25 Scary Games to Play with Friends in Real Life (Full Rules & Rituals)

Nothing is quite like the feeling of spine-tingling terror one gets when playing a scary game. Here are 25 scary games to play with friends in real life: familiar favorites for the dark, urban legend rituals with full rules and a safe way to end each one, scary games that need no equipment at all, and sleepover classics. Almost everyone, from young children to adults, enjoys being a bit afraid. We have not included games that may prove dangerous either physically or psychologically, as we want only those that are truly fun. Most games work best on a moonless night, but many work just as well on a sunny day. Pick your level of fright and have fun!

Scary Games to Play in the Dark

Even an ordinary game becomes scary when played in the dark. Our list of scary games to play in the dark includes some familiar favorites, often with a twist to add a fright factor, and some new games you may not have heard of before. Make sure everyone knows these are simply games, as they can cause some people to experience real fear.

Calling All Ghosts

You do not have to believe in ghosts to play this scary game. All you need is a bit of imagination and a very dark night. Although this game is best played outside, a dark house or room will work just as well. You and your friends take turns attempting to summon a ghost or spirit. Call for them softly, encourage them strongly – use whatever method you wish. You might be surprised by a visit from another realm! Even if no spirits appear, you will find everyone has fun waiting and watching for ghosts.

Monsters in the Dark

The object of this game is to scare a person left alone in the dark. One person sits on a chair in a completely dark room. Everyone else leaves the room. There are several ways to play this game:

• One person can sneak up and attempt to scare the sitting person by startling them.
• Use an object, such as a long rope (snake) or something fuzzy to touch the person’s arm or leg.
• One or more people makes scary noises.

The goal is to get the person in the chair to scream or show fright in some other way. Take turns sitting in the chair and being scared.

Seek and Kill

Seek and Kill, a variation of Hide and Seek games, adds the element of surprise and spookiness. This game can be played indoors in a totally dark house or outdoors. One player is a “killer” who seeks the other hidden players using a flashlight. If you wish, all the players may have flashlights, a good idea with younger players or if there is the potential for hazardous objects being in the way. All of the players except the killer, hide somewhere in the house or yard. The killer must find each player. Every player he finds goes to the center of a designated room in the house and lies down as if dead. The last player left, wins and becomes the next killer. The things that make this game scary are:

• Each player screams when they are discovered.
• The center of the room is called the cemetery.
• The game is played in the dark.

Add scary music or noises to make the game even spookier.

Zombie Tag

One person is a zombie and attempts to tag everyone else. When they do so, those they tag also become zombies. Continue playing until there is only one human left. The fun is walking around like an un-dead person – very scary on a moonlit night.

Monster Tag

In this version of tag, each player is a monster and tries to catch other players. Designate a play area and when someone yells, “Go!” everyone tries to sneak up on the other players and tag them. When they do so, they yell, “Got you!” Everyone who gets tagged is out and the last player remaining wins the game.

Flashlight Tag

Tag meets hide and seek on a dark night. One player is “it” and carries the flashlight; everyone else scatters and hides. Instead of touching anyone, “it” tags players by catching them in the beam and calling their name.

Tagged players join the hunt with their own flashlights, so the dark slowly fills with sweeping beams until the last hidden player wins. Set clear boundaries before you start and keep the play area free of obstacles.

Scary Games to Play with Friends

When you and your friends get together, add special fun playing scary games. Most of the games shared below work best in the dark, but some, such as the Sandman Game, can be played even on a sunny day.

Ghost in the Graveyard

Ghost in the Graveyard, a scary game to play with three or more friends outdoors, is a variation of Hide and Seek. One person hides while the other players stay at a rock, tree, or certain area known as the base. Players count to twenty slowly while the ghost hides. When the ghost is found, whoever finds him yells, “Ghost in the Graveyard.” All the players race back to the object or area designated as base. The ghost attempts to tag another player before they reach safety. If he manages to tag someone, that player becomes “Ghost” for the next game. If you have very young children or the area in which you are playing has obstacles such as trees, rocks, and plants that must be avoided, you can give each player a flashlight.

