“Play is often talked about as relief from serious learning. But Play is serious learning”

-adapted from Fred Rogers

Why PLAY? Play can reduce stress. Play can increase joy. Play can help you learn. According to psychiatrist Stuart Brown “Play is a basic human need as essential to our well-being as sleep, so when we’re low on play, our minds and bodies notice.” Lynn Barnett, a professor of recreation, sports and tourism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign notes that “At work, play has been found to speed up learning, enhance productivity and increase job satisfaction; and at home, playing together, like going to a movie or a concert, can enhance bonding and communication.”

How To Play Stuff was created to enable play.

Learn how to play a new game or re-discover a game you played with your grandma. Whether you want to learn how to play hearts, soccer, team building games, or board games, we’ve got something for everyone!

Check our our Top 10 Team Building Games. Whether you have a small group, large group, or limited supplies we’ve got a game for you that will increase communication and engage even the most stubborn team members.

How to Play Spades

Looking to learn how to play Spades? Great! It is a fun 4-player card game that involves two teams trying to win tricks in order to gain points. In most games of Spades, you are playing to a certain point amount, usually 500. The team that first gets to the set point amount wins. Spades is a game...

How to Play Tennis

Tennis is one of the world's most beloved and popular sports.  This is probably due to it being really fun and exciting, but also because of how quickly and easy it is to learn how to play tennis. Requiring only a usable court, a tennis racquet, a few tennis balls and a willing friend, it's...

Puzzle Challenge

Work with your team to think outside of the box to solve multiple riddles, word problems, and other challenges. Ideal for building: Thinking outside of the box, teamwork, patience Puzzle questions for each team Answer sheet Match sticks Pencil for each team 2+ people 10 minutes Set Up: Print the...

How to play Speed

Speed is a popular, fast-paced card game for 2 players that is known for high energy and winner's proud bragging rights.  A game only takes a few minutes and all you need is a single deck of cards.  Most everyone knows how to play speed, but if not, it's very simple and anyone can learn. The Rules...

Matching Relay

Teams race to set up objects to perfectly match a pre-set arrangement of objects. Ideal for building: Attention to detail, focus, and communication Multiples of many different objects (such as pencils, balls, paper, cones, pretty much anything you can find as long as you have a few of that same...

Flip the Tarp

Get your whole team to work together to flip over a tarp that they all happen to be standing on. The trick is you cannot touch the ground or use any other object to help. Ideal for building: Teamwork, communication, trust and problem solving 1 Tarp (should be just big enough to hold the whole...

How to play Clue

Background Info: Clue is a board game that has been around since 1948.  The style of the game is murder mystery, deduction, and bluffing.  Clue is considered best when playing with 4 or 5 players, but can be played with 3-6.  If you want to learn how to play clue, know that the object of the game...

Noodle Dual

Get your group moving around and working on communication while trying to whack the other team with a pool noodle. Ideal for building: Communication, trust, and group energy 4+ people 2 standard pool noodles 2 Blindfolds Whistle if possible Boundary markers (cones, rope, circle of people, etc.) At...

How to Play Soccer

Soccer Basics The object of soccer is to score on the opposing team's goal while preventing  them from scoring on your own team's goal. Soccer is played with 2 teams of 11 players.  The team that has scored the most goals after time expires, wins the game. The game is 90 minutes, split into 2...

The Big Picture

A leader from each team studies a picture for 15 seconds and memorizes as much as possible. The leader then goes back to their team to describe the picture, who then has to draw based on the instructions. Ideal for building: communication, teamwork, understanding, positive conflict, leadership A...