✍️ Best Baby Shower Games Editorial Team · Updated May 2026

Safety Pin in Rice Hunt

Drop a handful of safety pins into a big bowl of dry rice and stir them in. Each guest gets sixty seconds, blindfolded, to fish out as many pins as they can with their bare fingers. Most pins wins — and everyone learns very fast that pins feel a lot like rice.

⚡ Quick
🤝 Low-pressure
🍷 Coed-friendly

⏱ Prep: 5 min
👥 Best for: 6–20 guests
🍷 Coed: Yes
📹 Virtual: In person

What you'll need

One 2-quart mixing bowl or larger (any glass bowl from Target or Walmart works)
1 lb bag of plain long-grain rice (Trader Joe's, Walmart, or any grocery store — about $2)
15–20 small safety pins from the sewing aisle at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, or Joann
A folded bandana or sleep mask for the blindfold ($5 two-pack on Amazon)
60-second timer on your phone — no app needed
Small cups or bowls for guests to drop their found pins into

Before the shower (setup)

Pick up the rice and pins the morning of the baby shower if you don't already have them. A 1 lb bag of long-grain rice from Trader Joe's runs about $2 and fills a 2-quart bowl nicely. Grab a card of small safety pins from the sewing aisle at Michaels or Hobby Lobby — you want the half-inch ones, not the giant diaper pins. Twenty pins is the right count for this baby shower game; less than ten feels too easy and more than twenty makes the bowl feel like a beach.
About fifteen minutes before guests arrive, pour the entire bag of rice into your largest mixing bowl. A deep bowl matters — shallow bowls let pins slide to the edge where guests can cheat with their palm. Drop the pins in one at a time and stir them down with a wooden spoon so they sink to different layers. Some should be near the surface, some buried at the bottom, and a few in the middle. That layering is what makes the rounds feel different from each other.
Set the bowl on a low coffee table or kitchen island so seated guests can reach in comfortably. Put a small empty cup next to the bowl for the player to drop their pins into. Fold the bandana ahead of time so it's ready to tie. Pull the mom-to-be aside and let her know she's exempt — she gets to watch, laugh, and pick her favorite round. Skip this game entirely if you've got toddlers running around the shower; loose safety pins on a floor is a hazard nobody needs.

Front-door setup for Safety Pin in Rice Hunt — basket of clothespins and a chalkboard rule sign by the entryway — Set up at the front door so the game starts the second guests walk in.

How to play

Gather four to six guests around the bowl and explain the rule in one sentence: sixty seconds, blindfolded, fingers only, most pins wins. Tie the bandana over the first player's eyes and check that they truly can't peek. Place their dominant hand on the rim of the bowl so they have a reference point. Start the timer on your phone and say "go" loud enough that the room hears it. The pin-in-rice baby shower game lives on the contrast between how chaotic it looks and how slow the seconds actually feel.

While the player digs, the rest of the room cheers, counts pins out loud, and yells about pins they almost grabbed. The player can't use both hands to scoop — one hand only, fingers only. No tipping the bowl, no shaking pins to the surface. When they find a pin, they pull it out and drop it in the cup beside the bowl. Some guests grab three pins in five seconds and then stall out; others hunt for forty seconds before their first find. The slow burners usually win.

When the timer hits zero, call "time" and have the player lift the blindfold to count their pins in the cup. Write the count on an index card or just say it out loud. Stir the pins back into the rice with a fork, tie the blindfold on the next player, and go again. After everyone who wants a turn has played, the highest pin count takes the prize. If two people tie, run a thirty-second tiebreaker round between them.

A hand lifting a clothespin off another guest's shirt — the steal moment in Safety Pin in Rice Hunt — The moment of the steal — someone slipped, someone caught it, pin changes hands.

Variations to try

No blindfold for kids. If kids over eight are at the shower and you want them to play, drop the blindfold for their rounds and use closed safety pins only. The hunt is still fun by feel — even sighted, dry rice hides pins surprisingly well. Keep their rounds short (30 seconds) so they don't lose interest.
Mixed-prize bowl. Stir in 5 plastic pacifiers and 5 plastic mini-bottles along with the pins. Pacifiers count for 2 points, mini-bottles for 3, pins for 1. The strategy shifts — guests start guessing what their fingers landed on before they pull. Pairs nicely with [[baby-item-memory-game]] as a back-to-back tactile block.
Speed round. Cut the timer to thirty seconds. The pace goes from steady hunt to full panic. Best for a smaller group of competitive friends who've already played the standard round once and want to up the stakes.
Team relay. Split into two teams of three. Each teammate runs a 30-second round, then tags the next player in. Pins from all three rounds combined are the team's score. Works well for a coed baby shower where guys want to compete in groups instead of solo.
Two-bowl race. Set up two identical bowls side by side and run two blindfolded players at once. Adds head-to-head energy and lets you finish the game in half the time when you've got a big guest list to get through.