The Sandman Game

The Sandman Game works because of the power of suggestion. One player lies face up on the ground and the rest of the players sit around them. Choose a person as a narrator or take turns adding to a scary story. The player on the ground must remain motionless, with their eyes closed. The story must include an account of someone dying or dead, and their body being filled with sand. One of the players uses a finger to “slice” open each arm and leg, fill it with sand, and sew it up. When this process is finished, the person on the ground should feel too heavy to sit up or move. Play this game until each person has had a turn at being the sandman. Try the following story or make up your own:

You have been in a terrible accident and cannot move. You realize you are dying. Now you are dead and your body is being filled with sand. I am slicing (with a finger) your right arm open. I am filling it with sand. Now, I am packing the sand into your arm. (Pat the arm with your palm as if making the sand even.) Now I am sewing it up. (Make sewing touches with your hand.) Now I am doing your left arm. (Continue as with the right arm, then do the right leg and left leg.) Now that I am finished, your body is completely filled with sand.

You can make this game scarier if you use dim lighting and some scary music.

As Light as a Feather and as Stiff as a Board

Another game that uses the power of suggestion involves levitating a person. One person lies on the floor, faceup, with their eyes closed, and completely relaxed. Everyone else sits around the prone person and places two fingers underneath the side of their body while chanting, “Light as a feather and stiff as a board.” Some people suggest you should say it as, “Stiff as a board and light as a feather.” You may wish to try both. After saying the phrase twenty times, say, “One, two, three, lift!” The prone person should levitate off the floor. Success is dependent upon the mood created in both the prone person and those chanting, so it does not always work.

Buried Alive

Have a person lie face-down on the carpet, eyes closed. Someone else stands in front of them and holds their hands, pulling their upper body so that it is held about a foot off the floor. After a minute passes, slowly lower their body so that it is flat on the ground. The person feels as if they are sinking into the ground – buried!

Scary Ritual Games to Play in Real Life

Ritual games are urban legends you act out step by step, and they are the scary games people mean when they say “in real life.” Nothing supernatural will actually happen, but following strange rules in a dark house does something wonderful to your imagination. Read each game’s full rules before you start, use battery candles instead of real flames, and always finish with the ending step so the game feels properly over.

The Midnight Game

The most famous ritual game of all: you invite a stranger called the Midnight Man into your house, then spend the night hoping you never meet him.

You need: paper, a pencil, a battery candle, a pinch of salt, and a wooden door.

1. Write your name on the paper and place it in front of a wooden door.
2. At exactly midnight, knock on the door 22 times, with the last knock landing right at 12:00. Open the door, blow out your candle, then relight it. The legend says this invites the Midnight Man in.
3. Walk slowly around the dark house with your candle until 3:33 a.m. If the candle goes out, relight it within ten seconds.
4. If you cannot relight it in time, pour a circle of salt around yourself and stay inside the circle until 3:33 a.m.
5. To end the game: at 3:33 a.m., turn on every light, say “The game is over” out loud, and throw the paper away.

Bloody Mary

The classic sleepover dare. You need: a dark bathroom with a mirror and a battery candle.

1. Stand facing the mirror with the lights off, holding your candle.
2. Say “Bloody Mary” three times, slowly.
3. Watch the mirror in silence. In low light, your brain distorts faces on its own (scientists call it the Troxler effect), which is why almost everyone sees something.
4. To end the game: turn on the light and say goodnight to the mirror.

Charlie Charlie

Ask a question out loud, and watch a pencil move on its own.

You need: a sheet of paper and two pencils.

1. Draw a cross on the paper to make four squares. Write YES in two opposite squares and NO in the other two.
2. Balance one pencil on top of the other over the middle of the cross.
3. Everyone chants, “Charlie, Charlie, are you here?” and watches the top pencil. The balance is so delicate that a breath or a tiny draft swings it to an answer.
4. Keep asking yes-or-no questions while the pencil cooperates.
5. To end the game: chant “Charlie, Charlie, can we stop?”, drop the pencils, and tear the paper in half.

The Elevator Game

The legend goes: riding alone in a building of ten or more floors, you can reach somewhere you should not.

