Trade Show Booth Games to Create a Buzz

Trade shows offer an incredible opportunity to connect with potential clients, showcase your brand, and sell your products or services. Trade show games can allow you to seize this opportunity with more success. At any exhibition you attend, many other brands will be vying for attention too, so standing out from the crowd is key to attracting more visitors. 

There are many factors to consider, such as the placement and size of your booth. But even with the best spot, it’s up to you to draw attention. That’s where interactive trade show booth games come into play. They’re not just fun — they’re proven to drive footfall, boost engagement, and create memorable experiences. Almost nobody can turn down the offer of a freebie or a prize!

To help you stand out, we’ve pulled together a mix of trade show booth game ideas that are designed to attract visitors and in return, give you lots of useful data. With our event analytics services, you’ll be able to measure the success of your efforts in real time.

Keep reading for our 8 trade show booth games to create a buzz!

Prize wheels are a classic amongst trade show games for a few very good reasons. It’s simple, it’s fun, it’s eye-catching, and it’s familiar. Almost everyone has spun a wheel for a prize at some point in their lives. The chance of winning something with a simple spin is almost irresistible. 

It’s also handy for you because you can customise your wheel to reflect your brand colours, logos, or product range. On each segment of the wheel, you can also include an additional data point along with the prize. For example, you can offer visitors additional spins in exchange for a badge scan or newsletter signup.

Using the Apex Monitor, you can track footfall to see if the wheel actually increases dwell time and engagement. Combine this with engagement heatmaps using our EX Sensors to see how long people stay and where they go next.

With virtual reality, the options for trade show booth games are almost endless, as you can take your visitors anywhere beyond the realms of your physical booth. You can have interactive product demonstrations, make use of digital storytelling, and host competitive gaming zones with other exhibition visitors.

Make sure to have a dedicated queueing area and someone on hand to explain the experience. This gives you an opportunity to network and collect leads while they wait. It’s important that you remain the focus point here, and that the VR experience doesn’t overshadow your product. Make sure your VR content constantly links back to your brand story or service offering.

For more information, check out our other blog – 8 Experiential Marketing Examples from Market Leaders.

If you’re looking for something quick, cheap and cheerful, then grab a pair of dice. Visitors roll them both; if they land on the same number, they win a prize. It’s simple, lighthearted and accessible to everyone. It’s not as flamboyant as a large colourful spinning wheel, but it’s equally as familiar and irresistible.

You can keep a small prize table next to the dice to maintain interest, perhaps one of your products? You could even offer a bigger prize to anyone who rolls two doubles in a row.

Augmented reality offers huge creative potential, especially for trade show games and your exhibition stands. Try building an AR scavenger hunt that spans your booth. Attendees can use their phones to find hidden clues or unlock digital content. This creates movement, curiosity, and deeper engagement. Plus, it encourages users to explore more of your booth space. You can also link the AR content to your brand and any of your digital offerings.

Track how long players stay and how many complete the game using engagement tracking tools. Use People Coordinates to analyse the precise movements of your visitors and track when peaks occur. This will allow you to entice visitors at the right time and get them interested in your game.

Another classic for trade show booth games. Give the classic ‘how many sweets are in the jar’ game a branded twist. Use objects that you sell or are linked to your business. For example, if you sell jewellery beads, fill your jar with those! Whoever guesses correctly wins the whole jar or another prize of your choosing. 

You can ask participants to write down their guesses and contact details, which also doubles as a lead capture tool. Check the entry rate versus dwell time and use visitor journey data to see whether people explore more of your booth afterwards.

Trade booth games don’t have to be physical or augmented. They can be something simple that people can take part in online or on social media. Encourage attendees to take part in a branded social challenge — whether that’s posing with a prop or completing a mini-challenge.

Get them to post online and tag your company hashtag. Not only does this attract people to your booth in the exhibition, but it also spreads the word online and gets others involved who aren’t attending. You’re creating buzz beyond the event floor, potentially reaching thousands online. Social media tracking can also be used for a full picture of impact.

This idea can be used for any of the trade show games mentioned above. Gamify your booth experience and introduce an element of competition by setting up a leaderboard. People can see their name on a board, which adds excitement and gets people talking.

Live stats you could display throughout the day include the highest scorer, the most active time slot, or the longest time on a game. This keeps things dynamic and encourages repeat visits. Match leaderboard data with visitor metrics from Exposure Analytics to see when peak interactions happen.

Now you’ve got some ideas on how to create a buzz around your booth, it’s highly useful to keep that buzz alive with real-time and post-exhibition data analysis. Learn what went well, what could have been done better, and how to ensure those potential clients come back for more.

Call us on 0203 982 0997 for more information on how we gather unique metrics about visitor movement and engagement around your booth. Alternatively, you can visit our contact page and leave us a message. We will get back to you as soon as we can!