16 Football Party Games For Adults To Kick Off Fun

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Buy the ball, fill the fridge, and assemble the teams; it’s time to play the best football games for adults!

From toss to trivia, there’s a football activity for every level of interest – even the friends who are just here for the cold beers and banter will want to join in.

So that you can entertain everyone invited, we’ve included football games for large groups of adults, as well as some suggestions that only need two or three players for smaller gatherings.

A few of our fun football party ideas for adults can feature booze, so be sure to drink plenty of water if you choose to play them!

Since many of the following require little resources, they can also be considered as tailgate party games.

You may also like our NFL trivia quiz, BBQ games for adults and poolside games for adults guides for more sports themed party games for adults.

Football Party Games Ideas For Adults

Energetic Football Games

The first of our football themed party games feature activities that require a ball and some other equipment that you can pick up at a local store or online.

We’ve provided links to resources so all you need to do is plan the fun.

If you are playing indoors, you might want to consider using bean bags or an inflatable mini ball instead of a real American football to avoid any accidents!

Now let’s dive in…

Football Toss

Football toss is the perfect football party game for adults to test each person’s throwing accuracy.

Set up hula hoops or buckets every 10 to 20 yards, these will serve as the quarterback’s aiming points.

Assign a point value to each of the buckets with the closest bucket being worth the least points and the farthest bucket being worth the most.

Take turns throwing three footballs into the buckets.

The player who has made the most points is the winner.

One Touch Pass Back

Using this specially designed Passback ball, players throw the ball, holding the flat option closest to their chest and aiming the rounded part at a wall.

The next player has to catch the ball and repeat the throw, with another player catching their bounce back.

This process continues until someone misses the catch and points are deducted or awarded to the other team/player.

Football Tic Tac Toe

Football tic tac toe is another game to play at a football party that tests a thrower’s accuracy.

Football tic tac toe combines football and tic tac toe into one game that is perfect for your next American football party.

To get set up, arrange nine buckets into a 3×3 box, just like a game of regular tic tac toe.

Players will stand roughly ten feet away from the buckets and take alternating throws.

Football tic tac toe follows the same rules as regular tic tac toe where players try to get a row but their opponent is always trying to block their path.

The first player to get their football in three buckets in a row is the winner.

Touch Football

This after-dinner Thanksgiving football party game classic is the perfect activity to simulate the professionals at a level where everyone can play.

First, divide your group into two teams and decide who will get the ball first.

Set up a field as big or as small as you want and try to score points by reaching the area deemed the endzone.

When your team has the ball, have one player pass the ball to their teammates who have run down the field.

The opponents on defense must try to stop the offense from catching the ball and getting into the endzone.

A player is down when the opponent touches them.

Each time the team with the ball gets into the endzone, they earn 6 points.

Swap the ball between teams each time someone scores or when the defense catches the ball from the offense.

Whichever team has the most points at the end of the game wins.

Paper Football

Although paper football is popular with children at the lunchroom table, it is a perfect football party game for adults.

First, you will need to make your football out of paper by folding a piece of paper into a triangle.

To set up, you will need your paper football and an object to use as the goal posts.

Players will take turns flicking the football with their fingers trying to make it between the goal posts. 

Each player gets 1 point for every football they make through the goalposts. 

You can make the game more difficult by increasing the distance between where the player flicks the football and the goalpost. 

The winner is the player who has scored the most points.

Inflatable Football

While the 5 foot inflatable American footballers are aimed at kids, they still make for hilarious fun at adult parties too.

Players are divided into teams and the aim of the game is to fire the ball into the net, which is part of the footballer’s body.

This can be played standalone or as part of a relay.

Do a Drill

Drill cards are used by coaches all over the states but also make for great football themed party games for adults!

Players spread out across an area in teams, and listen for the instruction called out by the “coach” reading the drill card.

Examples include low ball catch drill, tight end blocking technique, and grapevine.

Unless players have trained in American football, they won’t know all of the drills, and this will cause lots of laughs as they make them up.

Some actions require teamwork so stick close to your teammates for the best opportunity to win.

It can be played like musical statues where the last player to succeed is out.

500

500 is a classic schoolyard game that can be played at a football gathering.

One person starts with the football while the rest of the players stand throwing distance away.

The player with the football will throw the football into the group of players and yell out a number value.

The player who catches the ball in the group earns the number of points that the thrower yells out.

The ball is then returned to the thrower and the process is repeated until one of the players in the group earns 500 points.

When that player earns 500 points, they become the thrower, and the game is repeated.

