Skittles

Disclaimer: As with all games on this site, please be thoughtful when picking out activities and make sure it is age appropriate for your audience. This game is funny, but cramming tons of Skittles in your mouth at once is not for the young’uns. Stay safe!

What it is: A game about cramming as many skittles candies into your mouth as possible. Kind of silly and maybe, depending on your point of view, a little gross, too.

Best for: A big group, like at least 8. And probably best played late at night at a party or sleepover.

What you need:

• A bag of skittles candy, the big kind, one you can reach your whole hand into

How to play: First, have everyone sit in a circle (in chairs or on the ground, it doesn’t matter). Pull out your bag of skittles, open the top, and hand it to your first player (we’ll call her Ashley). Ashley reaches her hand into the bag and pulls out two skittles without looking, no peeking allowed.

If Ashley’s skittles are two different colors, like red and orange, she pops them in her mouth and leaves them there. No chewing, swallowing, or spitting out allowed. Then she passes the bag to the next player, Anthony.

Anthony draws two skittles and the same rule applies. He draws two different colors, so he puts them in his mouth and leaves them there, no chewing or swallowing.

Let’s say the whole first round, all around the circle, proceeds like this. Each player pulls out two skittles of different colors and must hold them in his or her mouth without chewing.

Now it’s Ashley’s turn again, and her skittles are all soggy and she’s really wishing she could chew them up. She reaches her hand into the bag and pulls out…two reds! Two skittles of the same color! It’s Ashley’s lucky day because two skittles of the same color means she’s allowed to chew up and swallow everything in her mouth: the two red skittles and the ones from the last round (and any other rounds).

The catch is, Ashley doesn’t have forever to chew and swallow. She has to stop chewing when it’s her turn again, or when someone else draws two skittles of the same color, whichever comes first. That may not seem like a big deal, but when you’ve been playing for a few rounds and you’ve got eight skittles in your mouth, trying to speed-chew them isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Then if your chew-and-swallow time is over because someone else drew two of the same color, you’re stuck with a wad of half-chewed-up skittles in your mouth to hang onto until you’re lucky enough to draw two of the same color again.

The player who lasts the longest without gagging or spitting out their skittles wins! (Or, this is one of those games that’s kind of played without a winner.)

OK, I admit it, typing this up is kind of making me gag. But it’s one of those gross silly games that can be fun under the right circumstances. Just don’t play around my grandma, who doesn’t approve of candy and who once claimed she could hear our teeth rotting as the game progressed.

Which brings me to, brush your teeth after.

[whispered creepily] Taste the rainbow.

Happy playing!