Every trade show exhibitor wants to engage attendees, showcase their solutions, and leave a lasting impression - all in a fun, super budget-friendly way. Trade show games are one of the most effective ways to achieve this.
When thoughtfully designed and integrated into your booth strategy, interactive trade show booth games can become powerful tools for capturing attention, sparking meaningful conversations, and generating high-quality leads.
Gamified elements create an immersive environment that encourages attendees to explore your brand's unique value proposition in a memorable and enjoyable way. In this post, you will find a curated list of the most engaging trade show game ideas that will take your booth experience to the next level.
Let’s get started.
From classic favorites with a branded twist to modern digital experiences, here are the top trade show games that will transform your booth into an engaging hub of activity.
Whether it’s a trade show or any other event, visitors just love trivia games! You can create fun questions around industry trends, common pain points, and your company's unique solutions.
Attendees can spin a wheel or draw a card to accept the challenge, and you can reward correct answers with branded swag or a chance to win a grand prize.
The key to success? Get creative with your questions and tailor them to your solutions such that they spark meaningful conversations and leave your attendees wanting to know more.
Visitors can’t resist a good guessing game, and Guess the Product Feature is the perfect way to showcase your company's unique offerings in an engaging way!
Create a list of your most innovative or lesser-known service features and challenge participants to guess which feature matches the description.
For example, you could ask, "Which of our services helps clients build AI-powered applications?" or "True or False: Our AI-powered analytics platform can predict market trends with 95% accuracy."
Make sure to use graphics to keep the game visually appealing and include a mix of difficulty levels to cater to different audiences.
Digital prize wheels are becoming increasingly popular as a trade show game because they can be easily integrated with social media so participants can share their experiences and prizes with their network. This expands your brand's reach beyond the trade show floor. Plus, they give you valuable leads.
To attract visitors, create a modern, attractive digital prize wheel and customize it with your company colors, logo, and other interactive elements.
Attendees can spin the wheel using a touchscreen or by clicking a button and the prizes can include branded merchandise, exclusive discounts on your services, or even a free trial of your premium offering.
There's no other adventurous trade show booth idea like a well-planned digital scavenger hunt!
In this game, you have to create a series of clues pure that lead participants to different locations within your booth. For example, you could ask them to find the screen displaying your latest client testimonial or the area showcasing your most popular service package.
Attendees can use their smartphones to scan QR codes strategically placed around your booth to find the clues. As they solve each puzzle, they learn more about your company's unique value proposition.
To add an extra layer of excitement, consider creating a leaderboard displaying the top players in real-time and offering them rewards like a free consultation with your experts.
Raffles have always been a trade show staple, but with a digital twist, they become even more exciting and engaging! With a digital raffle game, attendees can enter their contact information on a tablet or touchscreen for a chance to win big prizes.
The best part? You can customize the entry form to collect lead information like their email address, profession, company, and the biggest challenges they face in their industry. This helps you follow up with targeted messaging after the event.
In another digital version of the classic raffle game, attendees can submit their contact information using a tablet or touchscreen device for a chance to win enticing prizes.
But since this game is widely used by exhibitors at trade shows, you have to design a visually appealing interface in your booth that reflects your brand identity to make it stand out. You can also include a short survey or poll to gather data on your audience's interests and challenges.
To create excitement and encourage participation, display real-time updates on the number of entries and announce winners periodically throughout the event or on social media.
AR/VR trade show games are a fantastic way to engage attendees in immersive experiences. If used smartly, these games can help you showcase your offerings in ways that make your booth stand out.
You can offer virtual tours of your services, interactive simulations, or problem-solving scenarios relevant to your industry. For example, a VR game where participants navigate a virtual environment to solve IT challenges or an AR app that overlays digital information onto real-world surfaces.
Bayer facilitated an immersive green screen experience at their event booth, where visitors could see themselves composited into a captivating CGI night scene featuring a campsite.
