Labor Day is typically considered the kick off of the “last days of summer.” In many areas of the country that could be true. The days get shorter, the nights get cooler and the pool may require a heater in order to be able to use it without freezing!

If you’re planning a party for these last weekends in September, before you call your pool contractor to close it up for the season, here are some old favorite in-pool games! Make the last pool party of 2021 as memorable as you can!

Fun Pool Games To Play Before The Season Ends

We know that when there is a swimming pool involved, you don’t need to coordinate activities BUT sometimes it’s just fun to play a game and many of these are games that are ideal for swimmers of all ages!

Here are a few oldies, but goodies!

Marco Polo

Who doesn’t remember this fun game from your childhood?

in pool games

Marco Polo

  • Someone needs to be IT. This person closes his or her eyes and it’s their job to “catch” the others
  • If the person who is IT, hollers out “Marco!” the other players holler back “Polo!”
  • And the chase is on!
  • If the IT person touches one of the other players, that player becomes IT
  • Continue until everyone’s had enough.

Throw, Dive, Retrieve

It’s always fun to dive for objects in the pool.
Diving sticks or diving rings can be sunk and brought back to the surface, time-and-time-again, for hours on end; the fun, pride, and awesome feeling of accomplishment will never wear out and become boring.

Turn the game into a treasure hunt. Toss in items with a theme (pirate treasure or water creatures, for example) and the one or group who finds the most in the treasure hunt list, is the winner!

Shark Attack

Fun Pool Games To Play Before The Season Ends
  • Two people are sharks
  • The others in the pool are tourists. The aim is to be the last person alive.
  • This game is fun if you have an inflatable shark or two
  • The sharks swim after the tourists and if the tourist gets touched by the shark, they are out
  • The game continues until you are the last tourist standing

Dance Tag

  • This game is similar to tag.
  • You will need at least two people to play.
  • Start with a person who is IT. This person chases the others person and touches them.
  • When the person is touched by IT, that player must dance for 5 seconds.
  • The dance must be different every time!

Other fun games and ideas

  • Buy pool toys, such as diving sticks or inflatable rings.
  • Have a race! See who’s the fastest while doing slow-mo swimming etc.
  • Practice your swimming. You might get better!
  • Bring some friends if it’s a party or a public swimming pool.
  • Buy some rubber duckies in different colors and have duck races. You can’t touch the ducks, you can only move them by moving the water around them
  • Try the race from the rubber duckie game with ping pong balls
  • Buy some in-pool games like basketball or volleyball
  • Just jump in and play with no games in mind!

What are your favorite in-pool games?