Game Ideas for "Double Dare"

Test the limits of your friends and family with a variety of physical and mental challenges inspired by the popular Nickelodeon television show "Double Dare." Originally, the games used on the show were challenges that focused on racing against the clock for completion, but, later in the series, the games relied more on spectacle, many of them involving messy items. Take game ideas from the show, or create your own original games using household items.

Get active with some physical challenge-inspired "Double Dare" games. Focus on aim with throwing challenges. For instance, set up a wall of inflated balloons, and have contestants use darts from a good distance away to try to pop a set amount. Another idea would be to have partners pass an item like a hula hoop between the two of them without using their hands or to play stone age golf using a baseball bat and a bowling ball. The key is to make ordinary physical challenges into silly, wacky spectacles.

If you're willing to deal with a rough cleanup session after the "Double Dare" extravaganza, launch players into some zany, messy games. Many of the challenges from the television show dealt with slime, sloppy pies and other gross-out items that would earn an easy laugh from audiences. One idea for a messy game would be for a player to try and toss whipped cream pies or raw eggs into a bucket or basket being held by his blindfolded partner. Or, try Italian baseball; the team at the plate should use a loaf of garlic bread as a bat while the other team pitches meatballs to try to get a strikeout.

Have contestants battle the clock to achieve ultimate victory with a series of speedy challenges. For example, time contestants to see how long it takes them to unlock a door. This may not seem to be too difficult a challenge -- but the catch is that you will be giving them an enormous set of keys that fit in all types of locks. The object will be to find the right key in an allotted period of time. If you wish to make the challenge even more difficult, have the person find the keys to both a top lock and a bottom lock on a door.

Flex critical-thinking skills with games that challenge contestants' minds. This could be as basic as asking a difficult trivia question or word problem regarding a wacky topic or scenario, or you can create a more elaborate game to test players' mental capacities. For example, you could have an egg drop in which players use logic to create a structurally sound container to protect a raw egg during a fall, or you could use props to have them act out a word problem or riddle and try to solve it in real time.