Through real-time video compositing, visitors witnessed themselves holding a stick by a virtual campfire, creating a personalized video that was delivered to their email after badge scanning. This provided an engaging and memorable experience while simultaneously capturing valuable leads.
Immersive games are a big hit at any trade show because they provide a hands-on understanding of your products and services and make your booth the star of the show.
Coin-operated games at trade shows are a classic way to create a fun, nostalgic atmosphere at your booth.
You can design arcade games that feature your company's branding or offerings. For example, you could create a whack-a-mole game where players hit targets that represent the solutions you offer or a claw machine that's filled with prizes like branded merchandise.
Another idea is to use ticket-based games to encourage people to keep coming back to your booth. Visitors can earn tickets by playing different games, and then trade those tickets for rewards such as branded gifts or discount vouchers for your products or services.
Scratch-off lottery tickets have been successful in luring people in for ages. In trade shows, you can do the same by offering scratch-off cards with exciting coupons hidden beneath the scratch-off surface. These coupons can be gift cards, exclusive discounts, or even a grand prize like a free product or service subscription.
Attendees will love the interactive experience of scratching off the cards to reveal their prize. Plus, you can design the cards with your branding and messaging to create a lasting impression.
These oversized versions of classic games provide a fun, interactive experience that's hard to miss and even harder to resist.
You can set up a giant Jenga tower or a life-sized chessboard. As attendees play, your staff can strike up conversations, discuss your products or services, and create memorable connections.
Coca-Cola created an engaging exhibition booth at a Cyber Battle event by implementing two Jumbo games - a "drop game" where players had to catch falling objects while avoiding obstacles and a "wheel of fortune" game that raffled off different beverage prizes.
These visually appealing games, combined with an enthusiastic host, drew in over 200 gameplays during the 7-hour exhibition period!
Jumbo games are a fantastic icebreaker and a surefire way to create a buzz around your booth.
Shooting or dart games are a classic choice for trade show booth games, but you can take yours to the next level by incorporating your company's unique value proposition.
Set up a themed target that aligns with your brand or industry, and let attendees test their skills to win prizes.
For example, if you're in the tech industry, create a target with different "bugs" or "glitches" that players must aim for. Each hit could correspond to a specific prize tier, with the most difficult targets offering the biggest rewards.
For added excitement, include a grand prize for participants who successfully complete the entire challenge. This could be a significant discount on your services, a free consultation, or a high-value gift that showcases your brand.
This unconventional and exciting activity is guaranteed to draw a crowd and create a buzz around your brand!
Set up a mini racetrack in your booth area and invite attendees to enter the giant, transparent balls. As they roll and bounce their way through the course, they'll build camaraderie and create lasting memories associated with your brand.
You can offer incentives to encourage participants to share their hamster ball experiences on their social media channels using a branded hashtag for your event. This way, this game can extend your brand's reach beyond the trade show floor.
Engage your booth visitors on a whole new level by setting up DIY stations where visitors can roll up their sleeves and get creative with your products or services.
For instance, if you're a software company, you could set up a station where visitors can try out your latest app and create their own custom dashboard. Or, if you're in the wellness industry, offer a make-your-own essential oil blend station or a guided meditation session.
The goal is to let your visitors experience your offerings firsthand and create a memorable takeaway that will keep your brand top of mind long after the trade show is over.
Have you ever considered how amazing it would be if technology could do the heavy lifting of entertaining visitors while your human team focuses on building relationships and closing deals? Interactive social robots at trade shows help you do just that.
These robots can be programmed to do many tasks–from welcoming visitors and providing directions to organizing games and collecting lead information.
Plus, they're just plain fun! Visitors of all ages will be delighted by the opportunity to interact with a friendly robot and learn more about your brand in the process.
Pop-up escape room challenges participants to solve a series of puzzles and clues within a set time limit to "escape" the room.
