How to Play Limbo

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Limbo is a party and playground game in which players must pass under a progressively lowering horizontal bar by leaning backwards, keeping their feet on the ground, and avoiding any contact with the bar. It requires balance, flexibility, and nerve rather than strength or speed, which makes it genuinely inclusive across a wide age range.

It is played outdoors at garden parties, on beaches, at school sports days, and at informal family gatherings. The combination of simple rules, mounting tension as the bar drops, and the comic spectacle of players contorting themselves makes it a reliable crowd-pleaser that needs almost no equipment and no prior practice.

A little history

Limbo is widely associated with the Caribbean, particularly Trinidad, where it developed as a dance and performance tradition. Its origins are unclear in precise historical terms, though it is traditionally linked to African cultural practices that arrived in the Caribbean during the period of the slave trade, later evolving into a celebratory social form. It gained widespread international popularity as a party game during the mid-twentieth century as Caribbean music and culture reached global audiences.

Setting up

1. Place two supports facing each other on flat, even ground, approximately 1.5 to 2 metres apart.
2. Rest the bar across both supports at approximately shoulder height of the shortest adult player. This is the starting height.
3. Mark a clear approach lane so players know where to walk towards and under the bar.
4. Agree before play begins how many attempts each player gets per round (standard is one attempt).
5. Choose a player or non-playing adult to act as bar-holder or adjudicator if no purpose-built supports are available.

How to play

1. Players form a queue and take turns approaching the bar one at a time.
2. Each player must pass under the bar by leaning backwards. They may not bend forwards, crouch, kneel, or crawl. Only a backward lean with forward-moving feet is permitted.
3. Both feet must remain flat on or moving along the ground throughout the pass. Jumping, hopping, or lifting both feet at once disqualifies the attempt.
4. A player is eliminated if they touch the bar with any part of their body or if they fall over or put a hand on the ground to prevent falling.
5. Once every remaining player has attempted the bar at the current height, the round ends and the bar is lowered by an agreed increment, typically 5 to 10 centimetres.
6. Eliminated players stand aside and watch. They take no further part in that game.
7. Play continues, round by round, with the bar dropping each round, until only one player remains.

Winning and scoring

The winner is the last player to successfully pass under the bar without being eliminated. There is no points system in the standard game. If two or more players are the last ones remaining and both fail at the same height in the same round, they share the win or, by prior agreement, play a sudden-death round at the height at which they both last succeeded, lowering by smaller increments until one player is eliminated.

The fine points

The most common dispute is whether a player touched the bar. Where no adjudicator is present, the majority decision of watching players stands. If opinion is evenly split, the player is generally given a second attempt as a courtesy, though this should be agreed before the game starts rather than improvised mid-round. Contact with clothing counts as contact: a loose shirt brushing the bar is an elimination.

Hands on the ground are an elimination regardless of whether the player completes the pass. A stumble that results in a knee or hand touching the ground is also out, even if the bar was not touched. The bar itself must not wobble or fall during a pass; if it does through no contact by the player, that player should be given a free re-attempt at the same height.

How to win more often

• Start your approach at a steady walking pace. Too slow and you lose momentum mid-lean; too fast and your feet race ahead of your centre of gravity.
• Look up and slightly behind you rather than at the bar. Focusing on the bar draws your chin down and costs you centimetres of clearance.
• Keep your arms out to the sides at roughly waist height for balance. Raising them above your head shifts weight and makes controlled leaning harder.
• Bend at the knees as you lean back. A deep knee bend is perfectly legal and gives you far more control than trying to arch through the back alone.
• Save your deepest lean for the last possible moment, just as your face passes under the bar, rather than committing to maximum lean from the start of the approach.

Variations

Team Limbo

Players are divided into two equal teams. Each team's score is the cumulative height at which its members were eliminated, with lower eliminations scoring more points. The team whose members lasted longest overall wins. This format works well with larger groups of 10 or more as it keeps eliminated players invested in the outcome.

Limbo with Music

Players must time their approach so they pass under the bar only while music is playing. If the music stops before they clear the bar, they must freeze and wait for it to resume. This adds an extra layer of difficulty and comedy, and is particularly popular at children's parties combined with a musical-statues style pause rule.

Double Limbo

Two bars are set up in parallel, roughly 60 centimetres apart, so players must pass under both bars in a single continuous movement. Both bars start at the same height and are lowered together each round. This variant demands greater body control and is better suited to older players or those with some experience of the standard game.

Pairs Limbo

Players attempt the bar in pairs, side by side, holding inside hands throughout the pass. Both players must clear the bar together without either touching it. If either partner is eliminated, both are out. This version emphasises coordination and is a good icebreaker activity for mixed-age groups.

Limbo: frequently asked questions