Family Bonding Idea: ‘First Last Best Worst’ Game

Andrew Ronald

Simirity Founder | Father of two

8th May, 2025

I just stumbled upon a brilliant family bonding idea that works perfectly whether you’re gathered around the kitchen table or connecting remotely on a video call. It’s a simple game called ‘First last best worst’ originally created by The Moth to encourage authentic storytelling.

Sharing stories is the best way to bond with family. Sharing real-life stories offers others a rare glimpse into the experiences that shaped us, our values and our thoughts. Each time my family share such stories, I can’t help but feel closer to them as I gain new insights into what makes them tick.

In this article, I’ll show you how to play this game using 100 family-friendly prompts, and you will learn how you can preserve the precious stories that emerge.

Jump to section:

• What is ‘First Last Best Worst’?
• How to Play ‘First Last Best Worst’
• Your Family-Friendly Prompts
• Tips for Deeper Conversations
• How to Preserve the Best Stories
• Save Stories While Strengthening Bonds in Simirity
• Other Family Bonding Ideas

What is ‘First Last Best Worst’?

‘First last best worst’ is a straightforward storytelling game that serves as an excellent family bonding idea, connecting people as they share interesting moments from their lives.

Players are given a prompt, like “party” or “holiday”, and they share their first, last, best or worst experience related to it. If they would like to share all four, that’s even better—the point is to have your family talk about topics you don’t usually discuss.

It’s a simple game, giving just enough direction to spark memories while allowing personal stories to flow naturally.

How to Play ‘First Last Best Worst’

This family bonding idea works in a couple of different ways:

1. Take turns to pull a prompt and give your answer, before moving on to the next person.
2. As a family, pull a prompt, and go around the room with everybody giving their answer relating to that prompt.

In my experience, everyone answering the same question works better as a bonding exercise, and people find it easier to come up with their answer while listening to others share theirs.

In the following section, I’ll provide 100 family-friendly prompts, but you can of course come up with your own.

How does a player select a prompt?

Later in this article, you’ll find an interactive spinning wheel featuring all 100 prompts. You can spin this wheel to randomly select a prompt.

If you prefer to use your own list of prompts or want to customise the ones provided:

1. Copy your desired prompts.
2. Paste them into the Wheelofnames tool.
3. Start using your own personalised spinner.

How do we play remotely?

Connect with your family over a video call and share your screen as you spin the wheel to select the prompts. This is a perfect game for video calls, even for less tech-savvy people.

How long does it last?

It’s entirely up to you. You can do one round where everyone gives an answer or play all night long.

Your Family-Friendly Prompts

The following prompts are suitable for storytellers of all ages within your family.

It’s fun to think that with every prompt, there are potentially four interesting stories from each of your family members—their first time, the last time, the best time and the worst time.

• Accident
• Accomplishment
• Adventure
• Award/Certificate
• Baking attempt
• Beach visit
• Birthday
• Birthday cake
• Board game
• Book
• Brave action
• Broken item
• Building
• Car journey
• Celebration meal
• Challenge
• Childhood memory
• Competition
• Cooking experience
• Costume
• Craft project
• Dance
• Dessert
• Drawing
• Dream
• Fall/Tumble
• Family day out
• Family gathering
• Family meal
• Family photo
• Family recipe
• Family tradition
• Family vacation spot
• Festival
• Food
• Found treasure
• Friend
• Funny story
• Game
• Gift given
• Gift received
• Group photo
• Haircut
• Happy moment
• Helping someone
• Hiding spot
• Holiday celebration
• Holiday decoration
• Home
• Homemade treat
• Hotel stay
• Ice cream
• Joke
• Journey
• Learning experience
• Lost item
• Magic trick
• Mistake
• Misunderstanding
• Mountain view
• Movie
• Neighbour
• New skill
• Outdoor activity
• Outfit
• Party
• Pet
• Picnic spot
• Playground
• Present
• Proud moment
• Race
• Restaurant visit
• Ride
• Road trip
• Scary moment
• School day
• School trip
• Science experiment
• Seasonal activity
• Silly moment
• Sleepover
• Snack
• Song
• Special place
• Special visitor
• Sports moment
• Storm
• Sunset/Sunrise
• Surprise
• Teacher
• Teammate
• Toy
• Trip
• TV show
• Video game
• View/Scenic spot
• Weather day

Take turns spinning the wheel to have a randomly selected prompt.

Simirity connects generations through the power of storytelling

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Tips for Deeper Conversations

While this family bonding idea naturally leads to meaningful stories, a few simple techniques can help deepen your conversations.

• Give people time to think—don’t rush through stories or immediately jump to the next person.
• Ask gentle follow-up questions like “How did that make you feel?” or “What did you learn from that experience?”
• Create a judgment-free zone where everyone feels safe sharing both successes and disappointments.
• Listen actively without interrupting—sometimes the most meaningful details come after a brief pause.
• Embrace vulnerable moments—these often create the strongest family connections and new understanding.
• Remember the goal is authentic connection, not perfect storytelling—even brief or simple stories can be powerful.

How to Preserve the Best Stories

Some of the stories that emerge during ‘First last best worst’ are too precious to trust to memory alone.

You can jot down the details after the game or take voice notes to capture the details while they are still fresh in your mind. If that’s easier, you could even record the whole game—that would be quite fun to look back on 10 or 20 years from now!

Then you should collect all these stories in a way that your whole family can enjoy them. That’s partly why my family created Simirity…

Save Stories While Strengthening Bonds in Simirity

Simirity is a family business, offering loving families a safe space to share and preserve real-life stories.

Simirity is your family’s digital scrapbook of memories.

Beyond photos, videos and voice notes, Simirity app uses real-life stories from your family’s past and present to enrich family relationships while storing cherished memories for tomorrow.

Your stories blossom into rewarding conversations that take your family beyond everyday small talk—creating moments of genuine connection that you’ll treasure forever.

Our mission is to help families bond by harnessing the power of storytelling. If you enjoy the stories that arise from the game ‘First last best worst’, get a free Simirity account and explore hundreds of ideas for family stories worth sharing.

Other Family Bonding Ideas

We’re always looking for new and interesting family bonding ideas that can help entire families feel connected, even when they live apart. Here are a few additional ideas to check out.

• 350+ meaningful questions to ask your mom and dad—this is a great resource to step up from the ‘First last best worst’ game and dig into a wide range of stories from your parents’ past.
• 19 fun family challenges—undertaking these challenges together, even if you live apart, is a great way to connect in a meaningful way and teach younger generations valuable life skills.
• 190 thought-provoking ‘would you rather questions’—this game can be played over a video call and is a fun and memorable way to engage family of all ages in a lively conversation.
• 7 tips for Christmas bonding—if your family gathers at this time of year, make the most of your time together with these tips that help families put down their digital devices and connect with each other.

We hope you and your family find these family bonding ideas helpful.

Games such as ‘First last best worst’ are a great way to get your family accustomed to storytelling. When ready, consider stepping up to a free Simirity account, where you can go deeper, explore hundreds more story ideas and preserve them for future enjoyment.

Not another chat app—Simirity is for deeper family connections.

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