#1 Poetry for Neanderthals
Ideal Group Size: 2+ players
Poetry for Neanderthals is a party game where you have to give one-syllable clues to get people to guess the word from the card you drew.
If the word you say is more than one syllable, you get bonked over the head with an inflatable bat.
Image source: amazon.com, Lisa Olsen
#2 Dobble
Ideal Group Size: 2 to 8 players
Dobble is a speed-and-observation game you can play with friends and family around a table. The aim of the games is quite simple: each pair of cards has one common symbol, and the one to find and name it wins the card.
Sounds easy, but the anticipation builds up swiftly, and everyone gets really into it.
Image source: amazon.com, John Keeble / Getty Images
#3 Exploding Kittens
Ideal Group Size: 2 to 5 players
Exploding Kitten is a chaotic and fun card game where you take turns drawing from a deck until you draw an Exploding Kitten, which leads to an elimination. All the other cards give the players powerful tools to help avoid exploding.
This continues till there’s only one player left, who becomes the winner.
Image source: amazon.com, r/ExplodingKittens
#4 Code Names
Ideal Group Size: 4 to 8+ players
Code Names is the ultimate board game, playable endlessly thanks to its addictive nature. The players are divided into two teams, with two rival spymasters knowing the secret identities of 25 agents.
Their teammates only know the agents by their codenames, random words like “chocolate” or “ships”. The aim is for each spymaster to have their team identify all of their agents first, but without accidentally revealing the assassin.
Image source: amazon.com, codenamesgame.com
#5 So Clover!
Ideal Group Size: 3 to 6 players
So Clover! is a cooperative party word game in which each player links random pairs of words using creative clues. The aim is to decode each other’s boards through the clues on your teammates’ clovers to find as many keywords as possible and get the highest score.
With 880 keywords in the game, the party can literally go on all night.
Image source: amazon.com, r/boardgames
#6 Monopoly
Ideal Group Size: 2 to 6 players
An unspoken rule of classic Monopoly is that at least two players will be in conflict before the end. The aim is to remain financially solvent while forcing opponents into bankruptcy by buying, selling, and developing property.
Image source: amazon.com, Carlos Guillermo Rincón Achury
#7 Ticket To Ride
Ideal Group Size: 2 to 5 players
Ticket to Ride is a turn-based strategy, railway-themed board game where players collect cards to claim railway routes. It’s highly competitive but of a relatively calmer nature than the other entries on this list, which won’t end with everyone caught up in shouting matches.
Image source: amazon.com, marmaladegamestudio.com
#8 Just One
Ideal Group Size: 3 to 7 players
Just One is a cooperative word game. Players take turns guessing a mystery word based on unique, one-word clues shared by others. Duplicate clues are canceled, so each must be original and creative.
Image source: amazon.com, rprod.com
#9 Rummy
Ideal Group Size: 2 to 6+ players
The classic card game to end all card games, Rummy will get the whole family hooked. Each player is dealt thirteen cards, which they must form into melds, typically sets of the same value or runs of consecutive values.
While each family has its own unique set of rules for melds, the fun has been ongoing for generations.
Image source: The Spruce / Claire Cohen
#10 Bluff
Ideal Group Size: 3 to 10 players
Bluff is a playing card game that tests each player’s ability to lie or “bluff.” Each player lays down cards and claims what they’re playing, which is great, until you’re caught lying.
The player who finishes all their cards first wins the game.
Image source: Wesley Tingey / Unsplash
#11 Black Jack
Ideal Group Size: 2 to 8 players
A casino classic, Blackjack is quite straightforward: players aim to beat the dealer without going over 21. It’s a great playing card game to test your luck and get that faux casino experience at a house party.
Image source: A Chosen Soul / Unsplash
#12 Cards Against Humanity
Ideal Group Size: 4 to 8 players (18+)
Cards Against Humanity is a hilarious fill-in-the-blank party game, perfect for groups with a wacky sense of humor who don’t take themselves too seriously.
