Surprise Biography

$7.50
GOLD members pay $4.87

A three-minute weekly game that builds connection and laughs. Play for weeks or even the whole year!

Details

OVERVIEW:
Surprise Biography is a recurring game/activity designed to be played over several weeks, or even across an entire school year. It’s a quick, fun way to add a regular “get to know you” moment to your program, and it only takes about three minutes each week.

HOW TO PLAY:
Select a contestant. Randomly choose a student to come up front. (Since it’s called Surprise Biography, the more unexpected the choice, the better!)


Explain the rules. The contestant has 60 seconds to truthfully answer as many questions about themselves as possible.
    • No skipping questions.


Assign a scorekeeper. Pick one student from the crowd to keep count of how many questions are answered.


Start the timer. Begin the 60-second countdown and ask questions from the provided list.


Record the score. When time runs out, ask the scorekeeper to share the total.


Reward the contestant. Give a small prize (like candy or a youth group sticker).


Update the leaderboard. Add their score to the scoreboard using the included Canva template. 


Continue the game next week with a new contestant
• Consider allowing the previous week’s contestant to choose the next one.

OPTIONAL TWIST: Crowd Quiz
To boost participation, add a quick bonus round: Randomly select someone from the crowd. Choose one of the questions that was answered, and ask them to recall the contestant’s answers. If they remember correctly, reward them with a small prize.

This Resource Includes:

  • Video opener (mp4 file)
  • Animated instruction video (mp4 file) 
  • Countdown gameplay video (mp4 file)
  • Editable High Score File (Canva Template)
  • How to play document (Word file)
  • 40 Questions (rtf file)
  • Title slide (jpeg file)

 

Note from Author

About this Product
• Change up the question list or rearrange it to better fit your group/context, but keep the same list/order from week to week to keep things fair. 
 • I typically change the list up a little bit at the beginning of each new year when we reset the scores.
 • The student’s final score depends as much on YOU, the question reader, as it does on the question answerer. Try to ask questions quickly and clearly.
 • In the 4+ years I’ve been playing this with my students, the highest score was 37, the lowest was 16, and the average was around 24.
Jordan Baker

Jordan Baker

I'm a Youth Pastor from the Metro Detroit area. Proud member of the Westside Youth Workers Network in SE Michigan.