10 Games for Restaurants to Play While You Wait

Alexandra F.:  We played this game at restaurants all the time growing up, and it’s a great one to keep older kids (and parents!) busy. Draw a grid of dots on a piece of paper; the grid can be any size, but the bigger you make it the longer the game can last. Players take turns drawing either a single horizontal or vertical line connecting two adjacent dots on the grid. Whenever a player completes a square, they write their initials in the square, earning a point. The player with the most points at the end wins.

Alexandra F.:  Scrunch up your paper straw wrapper as you remove it from the straw. Lay it on the table, then add a drop of water to see it stretch itself out into a paper snake.

Alexandra F.:  This is a frequent fall back “waiting game” for our family - it’s just so easy to play anywhere! One person has to think of something, and everyone else has to guess what they are thinking about, asking no more than 20 “yes” or “no” questions.

Alexandra F.:  My preschoolers request this game in restaurants ALL. THE. TIME. And, while we older folks get tired of it before they do, it really can keep them entertained for a good long while. One person secretly picks an object that is visible to everyone, then everyone else has to guess what they picked. The best part, of course, is the rhyme that starts the game with an opening clue: “I spy with my little eye, something colored...pink (or blue or whatever color the object is).

Change things up by varying the type of clue you give (like what letter it starts with, or what it sounds like), or by limiting questions to Yes/No answers.

Alexandra F.:  Hangman (or Spaceman) is a classic waiting game to pass the time! Players guess a word or phrase one letter at a time, with every incorrect guess adding a body part to a stick figure. The game is over once a player guesses the word correctly, or the stick figure is complete, whichever comes first.

Alexandra F.:  Play on a piece of paper, or use straws for the grid and sugar packets for the Xs and Os.

Alexandra F.:  My dad used to break out this game at restaurants all the time when we were little, and though I always just thought of it as the sugar packet game, I’ve since learned that it’s a pretty well known math strategy game called Nim. To play, you arrange four rows of sugar packets (or other small objects) into a pyramid, like so:

Row 1 = 1 packet

Row 2 = 3 packets

Row 3 = 5 packets

Row 4 = 7 packets

Two players take turns removing at least one packet from a row. You can take as many packets as you want from a single row on your turn, but cannot take a packet from more than one row in a turn. The player who has to take the last packet loses the game.

Alexandra F.:  All of us enjoy playing this dinner game in restaurants as well as at home, and you can make it as easy or challenging as you want depending on who’s playing. Give everyone a few seconds to look at the table, paying attention to everything that is on it. Then, have everyone close their eyes while you remove a single item from the table and hide it from view. Once it’s hidden, have everyone open their eyes and guess what’s missing!

Alexandra F.:  A fun conversation starter prompt for all ages! Would you rather…Fly or be invisible? Live in the future or in the past? Play the hero or the villain in a movie? Go as silly or as deep as you like!

Alexandra F.:  This is a favorite game for car rides, family dinners, walks - pretty much any time we want to play a game together without having to set anything up. Just pick a category (Disney movies, state capitals, Harry Potter) and then think of a word matching that category that starts with whatever letter you choose. Try going through the alphabet, or using the letters from a particular themed word - maybe, “RESTAURANT”?