Psychiatrist

Team building games, Icebreaker games

Have the entire group sit in a circle; a room with couches and chairs are fine, as long as everybody is pretty much facing each other. Select one person to go out of the room.

Now the group decides on a "problem;" explained: Everybody is the person to their left, or has green socks on, or everybody on one half of the room is one person and everybody else is another; there are hundreds of variations - be creative!

Once a "problem" has been determined, have the selected person come back in the room. Now, he/she has to stand in the middle of the circle and go around, in any order they want, and ask people yes/no questions. Popular questions include:

"Are you a guy or a girl?"
"Are you wearing a sweatshirt?"
"Do you have brown hair?"
"Are you wearing socks?"
And endless numbers of questions of course.

People who are asked the questions have to answer them, keeping their "problem" in mind. For example, if everybody is the person to the left, and I am a blond girl but a red-headed guy is sitting to my left, I have to answer like I am the guy to my left. So if the "It" person asks me "Do you have red hair?" I'd answer "Yes." If the "It" person asks if I am a guy, I'd say "Yes!" This can be pretty funny at times!

Now, let's say someone answers incorrectly? Anyone who realizes that person has answered wrongly now yells "Psychiatrist!!" At this call, everybody gets up and moves to another place. But their "problems" now apply to the way the room is situated - if I am the person two to the right, I am now whoever is newly the person two to the right.

The point of this is for the "It" person to figure out the group's "problem." Once he/she has, the last person to answer a question goes out of the room and is "It." (Or whoever the group decides on to be "It")

This game is a huge hit at my youth group, the kids beg to play it every week. As you get more comfortable with it, you can start doing crazier and more challenging things; just remember that everybody has to have the same problem. (Otherwise things get confusing!)

Have fun!!

Submitted by Grace on 19 Feb 2009 - Search for more games submitted by Grace.