Pro tips from hosts who've actually run this

Long-grain rice only. Short-grain sticks together, and pins get buried under clumps instead of staying free in the grain. Long-grain flows around your fingers.
Open every pin about halfway before the bowl goes on the table. Closed pins are too smooth — guests can't tell them apart from a rice clump. Half-open pins have a clear point and clasp shape that fingers can recognize.
A deep bowl beats a wide one. You want pins at multiple depths so guests can't just sweep the surface. A 2-quart pyrex mixing bowl is the sweet spot.
Put a kitchen towel under the bowl. Rice will spill — not a lot, but enough that you'll thank yourself for not scrubbing grains out of the rug.
Count the pins twice before the first round and remember the number. If someone's count comes up two pins short at the end, you'll know without dumping the bowl.
Hold a small magnet handy for cleanup. Sweeping pins out of rice is annoying; a fridge magnet pulls them out in about ten seconds.
Run this game between two louder ones (like [[mummy-wrap-race]] or [[baby-bottle-chug]]). It's a quiet, focused break that lets the room settle for a few minutes.

Common mistakes to avoid

Buying jumbo diaper-sized safety pins. They're too big and easy to find — every player ends up with 18 of 20 and the game has no winner. Small half-inch sewing pins are what you want.
Using a shallow bowl. Pins slide to the edge, and guests cheat by hooking the rim. A deep bowl forces them to actually dig.
Letting players use both hands. The whole point is the slow, one-finger search. Two-hand scooping turns it into a sorting game in about ten seconds.
Skipping the layering step. If you just toss pins on top of rice, every guest finds them in the first twenty seconds. Stir them down through the rice with a wooden spoon so they sit at different depths.
Running this game with toddlers in the room. Loose pins on the floor are a real choking and stepping hazard. Either play it after kids leave or pick a different tactile baby shower game like [[baby-item-memory-game]].

Best prize for this game

Keep the prize small and kitchen-themed since the game is short. A $15 Trader Joe's gift card pairs perfectly with the rice tie-in. A nice candle from Yankee Candle or Bath & Body Works also works, especially in their seasonal scents. For a coed crowd, a six-pack of fancy chocolate from Trader Joe's or a $20 Starbucks gift card travels well. Wrap the prize where guests can see it during play — it doubles the effort.

→ More baby shower prize ideas, by budget

Our verdict

Surprisingly addictive baby shower game that costs five bucks and runs in under ten minutes. Skip it if there are toddlers in the room — otherwise it's a solid quiet filler between bigger games.

Safety Pin in Rice Hunt — FAQ

How do you play the safety pin in rice baby shower game?

Hide 15–20 small safety pins in a deep bowl of dry rice. Blindfold one guest at a time and give them 60 seconds to pull out as many pins as they can using one hand and fingers only. Most pins wins. It's a quiet, tactile baby shower game that takes about ten minutes total for a group of six.

Is this baby shower game safe with safety pins?

Yes, for adults and older kids — open the pins halfway, not all the way, and skip it if toddlers are around. Half-open pins have a recognizable shape but aren't sharp enough to draw blood. Closed pins are too smooth to find. Sweep the room with a magnet after the game to catch any that fell.

How many safety pins do I need for pin in rice?

Fifteen to twenty small pins (half-inch sewing pins, not diaper pins) is the sweet spot. Less than ten and the bowl feels empty; more than twenty and every guest ties at 18. A card of pins from Michaels or the sewing aisle at Walmart costs around $3.

What's the best prize for the pin in rice game?

Something small and specific. A $15 Trader Joe's or Target gift card matches the casual energy of the game. A Yankee Candle in a fall scent or a small Bath & Body Works gift set also lands well. Skip vague mystery prizes — guests put in more effort when they know exactly what they're playing for.

Is the rice game good for a coed baby shower?

It's solid for coed showers because the game is short, low-stakes, and not gender-tied. Guys lean in once the timer starts and a friend yells out a wrong pin count. Skip the pink-and-blue framing and just call it the pin hunt — it plays cleaner with mixed crowds that way.

Can you play pin in rice on Zoom?

Not really — the game depends on everyone watching one bowl and counting in real time. For a virtual baby shower, swap to a guessing game like [[guess-the-due-date]] or [[baby-emoji-pictionary]] that runs better on a webcam. Save pin in rice for in-person showers.

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About the author

Best Baby Shower Games Editorial Team — Party planners, parents & writers. We’re a small team of party planners and parents who’ve hosted — and been guests at — dozens of baby showers. Every game here is sorted by what actually lands in a real room, not by what just looks cute on a Pinterest board.