Each round, one player asks a question from a black card, and everyone answers with their funniest white card.
Image source: amazon.cm, Crystal Cleveland
#13 Cabo
Ideal Group Size: 2 to 4 players
Cabo is an underrated, addictive card memory game that tests memorization skills. Each player starts with four face-down cards and must remember them, swapping and peeking to lower their score by drawing action cards.
Call “Cabo” when you think you have the lowest score.
Image source: CABO
#14 UNO
Ideal Group Size: 2 to 10 players
No one leaves a game of UNO without a little drama over drawing too many colored cards. The official rules exist, but players worldwide often use house rules, like stacking a draw four over a draw two.
Image source: amazon.com, Colin Davis / Unsplash
#15 Poker
Ideal Group Size: 4 to 8 players
Poker, the ultimate card game for betting chips, is a go-to on a boy’s night. Something like how to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Friends. The game lives on when played for fun, not money.
Poker is a mix of math, bluffing, and psychology that improves with practice.
Image source: Simon Maage / Unsplash
#16 Would You Rather?
Ideal Group Size: 2+ players
The go-to, foolproof icebreaker, Would You Rather?, is a great way to get party guests chatting. The players can start off with basic questions and as the rounds increase, ask juicer questions.
It’s the best party game if people stick to their own little circles to go around the room and get them mingling.
Image source: Amazon.com, Amazon Customer
#17 Two Truths And a Lie
Ideal Group Size: 3+ players
Another classic party icebreaker, Two Truths and a Lie, will get the chatter flowing and the party guests snickering. The aim of the game is exactly as it sounds: each person shares two true statements and one lie, and the group guesses which one is false.
It’s a flexible game that’s suitable for a range of occasions, from first dates to office parties.
Image source: Andrej Lišakov / Unsplash
#18 Desert Island
Ideal Group Size: 3+ players
Desert Island is an imaginative party game that sparks wild conversations and really helps get to know one another. The aim of the game is to ask the question: “If you were stranded on a desert island, what three items would you bring?”
Desert Island helps unpack objective and even silly reasoning, which will automatically lighten the mood.
#19 Where Were You When…?
Ideal Group Size: 3+ players
Where Were You When…? is more of a university orientation-day game: the event leader picks a date or event, and everyone shares a memory from that time. For example, in the spring of 2005, when One Direction split up.
#20 Hot Seat
Ideal Group Size: 3 to 10 players
Hot Seat is an icebreaker that suits a more extroverted demographic. This party game has one person answer personal or funny questions beforehand, while everyone else tries to guess their response.
Image source: amazon.com, Dyce Games
#21 Pictionary
Ideal Group Size: 4 to 10 players
A classic icebreaker if you don’t want to spill any personal tea, Pictionary will get players talking without the pressure of opening up about themselves.
In this timeless game, you’re split into teams, and one person from each team draws the word on their card while the team members try to guess the word before time runs out.
And it goes without saying that artistic skill is not necessary to play Pictionary.
Image source: amazon.com, Mattel.com
#22 Truth Or Dare
Ideal Group Size: 3+ players
The age-old party game that never goes out of style, Truth or Dare is a no-brainer classic that will pep up any boring party in minutes.
The game usually involves players sitting in a circle and spinning a bottle, with the person it lands on choosing truth for honesty or dare for drama.
#23 Musical Chairs
Ideal Group Size: 5+ players
Every kid’s birthday party is incomplete without Musical Chairs. The aim of the game is to run, circle, and claim a chair before the music stops.
The game is simple but gets super intense as players keep getting eliminated, especially when you boil it down to the final two.
Image source: user173529789 / Freepik
#24 Twister
Ideal Group Size: 2 to 6 players
The ultimate test of flexibility, playing Twister, is not for the weak. The game involves giving the spinner a whirl and placing your hands and feet on the same color on the Twister mat until one player falls.
