Balloon Popping Games

Balloon popping games are one of the most common carnival games there is. They can be found at big events and even at some small elementary school festivals. They can be hard to win or simple depending on what kind of balloons you use, how much air is in the balloons, and how much space exists between them.

Play Balloon Popping Games On This Site:

Bloons features 1 monkey, a handful of darts, and hundreds of balloons that must be popped! Bloons Tower Defense 3 and Bloons Tower Defense 4 are strategy games in which monkeys unite to take against thousands of rogue balloons. And Bloons Pop 3 is a classic game with a Bloons twist.

DIY – Make your own balloon popping games!

Games that involve blowing up a lot of balloons are much easier with the help of an air compressor and the proper balloon blowing up attachments.

If your event will be orderly (meaning people aren’t running wild everywhere, not watching where they are going) and if your average guest will be over 8 years of age, you can consider the standard “Throwing Darts at Balloons” balloon popping game.

If you will have a lot of active kids around, “Sit and Squish” games may be for you.

Throwing Darts at Balloons, standard balloon popping game.

The rules of this game are pretty straight forward. Participants stand behind a table or other object 4-10 ft away from some balloons that are hung up on a wall. They are handed a few darts to throw at balloons. If they pop the right number of balloons, they win!

Balloons … Fuller balloons are easier to pop. Water balloons work well if you have something / someone to blow them up. If you use regular balloons, look for small sizes. Balloons can be hung up with tape – just be sure to leave something to stick the tape to when you tie them. Thumb tacks work too but may occasionally be thrown at participants from the force of the balloon popping.

Darts … Darts do sometimes get lost, so have a few extras handy. I would suggest bringing 3-9 darts to your event. They do need to have a sharp enough to pop the balloons, but you don’t get the “best” you can find. For safety reasons I suggest just getting the standard cheap darts that have colorful plastic backs and metal tips.

Backboard … You will want a backboard that can get holes in it. A good size would be at least 5 ft tall and at least 4 ft wide. Cardboard can work well but you may want to mount it on plywood to hold it steady.

Mat … An area rug would work well for the darts that don’t stick into the backboard. If your game is inside, you will want to make sure your floor doesn’t get messed up by the darts. If it is on concrete or asfault, you will want to protect the darts from the fall. If you are playing in the grass or sand, this is unnecessary.

Table … A cardboard box could work well for this too. You just need something for participants to know where to stand behind.

Sign … A posterboard that says the name of the game and the rules.

Paint … Don’t forget to decorate your sign and boards!

Know how to throw the darts! … It is almost inevitable that some participants will not know how to throw their darts. Be sure you know how so that you can explain it to them 🙂 Darts can be held similar to how you would hold a pencil and thrown smoothly, like you would a paper airplane. If you have never played darts before, have fun practicing.

Prizes! … If you are charging people to play, don’t forget to have prizes available! Snacks or cheap novelty items will work.

Remember to position your dart game safely. Make it where there is almost no chance of other people walking close enough behind it to get hit.

Sit and Squish

I think that this game reaches its peek “funness” level for kis around 10 years old. Get some balloons, blow them up, and let the participants sit and bounce until they pop their balloon. For a short-lived game, get small or medium balloons and blow them up about as big as you can without them popping. For a more challenging game, get small, medium, or large balloons. Look at the package to see how many inches they are supposed to be inflatable up to. Fill them between half-way and 3/4 of the way.

For a cooler and/or quieter sit and squish, fill the balloons with water. As long as the water isn’t too cold, young kids should enjoy this game too. The sound of air-filled balloons popping all around them is more likely to scare young children. Remember not to let young kids put balloon fragments in their mouths.

Want to make a Sit and Squish contest?

The easiest contest would be “first one to pop their balloon wins”.

If all participants are wearing clothes that can get messed up and if the surface is appropriate, consider putting food coloring in some of the balloons. (Put colors that match the balloon’s color.) Whoever pops the blue balloon filled with blue water wins!

Insert folded pieces of paper in balloons before blowing them up. Some of the slips could contain prizes. Or they could contain clues to some sort of treasure hunt where they can find their prizes.