Musical Chairs

Musical chairs is a fun party game that relies mostly on luck instead and a smidgeon of athletic skills. You need to be one of the first people who sit down in order to qualify to keep playing. Other players will try to beat you to a seat once the music stops, so you need to be quick. You’ll win the game if you’re the last person sitting in a seat.

The Rules of Musical Chairs

Here’s how to play musical chairs:

1. Get a chair for every person in the group minus one.
2. Arrange the chairs in a circle.
3. Have someone play music while you and the other players walk around the chairs in a circle.
4. When the person stops the music, everyone sits down as quickly as possible.
5. The last person standing is out of the game.
6. Remove one chair, then walk in a circle while the music plays again.
7. Repeat the game until you only have one chair left. The player who sits down first wins the round.

How Many People Do you Need for Musical Chairs? 

You could play with two or three people, but the musical chairs game is more fun when you have a group. Many people play musical chairs at holiday and birthday parties. You could give the winner a prize or simply bragging rights.

Musical Chairs Alternatives 

Looking to putting a spin on the age-old game of musical chairs? We’ve listed some alternative ways to play musical chairs below.

No Chairs? Try Pillows!

An alternate version of musical chairs involves arranging pillows in a circle. When the music stops, everyone sits down. However, no one is left standing–instead, everyone has to cram onto the pillows at once. You keep removing pillows to make an increasingly smaller space until everyone has to squeeze onto a single pillow. Everybody wins when you play this game.

Use Cards to Pick a Winner

Another version involves having a chair for everyone in the group. You’ll walk around the chairs until the music stops, then sit down. Someone draws a card from a stack with all the numbers written on it. The person sitting in the chair with that number wins the game.

Don’t Just Walk in a Circle 

Whether you’re playing regular musical chairs or inventing your own version, you don’t have to walk in a circle. Instead, you can tell everyone to dance, hop on one foot, pretend to be an animal, or do something different. This adds an extra challenge because you’ll have to stop moving and sit down as quickly as possible.

What’s the Best Musical Chairs Music?

You can use any kind of music for musical chairs. However, cheerful, instrumental tunes are usually the best. It can help kids focus on waiting for the music to stop instead of listening to the lyrics. Plus, bubbly music puts everyone in a happy mood.

Search for musical chairs music online, and play a track directly from a laptop, smartphone, or tablet. If you have a musically inclined friend, they could play live music on a keyboard.

Invite your neighborhood friends over to have fun!

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Put chairs in circle, one less chair than friends.

When the music starts, everyone circles the chairs.

As soon as the music stops, you must race to sit down in a chair.

The player without the chair is eliminated as well as one of the chairs.

The game repeats until only one player is left.