The idea is to tailor the escape room theme to your industry or specific solutions to make the experience both engaging and informative. For example, a cybersecurity solutions company could create a scenario where participants must solve cyber-attack-related puzzles to save a fictional company from a data breach.
You can also incorporate puzzles that highlight the key features of your solutions so participants can experience them firsthand in a memorable way. After successfully completing the escape room, you can reward participants with branded gifts or special promotions so they leave with a lasting impression.
Product demos have always been the best way to educate visitors about your solutions, but traditionally presented demos are no longer appealing.
Gamified demos create an engaging experience that enables visitors to interact with your offerings in a fun way. For maximum impact, come up with challenges your target audience faces in the real world and gamify the demo to showcase how your product or service can help solve those challenges.
Just make sure to keep the gameplay easy to navigate so participants can focus more on learning about your brand and solutions than learning how to play the game.
Going beyond simple brand awareness, customized mobile app games can be designed to educate players about your products or services through interactive challenges and quests.
When designing a mobile app game for your trade show, incorporate social features like leaderboards and in-game rewards to encourage friendly competition and viral sharing.
Interactive LED floor games use pressure-sensitive LED tiles to detect and respond to player movements arranged in a grid to create a large, interactive surface. Games are projected onto the floor with customizable software for brand colors, logos, and messaging.
To create a successful LED floor game in your trade show booth:
As attendees play, booth staff can engage with them, discuss your products or services, and collect contact information. You can also hold competitions on these floors to encourage participation and generate leads.
One of the most appealing trade show games is brain teaser challenges, like riddles, quizzes, code-breaking exercises, etc. tailored to your target audience and product or services.
If meticulously designed, these challenges will draw in curious minds and spark engaging discussions.
Don’t forget to design your challenges to be visually appealing, user-friendly, and easily accessible via digital displays, tablets, or interactive kiosks.
These games can also help collect participant data through registration forms or challenge submissions, enabling targeted follow-up and personalized nurturing campaigns.
There is no dearth of trade show games to choose from, but the key to drawing and engaging attendees is careful planning and execution.
Remember to keep games simple, prize-worthy, and relevant to your brand. Understand your target audience well and choose the games that are most likely to resonate with them.
While you focus on creating an unforgettable experience, Pure Exhibits is here to help with your booth rental needs. As a leading booth rental provider in Las Vegas, we specialize in creating custom trade show displays that make your booth stand out.
Check out some of the booths we have designed here. If you have questions about how we work and how we can help, talk to our experts here.
Read More: Off-the-Floor Activities for Exhibitors
To ensure your trade show games attract your target audience, choose games that align with your brand and target audience's interests. Moreover, promote the games in advance to build excitement and draw your desired crowd to your booth.
Engaging trade show games attract more foot traffic, encourage meaningful interactions, and create lasting impressions. They help your company stand out by generating buzz, differentiating your brand, and providing valuable insights about your target audience.
To ensure that your trade show booth aligns with your company’s branding and goals, design your booth with colors, imagery, and messaging that consistently reflect your brand identity. You should also ensure that your booth staff and activities support your specific trade show objectives, such as lead generation, product demonstrations, or brand awareness.
To collect leads through trade show games, incorporate lead capture mechanisms, such as requiring participants to provide their contact information to play or offering prizes for winners who submit their details. You can also design games that naturally collect data about attendees' interests and preferences, which can be used for targeted follow-up after the event.
The best way to measure the success of your trade show games is to track key metrics such as the number of participants, leads generated, and social media mentions related to your games. We also recommend surveying participants to gauge their enjoyment, brand recall, and likelihood to engage with your company post-event and using these insights to refine your trade show strategy for future success.
Trade Show Booth Set Up
This guide is for all corporate event managers, no matter your experience level. If you’re wondering how to set up a trade show booth at an event, you’re in the right place. From planning and design to making it happen and following up afterward, we’ll cover all the important steps on how to set up your exhibit booth and make it memorable and exciting.
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