one after the other.

The other team mentions a word or phrase based on what you’re teaching.

Then, the student in front has to act without saying a word, and his or her team members have to guess the right phrase or word.

4. What’s your problem?

“What’s your problem?” is a fun group game for college students. Since students like complaining, especially when it comes to teachers and moderators and their strict demands,

You can use this open game to allow students to air their views about their problems in a group activity.

Game Details: You can divide the class into two groups. Then, ask a student from the first group, “What’s your problem regarding…?”

Then, one student from the opposing team has to provide a solution to the first problem.

Once that problem is tackled, the team that gave the solution will, in turn, state their problem while the other team gives their solution.

It keeps rotating until all questions are exhausted.

This activity is very interesting as it generates critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and the ability to appreciate other people’s points of view.

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5. Find the Mistake

Most students like finding fault, especially among their teachers. This is another activity that every student regards as fun.

You can intentionally make mistakes and allow students to collectively find those mistakes.

Game Details: First, start your lesson by announcing deliberate mistakes throughout the lesson. But no student can report their bug until they notice at least five bugs.

Students can help each other find five mistakes and allow one person to answer them.

Then you can change “King John” to “King Henry”, give the bad years historical impact, change the name of a planet, or make other mistakes throughout the class.

This activity is a great review exercise and also allows students to form alliances to find the number of solutions needed.

The whole process is fun as students discover their mistakes.

6. Healthy Criticism among Students

Criticism is a complicated activity to perform. But you can make it healthy by using an approach where students critique other students’ work with a solution.

This activity is also done in a group.

Game Details: Divide your class into groups, and each group should work on a text, hypothesis, philosophical question, computer code, or another form of homework that you provide.

After the given period, each group presents their ideas and thoughts.

All other groups can take notes, even mention mistakes in the presented idea, and provide a solution at the same time.

This exercise will help students understand the concepts of healthy competition and problem-solving.

They will also learn to like to understand mistakes and appreciate the innovative perspectives of others.

Card Games for College Students

7. Building Card Towers

This is one of the best card games college students can engage in. As a group activity, it can help teach students to communicate with each other and respect the competition within them.

Game Details: Building card towers will require you to divide your students into groups of an equal number of members.

You can make it interesting by saying those who build the tallest tower will win a prize. At the same time, ask students to talk slowly so that they don’t interrupt other groups.

This group activity is perfect to boost creativity in the students and allow them to face difficulties in a collective manner.

8. Word Limit Answers

This is another card-like game you can play with your students in college.

In this game, you offer a small number of words to every student. For example, you demand every student utter 30 words only.

Then divide students into groups of 3 to 4 and ask questions for students to answer.

Each group can discuss their answers among each other, then divide the entire answer into 20 words within themselves.

In the end, each member of a group answers one part of a question.

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9. A Divided Assignment

If doing all the work seems like a burden to the students, why not offer to reduce the burden?

This game provides an opportunity to divide a task into fractions and complete it as a group.

Game Details: To do this, you must divide your students into groups. Then divide a task into fractions and assign those fractions to each member of a group.

Do this with all the groups in the class.

Each group must work collectively to provide harmonized work that justifies the given mission.

At the end of the given period, each group can represent their work, with the most harmonized work earning additional marks or other rewards.

You can take advantage of this approach for computer programs, essay writing, song creation, ad campaign design, and other topics, depending on the subject you’re teaching.

10. Scatter-Gories

This fun game will encourage your students to think outside the box and take advantage of a variety of subject-matter knowledge.

Game Details: Divide the students into small groups and ask them to write the categories on their cards or sheets of paper.

Pick a letter (A-Z) at random and give students 1 to 2 minutes (depending on the number of categories) to think of a word for each category, starting with that letter.

When time is up, give points for unique answers; that is, if two teams write the same word for a category, they don’t get points.

Repeat the game with different letters.

11. Assignment in Motion

This kind of game is meant for college students to bring theater into the classroom.

College students who find themselves in a theater company are never bored or isolated.

The general idea of ​​a theater group is to come together and perform as a team. So why not bring a theater group experience to your classroom studies?

It doesn’t matter if you teach physics, advertising, or literature; you can turn any subject into the act of a play.

Game Details: First, divide your students into small groups. Then ask them to come up with a scenario based on the topic they learned and demonstrate that scenario by taking action.

Also, if you are teaching literature or advertising, you can have students present a group story or ad campaign.

