8 Modern Door Games to Play
Fun Door Game challenges for your wedding day or before your tea ceremony
Traditional Chinese door games are challenges set by the bridesmaids that the groom and groomsmen must overcome before being able to see the bride on the wedding day. These challenges and games often involve food or physical activity, and sometimes the groom bribes the bridesmaids with red envelopes of lucky amounts of cash. Typically, these games are played outside of the home of the bride where she gets ready on the big day. The bridesmaids ‘guard’ the bride from the groom until he is able to prove his worthiness!
Modern door games can incorporate the traditional customs while also being more inclusive and engaging. These door games can be played as part of a Welcome Party, before the Tea Ceremony, or planned in the morning of the wedding day before the official first look. Couples can put their own spin to the games by incorporating their hobbies or interests shared between themselves and their friends. Below are 8 examples of unique and modern door game activities that can be played by the groom & groomsmen, or set as a challenge between sides: TEAM BRIDE vs TEAM GROOM.
1. Game of Paper Telephone with Chinese Characters
Test your friends ability to draw out Chinese characters, without knowing the word beforehand! To play, have 2 groups line up one behind another. Like in a game of telephone, the person at the beginning of the line sets the message or in this case chooses the Chinese character. That person begins drawing or spelling out the Chinese character one stroke at a time, using their finger on the back of the person in front of them. The next person then tries to draw the same stroke on the back of the person in front, and so forth. Continue one stroke at a time until the word is complete! The person at the front of the line draws out on paper what they interpret as the Chinese character they felt drawn on their back. Team with the closest match to the original character wins!
2. Sticky Hands & Red Envelopes
You might have seen a similar version of this game at Christmas parties where a group stands around a table with stretchy sticky hands and a coin placed in the center. The goal is to be the first person to grab the coin on the table by swinging the sticky hand!
In this variation of the game, red envelopes are placed on the table, filled with random amounts of cash, written notes, or other prizes. The objective of the game is for the participants in each team to ‘grab’ as many red envelopes as they can only using the sticky hand. At the end of the game when no more red envelopes are on the table, count each team’s winnings! The unlucky person may end up with the envelope that only has a note which says: Try harder next time!
3. Bring Me
This is a popular Filipino game played at weddings & birthdays in larger groups! The game host presents a series of prompts that ask contestants to find and ‘bring me’ something among the crowd. Contestants then scramble the venue looking for that item to return to the center and claim a seat. Similar to Musical Chairs, a chair is removed after each round until there is only 1 person standing. Some item requests that can make it fun for a Door Game:
Bring me a red envelope
Bring me a piece of gold jewelry
Bring me something sweet
Bring me an out of state ID
Bring me a picture of you with the Bride
4. Icy Mahjong Tiles
A timed challenge testing one’s physical limits! Fill two buckets with icy water and dump in equal amounts of Mahjong Tiles (between 10-15 is a good number). Nominate a person from each team to compete against each other to see who can fish out the most mahjong tiles from the buckets using one foot only! Set the timer for somewhere around 30-45 seconds and prepare a towel on the side. Rotate team members from each side and at the end, tally up the total number of tiles to declare the winning team.
5. Finish the Song Lyrics
Test your closest friend’s knowledge of the bride & groom’s favorite songs! Have the couple prepare a list of their top hits (make sure they are sing-able with lyrics) beforehand. For the challenge, play a clip of a song then cut it off. Whoever has the mic must pick up singing the song where it left off. Alternate between teams and see which team performed the best.
6. The Shoe Game
This game is popular bridal showers or as the ice breaker for the reception. These trivia-like questions test not only how well the crowd knows the couple, but how aligned the bride & groom are with their answers! Sit the bride and groom back to back and ask each to remove their shoes and swap 1 shoe with the other person. Have someone announce the questions one by one and compare the answers from the bride & groom. Some fun questions to ask:
Who said ‘I Love You’ first?
Who falls asleep the fastest?
Who is the most romantic?
Who is more likely to [XYZ]
You have all the creative freedom with these questions, as long as the questions can be answered as: The Bride, The Groom, or Both!
7. Sweet, Sour, Bitter, Spicy ‘Beer-Pong’ Challenge
A twist on the traditional taste test challenge where the groom eats a food of each ‘flavor of life’ but beer-pong style. Set up your peer pong table & fill the cups with food or drink items that are sweet, sour, bitter, or spicy. Play Beer Pong as normal but you have to consume whatever is inside the cups! Winning team clears the table first. If only one team wants to play while the other watches for entertainment, just set up one side of the table. You also don’t need to limit to only 2 players on each side — bring in the whole group to play.
8. Crazy 8 Card Game
The number eight in Chinese culture symbolizes wealth, prosperity, and success! Play this fun card game with a great name as a challenge between teams. The game is typically played for around 6 players. Objective is to be the first person to discard all your cards. To Play: Players try to get rid of their cards by placing them on top of the flipped up card in the center. Deal 5 cards to each player. Dealer flips top card face up. Players can play a card if it’s the same number or suit of the card flipped up. 8s are wild and if a player plays an 8, they must state what suit the 8 will be for the next player.
These are just 8 examples of games you can play before the tea ceremony, the morning of the wedding, or just as ice breakers for the group. Make the games enjoyable by keeping it relevant to the bride & groom and engaging for the all participating. Let me help you brainstorm ideas for your wedding or tea ceremony & how to make it uniquely yours.