The best trade show game ideas are short, easy to understand from three metres away and end with a sign-up form: a skill game with a leaderboard and a daily prize, a quiz about your product, a spin the wheel or a product finder. Run them on a tablet or big screen at the booth, or on visitors' own phones via a QR code, and send every lead straight to your CRM with a few qualifying questions, so sales can follow up the week after the show.
A trade show costs a lot of money and lasts a few days. Most booths still collect leads the old way: a bowl of business cards, a paper form or a badge scanner that gives you a name and little else. A game changes two things. It gives people a reason to stop at your stand, and it gives you clean, consented data you can use after the show. Below are game ideas that work at a booth, how to turn players into qualified leads and what to do once you're back at the office.
Why games work at a trade show booth
Visitors walk past hundreds of stands. They stop where something is happening. A game on a big screen, a queue of people trying to beat a high score or a wheel that someone is spinning right now gives them that reason.
A game also helps your team. Instead of opening with "Can I help you?", your staff can say "Want to try for today's prize?" The game breaks the ice, and the questions in it start the sales conversation for you.
And it fixes the data problem. When people type in their own details on a sign-up form, you get correct spelling, a working email address and, if you ask for it, consent to send them marketing.
6 trade show game ideas
1. A skill game with a leaderboard and a daily prize
Put a skill game on a big screen or tablet, add a leaderboard and give a prize to the best score each day. Drop games, memory, tap it and hit the target all work well, because everyone understands them in seconds.
Why it works at a booth:
- People come back to beat their score, often with colleagues.
- The live ranking on the screen draws a crowd.
- A daily prize gives a reason to return on day two and three.
Swap your logo and products into the game, so people spend a minute with your brand rather than a generic game.
2. A quiz about your product or industry
A quiz with five to eight questions teaches people something while they play. Ask about the problem you solve, a surprising fact from your industry or a feature of your new product. Correct answers enter a prize draw.
A quiz suits B2B well, because it gives your sales team something to talk about: "Most people get question four wrong. Here is why."
3. Spin the wheel
The classic booth game, now on a screen. A digital spin the wheel needs no carpenter, can't be rigged by a strong arm and keeps track of every prize. You set how many of each prize there are and the chance of winning each one.
Norwegian agency Nova Vista swapped a physical prize wheel for a digital one in a retail activation and reached 11,000 participants and an 89% conversion rate.
4. A product finder
If your range is wide or technical, a product finder lets visitors answer a few questions and see which product fits them. It works as a self-service tool when your staff are busy, and the answers tell sales exactly what the visitor needs.
5. A QR code game for the whole hall
Not everyone wants to play in front of a crowd. Print a QR code on your stand, on flyers, in the show guide or on the back of your staff's T-shirts. People scan it and play on their own phone, in the browser, with no app. Use a separate QR code per place, so you can see which one brought the most players.
Scandinavian Print Group uses quizzes, wheels and advent calendars at trade fairs and in direct mail with QR codes to engage B2B customers across 18 brands.
6. An interactive floor map for organisers
If you run the show, an interactive map can send visitors around the hall and give sponsors results they can see. We wrote a full guide on how interactive floor maps drive trade show traffic and sponsor ROI.
Which game fits your booth?
| Game | Best for | Where it runs | Prize type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skill game + leaderboard | Crowds, repeat visits | Big screen or tablet | Daily prize for the best score |
| Product quiz | B2B, education | Tablet or phone via QR | Prize draw for correct answers |
| Spin the wheel | Fast, high volume | Tablet or phone via QR | Instant wins and discount codes |
| Product finder | Wide or technical range | Tablet or phone via QR | Optional, often a discount |
| QR code game | Reach beyond the stand | Visitors' phones | Instant win or draw |
Turn players into qualified leads
A game that collects 800 emails is nice. A game that tells you which 60 of them want a quote next month is better.
Keep the form short
Ask for the minimum you need to follow up: name, work email and company. Every extra field costs sign-ups, and at a busy booth people won't type for long. Our guide to sign-up form fields explains how to find the balance.
Add one or two qualifying questions
Put the qualifying questions inside the game or right after it, where they feel natural:
- "How many locations do you have?"
- "When are you planning to buy?" (This quarter / This year / Just looking)
- "Which of these topics interests you most?"
Pick answers you can sort by. Multiple choice beats free text, because your sales team can filter on it later.
Ask for consent the right way
If you want to send marketing emails after the show, ask for consent with a separate, unticked checkbox. Under the GDPR, consent must be "freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous" and given "by a statement or by a clear affirmative action", and people have the right to withdraw it at any time. Whether you need consent for every follow-up, for example a personal email from a salesperson about a quote they asked for, depends on the country and the situation. Check with your lawyer.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Keep it fair
At a trade show, the same person may want to play twenty times. Limit how often each email can play, and decide whether the leaderboard counts each person's best score. In Scratcher you set this up once, together with your prizes and winners.
Send leads to your CRM during the show
Don't wait until you're home to type in leads. Connect the campaign to your CRM or email tool before the show, so every sign-up arrives with its answers while the show is still on. Scratcher has native integrations with tools like HubSpot, Salesforce and Mailchimp, 8,000+ apps via Zapier, and an API and webhooks.
That means your sales team can:
- See hot leads the same evening and book meetings for the next morning.
- Filter by the qualifying answers, for example everyone who wants to buy this quarter.
- Tag leads with the show name, so you can measure what the show brought in.
Follow up after the show
The week after a trade show is when leads go cold. Plan the follow-up before you leave:
- Day 1–2: a thank-you email to everyone who played, with the winner announcement and a link to the content you promised.
- Day 3–5: personal emails from sales to the leads who said they want to buy soon.
- Week 2–4: a short nurture flow for the rest, based on the topics they picked in the game.
Practical tips for game day
- Test the Wi-Fi. Trade show networks are often slow. Bring a mobile hotspot as a backup.
- Make the screen readable from the aisle. Big text, one clear instruction: "Beat today's high score."
- Have prizes people can see. A product on the table works better than a picture of one.
- Translate the game. International show? Rex, our AI assistant, can translate the texts.
- Brief the team. Everyone should know how to start the game, what the prize is and which questions mean a hot lead.
Make the QR code for your stand with the free QR code generator, and add UTM tags so you can count the visits from the show.
Running it as a competition
A booth game is a small competition, so the usual basics apply: clear terms, a fair way to pick winners and a plan for telling them. Our guide on how to run an online competition covers the full process, and you can see what the platform does on our page about online competitions and giveaways.
FAQ
What are good trade show games for B2B?
A product quiz, a product finder and a skill game with a leaderboard work well for B2B. They take a minute, start a conversation and let you add qualifying questions about company size, needs and buying timeline.
Do visitors need to download an app?
No. With a QR code, people scan with their phone camera and play in the browser. On a tablet or big screen at the booth, they play directly on your device.
How do I get trade show leads into my CRM?
Connect the campaign to your CRM before the show. Each sign-up is sent with its answers as it comes in, so sales can follow up the same day.
What prizes work best at a trade show?
Prizes linked to your product attract people who could become customers. A daily prize for the best score keeps people coming back during the show.
Get your booth game ready
You can build a booth game from one of 150+ templates, put your logo and colors on it and connect it to your CRM in an afternoon. Start your free 14-day trial, or book a meeting and we'll help you plan the game for your next show.