1. Enter the elevator alone and visit the 4th, 2nd, 6th, 2nd, 10th, and 5th floors, in that exact order.
2. If a woman gets on at the 5th floor, do not look at her and do not speak to her.
3. Press 1. If the elevator rises to 10 instead, the doors are said to open on a dark, empty copy of your building.
4. To end the game: ride the same floor sequence in reverse and step out only on the ground floor.

Because this one needs a real elevator, save it for older teens with permission to be in the building, or tell it as a round-the-flashlight story and let everyone decide whether they would press the button.

Cat Scratch

A story, a chant, and then you check your friend’s back for marks.

1. One player lies down with their head in the storyteller’s lap and closes their eyes.
2. The storyteller rubs the player’s temples while telling a short story about a vicious cat, ending with the chant “Cat scratch, cat scratch, cat scratch.”
3. The player stands up and shows their back. Warm skin that has been resting against a lap often shows faint red lines, which is all the legend needs.
4. To end the game: everyone declares the cat has gone home, and the next player takes a turn.

One-Man Hide and Seek

A family-safe version of a famous Japanese ritual. You need: a small stuffed doll, a spoonful of dry rice, red thread, and a pinch of salt.

1. Tuck the rice into the doll’s clothing or tie it to the doll in a scrap of fabric, then wind a loop of red thread around the doll. Give the doll a name that is not your own.
2. At night, say “[Doll’s name], you are it now” three times, tap the doll, and set it on the bathroom counter.
3. Turn off the lights, count to ten, and hide anywhere in the house with your pinch of salt.
4. Stay hidden and silent for up to 30 minutes while your imagination insists the doll is looking for you. Every creak and settling noise does the rest.
5. To end the game: come out of hiding, sprinkle the salt on the doll, say “I win” three times, and throw the doll away the next day.

Scary Games with No Equipment

No props, no printouts, no preparation: these scary games need nothing but a dark room and at least three players, which makes them perfect for camps, parties, and the moment the sleepover movie ends.

Werewolf

No cards needed, just pointing, voting, and increasingly wild accusations.

1. Choose one narrator. Everyone else closes their eyes while the narrator silently taps one player to be the werewolf.
2. Each “night,” the narrator has everyone close their eyes, and the werewolf opens theirs and silently points at a victim.
3. Each “day,” the narrator announces who was taken. The survivors debate and vote to banish one suspect.
4. The werewolf wins by surviving to the final two; the village wins by voting the werewolf out.

Wink Murderer

Overacting is mandatory in this one.

1. Sit in a circle. One player leaves the room while the group picks a murderer.
2. The player returns as the detective and stands in the middle of the circle.
3. The murderer kills by winking at other players, who wait a few seconds and then perform their most dramatic death.
4. The detective has three guesses to name the murderer.

Sardines in the Dark

Hide and seek in reverse, with the lights off. One player hides while everyone else counts. Seekers search alone, and anyone who finds the hider silently squeezes into the same hiding spot. The game ends when the last searcher finds a whole giggling pile of people in one closet, and that searcher hides first next round.

Concentrate

A chanted rhyme acted out on the player’s back, ending with a question they answer with their eyes still closed.

1. One player closes their eyes while another stands behind them chanting “Concentrate, concentrate.”
2. The chanter acts out each line on the player’s back with light taps: cracking an egg on their head and letting the yolk drip down, spiders crawling up their spine, a cool breeze, a tight squeeze.
3. When the rhyme ends, the chanter asks, “What do you see?”
4. The color or scene the player describes is read out as their fortune, and the spookier the telling, the better the shivers.

One-Word Ghost Story

Sit in a circle in the dark. The first player says a single word, like “Once,” and each player adds exactly one word, building the story around the circle. The rule forces the story to lurch in directions nobody planned.

When the story reaches a scream or an ending, start a new one. For a harder version, allow each player a full sentence, but the story must stay in the same haunted place.

Scary Games to Play at a Sleepover

Sleepovers with your friends create special times and lasting memories. Have even more fun with scary games and stories. Play inside or outside, depending on the weather and the availability of space. Some games, such as telling scary stories, work best inside.