The game can be played for any amount of time but is a perfect game to be played during half-time of a game.

Thinking Football Games

Test your friends knowledge of football using our fun and creative activities below.

Football Prediction Game

Football prediction games can be a fun way to make the game more interesting.

Make a list of questions that include possible things that can happen throughout the game.

This list can include questions like, how many fumbles will there be, how many flags will be thrown in the first quarter, and which team will win.

You can also include predictions about the crowd, the commercials, and specific players on the field.

Your list can include as many questions as you see fit to add more excitement to each moment of the game.

Keep track of the things that happen and award points to each person who predicts correctly.

The player with the most correct predictions at the end of the game is the winner.

Football Squares Score Guessing Game

Football squares are usually played as a super bowl party betting game for adults but can be played during any game and just for fun.

To set up football squares you will need to create a 10×10 grid and assign 0-9 to each row and column.

The vertical number will represent the score of the home team and the horizontal numbers will represent the score of the away team.

These numbers represent the last number of the final score of the game.

Once your grid is created and your numbers are assigned, each person will take turns choosing boxes that they think will predict the final score of the game.

For example, if you think the home team will score 14 points and the away team will score 7, you will choose the box at the intersection of the column with 7 and the row with four.

When the game is finished, the person who chose the box with the correct score wins.

To add a level of fun, you can also award a winner to the person with the correct score at half-time.

Football Charades

Much like regular charades, football charades have players act out football-related actions, people, and situations.

Start by writing down football-related options on slips of paper.

These can include things like the coin toss, national anthem, head coach, goalposts, or even specific players.

Divide into teams and take turns choosing a slip of paper and acting out what it says without talking.

Each team will try to guess what their player is acting out and will be awarded a point for each correct guess.

The team with the most points after all of the options have been acted out is the winner. 

Charades is one of the best football related games as it requires very little preparation and most people know how to play it – perfect for tailgate gatherings!

Charades also feature in our Thanksgiving games and Friendsgiving games guide.

Football Trivia

Football trivia is a fun football party idea for adults who want to test their knowledge of the game.

Divide the group into teams and take turns asking our football-related trivia questions.

Depending on the group in attendance you can ask general football questions or specific questions for the teams playing.

Assign points to each question and award a prize to the team that racks up the most points.

To add variety to your football trivia game, you can ask bonus questions every time a team scores or after each quarter of the game.

You may also like our NFL Trivia Quiz.

Football also features in our Thanksgiving Trivia Quiz.

Unique Football Games

The following games to play at a football party are unique, unusual, and lesser-known which will really impress avid football fans.

Cookie Football

Cookie football is a football-related game that is fun for all ages.

Start by creating a football field out of pieces of paper or a football tablecloth.

Mark out yard lines every few inches to simulate a football field.

Each player will have 4 cookies to attempt to get 100 yards and score a touchdown.

For each attempt, the player will slide their cookie across the makeshift field.

However far the cookie reaches is how many yards they moved.

Add up each of the four attempts and that is the final distance of their turn.

Award 6 points if the player reached 100 yards in their four attempts.

The player with the most points at the end of the game wins and everyone gets to enjoy eating their cookies. Yum!

Football Bowling

Much like regular bowling, football bowling is a football-themed party game that has players knock down pins with a ball.

Instead of a bowling ball, players will throw a football to knock down the pins.

Set up ten pins roughly ten to twenty yards away from the thrower.

If you do not have pins, soda bottles or cans are a great substitute.

Each player will have two throws of the football per round to knock over as many pins as they can.

When a new player starts, reset the pins.

Much like regular bowling, this game can be played for ten rounds.

Each pin knocked over earns the player a point, and the winner is the player with the most points at the end of ten rounds.

Finger Flick

Players try to flick the small football ball over the field goal.

The game can be set out on a table and only requires two players.

It is best suited for those who like to test their patience and precision.

Football Bingo

Football bingo is a great football party game to play while watching a game.

While it is common to use football bingo as a Superbowl party game for adults, you can play any game during the season.

To play, you will first need to find a football bingo card online or make your own at home.

To make a bingo card you will need a grid of 3 squares by 3 squares for shorter games or 5 squares by 5 squares for longer.

Fill in each of the squares with something likely to happen during a game of American football.

As you watch the game, mark squares when that thing happens.

Squares can include things like an interception, a celebratory dance, or a field goal over 25 yards long.

The first person to mark off five of their boxes in a row is the winner.

You can continue to play until the game is over or until everyone has gotten a bingo.

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