How to Play Guess That Trick: the Newest Kendama Party Game!

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We're always looking for new, creative ways to enjoy kendama and to share it with everyone. When Cody Griz (Sweets Kendamas Producer & Event Coordinator) came up with this new game, we knew we had to try it. "Guess That Trick" is a game combining listening, landing tricks, and fooling your opponents.

Check out the video below to see Matt Sweets, Cooper Eddy, and Joshua Grove play a round against one another and keep reading to get all the info you need to play Guess That Trick at home with your friends!

Object of the Game

Earn points by correctly guessing what tricks are landed AND by landing tricks that aren’t guessed correctly. The first player to 9 points wins!

What You Need

• 2+ Players (3 Player Game shown in video example)
• 1 Kendama
• 1 or more Surfaces for writing guesses on (Dry-Erase board, chalkboard, paper, etc.)
• A method for scorekeeping (notepad app, pen & paper, memory, etc.)
• 1 or more Blindfolds
• A stack of cards with a trick listed on each card, shuffled
• Honesty and Integrity, or as we call it, Ken-tegrity!

How to Play

• Play a round of “Rock, Paper, Scissors” or spin the “Ken of Destiny” to decide who is first to be the “Player”.
• To do Ken of Destiny, create a circle with the players and hold the kendama by the Tama (ball), allowing the ken (handle) to hang freely. Pinch the bottom cup and snap your hand towards your stomach as you let go of the cup, allowing the ken to spin horizontally. Slowly lower your hand holding the ball to allow the ken to come to rest on the floor. Begin play with the player that the spike is pointing closest to.
• During a round, the other players obscure their vision with a blindfold and become the "Listeners"
• The Player pulls a random trick card from a pile of shuffled cards that have a trick written on each one. The Player 3 attempts to land the trick on the pulled card. 
• If successful within 3 attempts, tell the Listeners 
• If unsuccessful after 3 attempts, award each listener 1 point
• Once trick has been landed, Listeners remove blindfolds and the guessing portion of the round begins
• If NONE of the guesses are correct, Player earns 1 point
• Each correct guess, Listener earns 1 point

• Format A: Rotate player roles clockwise after every 3 tricks
• Format B: rotate player roles clockwise after each round/trick

• First player to 9 points wins the game!

Trick Cards

Click HERE download the same deck of trick cards we used in the video so you can print your own at home. You can also write your own tricks on cut pieces of paper, index cards, or on the faces of an old deck of playing cards.

For trick ideas to build your own deck of trick cards, see our page "First 50 Tricks to Master" for tons of tricks to choose from, or check out all of our tutorials on our YouTube Channel.

We want to put more games out there for people to learn, so leave a comment below if you've got a good idea for us to try or if you know of a kendama game that we should play in the future.

For more kendama games, check out our page "Kendama Game Guides", which includes several classic kendama games we like to play in groups large and small!