Telling Scary Stories

Scary stories are fun at a sleepover. You and your friends can have fun seeing who can tell the scariest story. Just make sure you have another activity before it is time for sleeping, so no one is kept awake because they are too scared to sleep. Sit around in a circle with a flashlight. Pass the flashlight around so each person can shine the light in their face while telling a story. Try one of the following scary story ideas:

• Challenge your friends to tell the scariest story they know.
• Get a book from the library with scary stories or look on the internet for scary stories.
• Make up your own scary story by thinking of the what scares you the most and tell a story with the scary object as the main character. For example, what about a scary story featuring a large talking snake that threatens to kill people?
• Take turns adding to a story that one person begins. For example, “Once there was a young girl walking through a graveyard.” Each person makes the story as gross or scary as possible.

The Dead Man Game

This game takes some advance preparation, but the time is well worth it. Prepare some cups or bowls with items that feel creepy or gross. Use the following or choose your own:

• Peeled grapes for eyes
• A small peeled cantaloupe or large peeled tomato for a brain
• Cooked cold pasta for the intestines
• Peeled and sliced watermelon for muscles
• Little smoked sausages for fingers and toes

Make sure the room is dark and then pass around each item while telling a story or describing a corpse in a scary voice. For example, “Here are his eyes,” as you pass around the peeled grapes.

Murder in the Dark

You must have at least five people to play this game. Prepare a large room by removing anything someone might trip over in the dark. Make sure the room can be completely dark. Prepare enough slips of paper for everyone playing the game. On one write “Murderer” and on one write “Detective.” The rest of the slips of paper have “Victim” written on them. Put all of the slips of paper into a box or basket and let each player draw one. The Detective turns off the light, leaves the room, and remains outside until he hears a scream. While the detective is out of the room, the Murderer, who remains anonymous, roams the room touching one or more Victims. When he touches someone, that person screams and is “dead.” When the Detective returns, he turns on the lights. Everyone must freeze where they are. The Detective attempts to discover who the Murderer is by asking questions such as, “Where were you when you heard the scream?” The Detective guesses who the Murderer was. If he is correct, he wins. If he is wrong, he loses and play resumes with everyone redrawing slips of paper and having a new Murderer and Detective. If you have a large group, the Murderer may “kill” more than one player each round. Also, you can set the number of questions the Detective is allowed to ask, if you wish.

Two-Sentence Horror Stories

Each player invents a horror story that is exactly two sentences long: the first sentence sets an ordinary scene, and the second twists it.

“The dog kept barking at the closet all night. When I finally opened it, the barking stopped, but the dog was not in the room.”

Take turns telling them in the dark and vote for the scariest; the winner starts the next round.

Whichever game you choose to play, make sure all of the players are ready to participate and have fun. Be careful playing scary games with very young children, as you do not want your scary game to be so intense that real fear develops. Also, think about safety before playing scary games. Remove obstacles, avoid using candles or any type of fire, and set boundaries for playing.

Note: Although we have not intentionally shared any games that may be dangerous, you should still use caution when playing any of the scary games on our lists. Some people get scared very easily, so make sure everyone understands you are simply playing a game. If someone is uncomfortable or expresses hesitation, let them stay out of the game or choose a different activity.

Looking for more frights without leaving the couch? Try our horror movie trivia questions, or wind the night down with Halloween trivia and some easier Halloween riddles.

Scary Games FAQ

What is the scariest game to play with friends in real life?

Most groups name the Midnight Game or the Elevator Game as the scariest, because the ritual rules build dread over hours instead of seconds. If you want scares that stay purely playful, Murder in the Dark is the best pick.

Are ritual games like Bloody Mary and Charlie Charlie safe to play?

Yes. Nothing supernatural actually happens; the fright comes from suggestion, darkness, and imagination. Follow the ending step of each ritual so the game feels finished, and skip these games with young children who may not separate the story from reality.

What scary games can you play with nothing at all?

Werewolf, Wink Murderer, Sardines in the Dark, Concentrate, and one-word ghost stories all need zero equipment. All it takes is a dark room and at least three players.