This fish bowl family reunion game is a hilarious party game where players collaborate in teams over different rounds to win.
If your family enjoys games like Charades, Taboo, and Password (my favorite round!), this game is a mix of all those!
It’s also a really great ice breaker activity to get things going at your family reunion party. It moves fast like Minute To Win It games!
Overview of the Fish Bowl Game For Your Family Reunion Party
This fishbowl game is also sometimes called the salad bowl game (based on what you put your slips of paper in).
PRO PARTY TIP: You don’t really need a fish bowl, but I picked a small one up at a dollar store for cheap. You can use any bowl or container that you have.
This is a low-prep party game that, aside from gathering supplies and understanding the game rules, you don’t really need to do things ahead of time. All the party guests will come up with the list of words before playing the game and it’s a game with supplies you have at home.
It’s also an easy DIY family game for all ages because everyone is working together as a team.
Goal of the Fish Bowl Party Game
The goal of the game is for each team to pull words / phrases from the fish bowl and then guess as many prompts as possible across three different rounds in three different ways:
- Round 1: Describe It (like Taboo)
- Round 2: Give One Word (like Password)
- Round 3: Act It Out (like Charades)
The team that scores the most points by correctly guessing the prompts wins.
Each round gets progressively more challenging, starting with verbal descriptions, moving to one-word clues, and finishing with charades and no talking.
The thing I love most about this game is that you can play it with supplies you have at home already, no need for special purchases or time-consuming setup! Just a game with household items!
Fish Bowl Game Supplies
- A small fish bowl people can reach into (or other container or a salad bowl) for the word slips / pieces of paper.
- Slips of paper.
- Pens (TIP: Do NOT use markers. You can see the answers through the paper!)
- A timer (1 minute per turn) — the timer on your phone is fine.
Setting Up The Fish Bowl Family Reunion Game
Aside from gathering the supplies, there is no special set up before playing the game.
To play Fishbowl, you need at least 4 players — at least two teams of two people.
PRO PARTY TIP: The game is more fun with a larger group, like 6 to 12 players or more because larger teams will make the rounds more fun and competitive. This is one of one of those games that more players you have the crazier and more fun it gets. If you have a large family at your reunion, you’ll have a ton of fun with this activity!
Playing The Fish Bowl Game At A Family Reunion
GAME NOTE: The game may seem overwhelming, but it’s actually an easy game played in three rounds. I wanted to detail the game as much as possible so there are no questions. Just bookmark this post and bring it up on your phone when you’re ready to play!
1. Divide into two teams of equal size (or as equal as you can get).
If you’re playing with a very large group, you can split them into smaller teams of 3-4 groups.
2. BEFORE THE GAME: Give each player 3 slips of paper and have them write down a random word and/or easy phrase on each slip without showing other players.
One word or easy phrase per slip.
These prompts can be people, places, things, actions (like doing something) or feelings — just tell people not to make them super complicated.
They should be well-known and every day items people will generally know (especially if you’re playing with a mix of kids and adults).
I find giving people hints to get people started is helpful.
You can give them examples like: Uncle Joe, pepperoni pizza, Sponge Bob, birthday cake, swimming pool, etc. It can be anything!
Remind everyone that people have to guess these (including your team!), so you don’t want to make them too hard.
PRO PARTY TIP: You may get some duplicates (especially if you’re doing theme words), but that’s OK. Just play with duplicates anyway.
3. Fold the slips of paper in half so you can’t see the words and place them in a bowl.
GAME TIP FOR SMALL GROUPS: The larger the group, the more slips of paper you will have. If you are playing with a smaller group but want longer game play, give each player 4-5 pieces of paper to write their word or phase prompts on.
GAME RULES: How To Play Each Round Of The Fish Bowl Party Game
REMEMBER: Fish bowl is played in three rounds:
- Describe It
- Give One Word
- Act It Out
Round 1: Describe It (like Taboo)
This Round: Describe the word or phrase using as many clues as possible without saying any part of the word or phrase. Get as many correct as possible in 1 minute.
1. One player from Team A draws a slip from the bowl and has 1 minute to describe the word or phrase using as many clues as possible, without saying the word or using gestures.
2. Team members try to guess the word or phrase.
IMPORTANT GAME PLAY NOTE: If the announcing player accidentally says part of the word for this round, they are immediately out. The timer stops and play passes to next team. For example, if the word is picnic basket and the caller says “a basket you put food in” they are out because they said part of the guessing phrase (“basket”).
If the team guesses correctly, they keep the slip and the same player quickly draws a new paper prompt and tries to describe that one.
If the player is stuck or teammates are not guessing, the player can pass once per round.
Keep going and try to get your teammates to guess as many word or phrase prompts in 1 minute.
3. After 1 minute, Team B takes their turn and repeats the process.
4. Alternate back and forth between teams in 1 minute intervals until all slips of paper in the bowl are gone.
MAKE SURE THAT EACH TEAM KEEPS THE SLIPS OF PAPERS THAT WERE GUESSED CORRECTLY UNTIL THE END OF THE ROUND.
GAME PLAY EXAMPLE: The phrase is picnic basket. The caller player says “Something you put food in.” If no one gets it they then say, “summer food activity.” If someone guesses it, they put the slip of paper aside and then pull another slip of paper from the fish bowl and start the process over. Keep going to try to get as many in before the timer runs out. If no one guesses what’s on a slip of paper, it goes back into the fishbowl for the next person.
SCORING ROUND 1: At the end of the round, tally scores by counting the number of prompts (slips of paper) each team guessed correctly. Write the scores down.
TO PREPARE FOR ROUND 2: After scoring, re-fold the slips of paper and place them back in the fish bowl, shake to mix well, and move to Round 2.
Round 2: Give One Word (like the Password Game)
This Round: Only say one word to describe the word or phrase, with no gestures or actions. For example, if the word is “picnic” the clue giver may say “summer” or “food” (and can’t say “picnic”).
This is my favorite round!
1. Team B starts first this round, with a different “Caller” than player than Round 1.
2. The designated player (“caller”) from the new team draws a slip of paper prompt out of the fishbowl.
This time the clue-giver can only say one word to describe the word or phrase, but can’t say part of the word or phrase.
If the player says more than one word or accidentally says part of the word or phrase, then the turn ends and play passes to next team with the timer reset.
3. If the team guesses, quickly choose another slip of paper and start the process again.
REMEMBER: You can pass one time only per player prompting (per round), if needed.
4. After 1 minute, the next team takes their turn and repeats the process.
Alternative back and forth between teams in 1 minute intervals until all slips of paper in the bowl are gone.
SCORING ROUND 2: At the end of the round, tally scores by counting the number of prompts (slips of paper) each team guessed correctly. Add the score to the scores from Round 1 for each team.
Fold the slips of paper and place them back in the fish bowl, shake to mix well, and move to Round 3.
Round 3: Act It Out (like Charades)
This Round: Act out the word or phrase using as many clues as possible WITHOUT SPEAKING (saying any part of the word or phrase) just like a regular charades game.
For the final round, players act out the word or phrase without speaking.
For example, if my word is “picnic” I might make a square in the air with my fingers and then act out picking stuff out of the square and eating it.
Teams alternate 1-minute turns until all the clues are used, like in previous rounds.
This is the final round that ends the game.
Final Fish Bowl Game Scoring
- After each round, tally the number of correctly guessed slips for each team for a running total of rounds.
- At the end of the third round, the team with the most points total wins!
I hope you have fun with this fish bowl family reunion game!