Image source: amazon.com, ME
#25 Elephant March
Ideal Group Size: 4 to 10 players
Elephant March is a unique party game in which players wear a pair of stockings on their heads, with a tennis ball in one leg, forming a makeshift elephant trunk.
The aim of the game is to knock over plastic bottles faster than everyone else with the “stocking trunk.”
Image source: The Chaos and The Clutter
#26 Tug-Of-War
Ideal Group Size: 6+ players
A classic field day game, Tug-Of-War tests both strength and teamwork. To play, you’ll need a long, thick rope with a piece of material tied at the center and two equal teams of roughly the same strength, pulling to try to pull the opposition across the center.
Tug-of-War is suitable for both small and large teams (via Reddit).
#27 Hubbubing
Ideal Group Size: 4+ players
HUBBUBING is a physical party game that doesn’t require you to exert yourself. It’s a scavenger hunt with a touch of mystery where you hide clues, solve riddles, and race to the finish, perfect for mystery room enthusiasts.
#28 Trivia Night
Ideal Group Size: 3+ players
Trivia Night is a flexible party game where you can experiment with varying themes, topics, and team sizes. This classic question-and-answer game will get your brain churning as you battle it out to win the most points.
Just don’t bet on your apartment like Rachel and Monica did on Friends.
Image source: Friends
#29 Simon Says
Ideal Group Size: 4+ players
Simon Says is an exceptional children’s party game with a simple agenda: follow the commands, but only when Simon says so.
The game is excellent for children of all ages, and it will get everyone up and on their feet as they embrace the silliness of it all.
Image source: wikipedia.org
#30 King’s Cup
Ideal Group Size: 4 to 10 players (18+)
King’s Cup is that drinking game that almost gets you blackout drunk without warning. Every member grabs a drink of their choice, a deck of playing cards, and one solo cup placed in the middle.
Each player lifts a card from the deck, with each card standing for a particular rule.
However, if you pull a King, that particular player pours a bit of their drink in the King’s cup, with the player who draws the fourth King having to down the cup with the mixed concoction.
#31 Never Have I Ever
Ideal Group Size: 3+ players (18+)
A party staple, Never Have I Ever is a fun game that gets chaotic as the group gets drunker. Each person in the group shares something they’ve never done, and all the members who have done it take a sip.
#32 Mr. Freeze
Ideal Group Size: 4+ players
Mr.Freeze is a game that can go on all night. At the beginning of the party, one player is picked as “Mr.Freeze,” and at any point in the night, if they freeze, everyone else must follow. The last person to do so drinks.
#33 Fuzzy Duck
Ideal Group Size: 4+ players
Fuzzy Duck is a hilarious tongue twister drinking game that gets everyone at the party buzzed. Players alternate saying “fuzzy duck” and “ducky fuzz” until someone says “does he?” and the direction reverses.
The person who messes up drinks.
Image source: Game Doctor
#34 Straight Face
Ideal Group Size: 4+ players
Straight Face is a drinking game that’s the ultimate test of your poker face abilities. Players write ridiculous sentences, then read them aloud while keeping a straight face. The first person to laugh drinks.
Image source: games.4two / Instagram
#35 Flip Cup
Ideal Group Size: 4 to 10 players (18+)
Flip Cup is the ultimate house party game where teams race to chug their drinks and flip cups using just one finger. The team that finishes last loses and can even be penalized with penalty shots.
Image source: amazon.com, instagram.com
#36 Beer Pong
Ideal Group Size: 4 to 8 players (18+)
Every frat bro’s favorite game, Beer Pong, is a classic college party game that gets people drunk and mingling.
The aim of the game is to toss ping-pong balls into cups of beer on the opposite side of the table. Each time the other team lands a ping pong ball in your cup, you drink.
Image source: homeslicechi / Instagram
#37 Scrabble
Ideal Group Size: 2 to 4 players
Scrabble is the classic test of vocabulary and often leaves younger siblings raging cause the older ones have an unfair advantage.
A must-play game during family game night, Scrabble tests both your critical thinking and English.
