How to play “Ping Pong Sing a Song”
Set up
Number of players
From 4 to 20 players, from 16 years old.
What you need to play
A timer for a 15-second countdown.
Creating teams
Creating two evenly balanced teams based on age, musical preferences, and knowledge of songs is important.
Agree on the number of rounds
We propose a game with 5 rounds. In each round, teams sing snippets of songs that include a specific word or word type in the lyrics.
For example, in each round you have to sing songs that include these words:
- Round 1 = colours
- Round 2 = cities
- Round 3 = female names
- Round 4 = men’s names
- Round 5 = the word LOVE
This is just an example; you can choose your own words, the possibilities are endless. We recommend avoiding overly obscure or tricky words — if there are only a few songs that include them, players might get frustrated and the fun goes out the window.
Goal of the game
What do you need to do to win?
The team that is able to sing the most songs with the target words in each round wins.
Rules of PING PONG SING A SONG: Gameplay.
Who’s first?
Choose heads or tails and toss a coin to decide which team will start.
Let’s assume in this example that the blue team begins.
The word
Everyone should be clear what word they should include in the songs they will sing in that round.
Let’s say, in this round, the songs must include a word that’s a colour.
How to play a round
Next, we’ll explain how to play a round.
The red team presses the timer and gives the blue team 15 seconds to sing a piece of a song that includes a COLOUR.
For example, a song by The Beatles that everyone knows:
♫ We all live in a YELLOW submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine ♫
Once the song checks out, the red team hits the timer and the blue team has 15 seconds to respond with their song.
For example, a piece of Hotel California by The Eagles
♫ Mirrors on the ceiling
The PINK champagne on ice ♫
Once the song is validated, the red team presses the timer and gives the blue team 15 seconds to sing their song.
How long? Who wins the round?
Turns continue to alternate until one of the teams is unable to propose a song after 15 seconds. The other team becomes the winner of the round.
Next rounds, new words.
The next round works the same way — just with a different kind of word. And so until you complete all 5 rounds.
RULE 1 – about 15 secs.
The 15 seconds are for starting to sing, not for the word to appear while singing. It is perfectly legal for a team to start singing on the second 14 and enjoy singing for 20 seconds until the word appears.
RULE 2 – Prepare the song
While the team that has the turn is thinking about their song, the other may already be preparing what they will use when their turn comes. This is not only lawful but also advisable to give less leeway to the opposing team.
RULE 3 – Song repetition allowed
You cannot repeat a verse that has already been sung, but you can sing another piece of a song that has already been sung.
For example, if the chorus of Yellow Submarine has been sung in its entirety, that does not prevent singing in another turn another verse that says “So we sailed on to the sun, Til we found a sea of GREEN” and even later another that says “And we lived beneath the waves, In our YELLOW submarine”.
RULE 4 – If a verse is repeated
What if a team is clumsy enough to repeat a verse that has already been sung? If the other team realizes it must warn them and they automatically become the winners of the round.
RULE 5 – Incorrect word
One team can contest the song chosen by the other team. For example if the word played has to be a CITY and a team starts to sing all excited “Sweet home Alabama!” … it’s no good because Alabama is not a city, it’s a state. After clearing the error, the team that made the mistake loses the round.
RULE 6 – Minimum of two singers
Not everyone needs to know the song — two singers are enough.
End of the game. Who wins?
Game over
The game ends after all the agreed rounds are done.
And the winner is…
The team that has won the most rounds wins the game.
Tips for playing “Ping Pong Sing a Song”
Languages
It is important that you agree if words in any language are valid.
Timer
To time the 15 seconds, you can use a mobile phone.
Moderator
To control the 15 seconds, although the most immediate is to think of the mobile Clock app, it is more practical to have a 15-second hourglass.
Word ideas
The fun doesn’t stop if you mix up the kind of words to sing. Here you have more ideas of concrete words: forever, kiss, crazy, happy, girl, moon, sky… and of types of words: body parts, vehicles, musical styles…
Sam Moreton conducted a study based on a million songs to discover which words are most commonly used in songs, and here are the top words according to his conclusions.
feel
love
take
time
never
life
die
eye
back
day
world
heart
man
night
girl
mind
away
live
dream
again
That’s all — or is it?
Thank you for reading. Have a nice day, and a better night. 😉