This group activity is fun and allows students to learn collectively. As they engage with all of their senses, the knowledge gained leaves a strong imprint on their minds.

Board Games for College Students

12. Bingo

Bingo is a quick board game that doesn’t fail to motivate students in their learning.

Game Details: You can ask students to draw a 6 x 6 grid on their whiteboards or cards, then select six words or images from the given list to draw or write in their grid. 

You will then randomly select a word from the list to describe, and a student should guess the word to cross it off on the grid.

This process can go on till they’re done describing different words until one student completes their grid and shouts, ‘Bingo!’ .

Read also: Physics Projects for Class 12 CBSE Students

13. Hangman

Hangman is a traditional yet interactive board game that helps to improve students’ spelling and subject knowledge but is quite interesting.

Game Details: Divide your class into two teams, then select a student to stand in front of the class and think of a word related to the lesson. Or you can give them an appropriate word.

Then, the student must draw spaces on the board to represent each letter of his word.

The rest of the students then guess the word, one letter at a time. You can allow one student from each team to take turns guessing.

Incorrect assumptions result in a hangman (one row at a time).

The first team to guess the word wins, unless the executioner has finished. Then the game is repeated with another student thinking of a relevant word.

14. Draw Swords

This is a quick brain-game test for college students. It tests a student’s fine motor skills, promotes quick thinking, and generates some healthy competition.

Game Details: Start by splitting your class into small groups and choosing a student from each group to begin the game.

Everyone can nominate a student, then place the dictionary or textbook under their arm.

At this point, you can then say a word or image, and the students must race to find it in their book or dictionary.

The first student to find the word or image becomes the winner.

15. Pictionary

Pictionary is an old classic, but it is also a great way for students to visualize their understanding in a fun team game.

Game Details: Students work in small groups. One student is chosen from each group to start and must draw a concept related to the topic they are talking about. Oftentimes, it is within a specified period (30 seconds–2 minutes).

The rest of the group must guess what they are drawing.

The first group to correctly guess the word wins.

And the game repeats until each student has taken their turn or there are no more words on their list.

16. Clue

“Clue” is a fun game for those who like a game that slowly builds up the tension. This game changes students’ initiative and brings competition to students.

This board game is a murder mystery.

Game Details: Everyone has to guess three things: who committed the crime, with what weapon, in what room?

Each person has the opportunity to move around the table in a room.

Once in a room, you can guess the murder, the weapon, and the room.

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Fun and Party Games for College Students

17. Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

Although this game is not academic, it is an excellent behavior management tool that encourages hard work by students.

Game Details: Teachers can choose 3–4 students to stand at the front of the room. The rest of the class put their heads on the table and raised their thumbs.

The 3–4 students in the front then carefully tiptoe around the classroom and gently pinch each student with their heads down.

They then return to the front of the room, having their thumbs pinched, and the class looks up.

Students whose thumbs have been pinched then stand up and have to guess who pinched them.

If they guess correctly, they trade with the student in advance, and the game continues.

18. Hot Potato

Hot Potato is a fun classroom game that encourages students to think quickly and draw on a variety of subject-matter knowledge.

Game Details: Divide your class into small groups and distribute an object / stuffed toy to each group. The person with the object in each group will start.

You name a title or topic, for example, prime numbers, and then it is a race against time for the student to give 5 correct answers.

For example, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, before the object or plush passes to everyone in your small group and returns to them.

19. Bananagrams

Bananagrams are just like word games. It’s fun and convenient if you’re a very social person and want a fast-paced game.

So if you need a game that will break the ice with new friends, go for the bananagrams.

Game Details: Allow each player to create their own scrabble board as quickly as possible with a random selection of letters.

When they’re done, call “peel” for everyone to pick up one more letter from the middle pile.

The winner is the person who has a complete puzzle after running out of letters.

Once you’ve won, yell “Bananagrams!”

20. Never Have I Ever

Are you a college student who wants a game for pre-party appetizers or to play during your house party?

“Never Have I Ever” is a fun game for drinking and dare games. If you need a game that can entertain 4 to 12 players and more,

Game Details: This party pack never had enough question cards to keep you entertained, party after party. The objective is simple: the player draws a card and reads what it says.

The card will begin with “I have never…”.

If people have done what was written on the card, they lose a point (we will often use our fingers to record the score).

If you lose all your points, you must try your luck!

You will learn a lot about your friends! The included paddles and shot glass add another element of fun to this expansion pack.