Podcast segment ideas: 10 games to play with your guests

The best podcast segment ideas are short games with one simple rule and a reveal at the end, like guess the movie, host vs guest or higher or lower. A game gives guests something to react to in the middle of a long conversation, and the reveal is easy to cut into a clip.

Many podcasts are video shows now, so a game has to work twice. It has to be fun to watch on camera and still make sense to someone listening in the car.

What makes a game work on a podcast

The rule fits in one sentence. If you need a minute to explain it, the guest is lost before the first round. "Guess the film from its colors" works. If a game needs three scoring rules, save it for game night.

Read the question and the answer out loud, so listeners can play along in their heads. A game that only works if you can see the screen leaves them out.

The answers stay secret until the reveal. When guests lock in answers privately, the reveal is a real moment on camera. If they say answers out loud one by one, the last person can just copy the first.

Shows have been built entirely on games. On Dr. Gameshow, listeners send in games and the hosts play them with callers. NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is a weekly news quiz. Most podcasts only need one game segment, though.

Ten podcast segment ideas

1. Guess the movie from its barcode

Show a film squashed into colored stripes and ask the guest to name it. The clue looks like nothing at first, so guests end up thinking out loud. Our movie barcode explainer covers how they're made. On audio, describe the colors as you go: "lots of dark blue, then a bright orange stretch at the end".

2. Host vs guest

You answer a question in secret, like "what's my comfort food", and the guest guesses what you wrote. Then swap. It's the best game for a show that's about the people, because the answers turn into small stories.

3. Higher or lower

Give two things and ask which is bigger, older or more expensive. It needs almost no prep, and you can theme it around the guest's field. A chef gets food prices, a musician gets chart dates.

4. Who said it

Read a line and ask whether the guest said it in an old interview or a famous person said it. Some guests won't recognize their own words, and that usually gets a laugh. Do your research and keep it kind.

5. Zoom out

Show a photo zoomed in so far that it's a blur, then zoom out slowly until someone gets it. It's very visual, so on audio give one spoken hint halfway, like "you can eat it".

6. Rank it

The guest ranks five things, like breakfast foods or decades of music, and you try to guess the order before they reveal it. It usually starts an argument, and arguments make good audio.

7. Two truths and a lie

The guest says three things about themselves, and you guess the lie. It needs no prep at all, so it's a good backup when another segment runs short.

8. Price check

Show an item and have the guest guess its price. The closest guess wins. Old prices work well too: "what did a movie ticket cost when you were ten?"

9. Emoji decode

Spell a film, song or saying in three or four emojis and let the guest decode it. It only works on video, so keep it for shows where most people watch.

10. Speed round

Ten fast questions in sixty seconds, with a point for a right answer. Use it at the end of an episode when the energy is high and you want a clean finish.

Keep the answers secret with phones

The reveal only works if answers stay secret, and paper is fiddly on camera. With StreamArena, guests scan a code on screen, pick a name and answer on their own phone. Nobody installs an app or makes an account. Their answers stay hidden until you hit reveal, and then the board flips on stream.

This works for guests in the room and guests on a call. The guests section on our homepage shows the join screen, and our podcast games page lists the StreamArena games made for hosts and guests.

Where a game fits in an episode

Treat the game as a short break from the conversation. Three spots work well:

• A quick round in the first five minutes, to warm up a nervous guest.
• A segment in the middle, when the conversation needs a reset.
• A speed round at the end, so the episode finishes on a laugh.

If you publish on YouTube, add a chapter marker at the start of the game. Viewers who skip around find it, and it gives you a clean point to cut a short from.

Let chat play too

If you record live, your audience can play the same round as your guests. In OBS, viewers scan the code on screen and answer on their phones, the same way your guests do. When you stream through Upstream.so, its Multi-chat lets viewers answer by typing in YouTube, Twitch or Kick chat instead. Either way, everyone lands on one scoreboard. Pick a game marked "With guests" in the lineup.

For a live show with remote guests, Upstream.so Live Studio runs the guests, the layout and the multistream from your browser, and a StreamArena game is already one of its scenes. The how it works steps cover OBS, Streamlabs and Meld.

Questions