we bought a hundred ping pong balls off amazon.com, (okay, they're really beer pong balls, multicolor, don't quite bounce as well as real ping pong balls, but cost less, and the cats don't seem to care). This way we can sit in one place and throw balls for the cats to chase without having to keep getting up. Our cats prefer to chase than to "catch", so best to throw it PAST the cat, than TO the cat (hubby still doesn't seem to get this, too many years with dogs, I guess).
A game they really like is throwing the pingpong balls up the stairs, so they come bouncing down, our cats chase them going up, chase them going down, really get into this one. Then, once you've tossed about a hundred balls, if cat hasn't wandered off or isn't just laying there watching you perform for them, you scoop them all up and start again. Also means you can leave pingpong balls laying around in corners and hallways and whatever for them to batt and chase on their own.
We also got about 3 dozen little fake mice off amazon for the same reason. You can sit in one place and throw mice for a while, without having to keep getting up to collect it. Mice also work well on the toss-up-the-stairs game.
Fishing poles--string on a stick. They sell some very nice ones made of a long thin piece of fleece cloth on a stick, I like these better than real string on a stick, easier on cat's claws and paws when they snag it as you're still flicking or pulling. You can also run around the house letting it drag behind you for them to chase, as long as you are faster than your cat, because once they hook into it, the game stops moving.
Big pile of loose, crumpled packing paper (or bags, or boxes) and then toss the balls or mice into that, as cat dives in for them.
Hubby has taught our two younger cats to play a combo of Hide'n'Seek and Tag. He runs around the house, hiding behind doorways and diverting down hallways and things, and the cats chase and find him. One cat pretty much follows, the other one figures out which way he's likely to be going and reverses through the rooms to meet him at the other doorway. it's really cute.
We have plenty of toys and boxes, but their play times are all low key -mostly rubbing, chewing and slobbering all over the cat nip toys. My 14 year old loves to play with ice cubes as her human slides them back and forth and she attacks! (Although her greatest pleasure is watching her human play with the cubie.) Because of arthritis, she doesn't love this so much anymore.