Fun Quarter Games

A quarter is a United States coin worth 25 cents. Use quarters to play a variety of games at home or with friends of all ages. Quarter games are perfect for carnivals and birthday parties, too. At the end, you can award the "perfect" prize: a piggy bank to hold all of those quarters.

For a coin toss game, line up six pails in a straight line and mark a standing line 6 feet from the first pail. Give each player six quarters to try to toss into the pails. For a carnival style game, write “S,” “M” and “L” on the last three pails. The players must make a quarter in the first three pails to try for a prize. If they make it into the “S,” they win a small prize. The “M” is for a medium prize and “L” stands for large prize. For small children, award a small prize to each player who makes a quarter in any pail.

Cut out small X’s and O’s with construction paper. Tape the letters to both sides of quarters. Make five quarters of each letter. Create a tic-tac-toe grid on a table with masking tape. Players must stand 5 feet from the table and try to toss the quarters into the tic-tac-toe squares. The first player to make a tic-tac-toe wins the game. For another idea, you can tape the grid on the ground and have players toss the quarters on the ground.

Make a square grid with vegetable or soda cans (five horizontally and five diagonally) on a table. Place a real plate on top of each can and mark a standing line 6 feet away. Give each player three quarters to try to toss on the plate. If one out of three of the quarters lands and stays on the plate, that player wins a prize. If playing the game for fun, give each player 10 quarters to see how many he can get to stay on the plates.

Play this game with several players. Divide the players into two teams of equal numbers. The teams should line up beside one another, with each team facing each other 3 feet apart. You stand at the front of the line holding a quarter. Place a chair at the end of the line with a ball in it. Have the players of each team hold hands and have them all close their eyes except for the first player in each line. Flip a quarter in the air in front of the first two players in line. If the quarter lands on tails, they do nothing. If it lands on heads, they must squeeze their teammate’s hand. Each teammate must pass the squeeze down the line. When the last player in line feels the squeeze, he can open his eyes and grab the ball. The team who grabs the ball first earns a point. The first team to earn five points wins the game.