Image source: amazon.com, wikipedia.org
#38 Common Quality
Ideal Group Size: 3+ players
Common Quality is a verbal game that requires quick thinking. Teammates take turns naming a word and a characteristic it has.
The next player will then say a word with the same attribute or characteristic, and the game continues until someone can’t come up with a word.
#39 Fortunately, Unfortunately
Ideal Group Size: 3+ players
Fortunately, Unfortunately is a story-making game that’s super underrated. Each member has to craft a wacky, twisty-and-turny story using “fortunately” to begin the sentence and “unfortunately” to kick off the next person’s addition.
The best thing about Fortunately, Unfortunately is that it continues forever, depending on how creative the players want to get.
Image source: Getty Images / Unsplash
#40 Ghosts
Ideal Group Size: 2 to 6 players
Ghosts is a word game in which each player, in turn, presents a letter that must contribute to the eventual formation of a word, but you can’t be the one to finish it. The player whose letter completes a word loses a round, becoming one-third of a ghost.
Three losses turn the player into a full ghost, resulting in their elimination from the game (via Rei). Ghosts would be a great game to include if you’re throwing a Halloween Party.
Image source: freepik
#41 Mad Gab
Ideal Group Size: 3+ players
Kinda similar to jumbled letters, Mad Gab is a game where a player makes up a nonsense phrase, and the other players try to decode it. The player who decodes the sentence first wins the round.
Image source: Higa TV
#42 Question Tennis
Ideal Group Size: 2 to 6 players
Question Tennis is a silly word game where you can only reply to your partner’s question with another question. Failure to reply with a question or to continue results in elimination.
This game can really test your patience and your creativity.
Image source: freepik
#43 Heads Up!
Ideal Group Size: 2+ players
If there’s one thing more exciting than Charades, it’s Digital Charades, aka Heads Up! The game follows the same blueprint: one player holds the phone to their forehead while others shout clues.
This game can be played both in person and on video call.
Image source: amazon.com, Warner Bros. Entertainment
#44 Plato
Ideal Group Size: 2+ players
When you can’t settle on just one game to play, you can sign up for the gaming app, Plato. The app offers a variety of games, such as Ludo, Uno, Card games, and even Pool, which can be played in multiplayer mode with a group of friends.
Image source: Plato
#45 Words With Friends
Ideal Group Size: 2 players
Word With Friends is like digital Scrabble. This app-based word game lets you compete with friends in real-time or asynchronously. The person with the highest score on the shared board wins.
Image source: wordswithfriends.com
#46 Ludo King
Ideal Group Size: 2 to 4 players
Ludo King is a game that really took off during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s the classic game of Ludo made digital. Where players roll, race, and get all their pawns home first to win.
The aim of Ludo may be simple, but the competitive edge can get out of hand when players really get into it.
Image source: amazon.com, Ludo King
#47 Fishbowl
Ideal Group Size: 4+ players
Fishbowl is a virtual version of the classic guessing game. Players can hop on a video call and play through a round of Taboo, Charades, and Password. The team that guesses the most cards across all three rounds wins!
Image source: fishbowl-game.com
#48 Spy
Ideal Group Size: 4 to 12 players
Spy is a virtual game in which all players except the spy receive a location. The players are supposed to use clever questioning to catch the impostor before they guess where you are.
The spy wins if they correctly identify the location, and the other players win if they successfully identify the spy.
Image source: spy.uncoverparty.com
#49 Among Us
Ideal Group Size: 4 to 15 players
Another virtual game that took off during the pandemic, Among Us, is a modern reincarnation of the well-known game Mafia.
Players are supposed to complete spaceship tasks while trying to spot the impostors among them and take them down.
Image source: amongusplay
#50 Meme Party
Ideal Group Size: 2+ players
The ultimate Gen Z online game, Meme Party, has friends battling to make the funniest memes with random templates and captions.
Players compete to create the funniest meme combinations using photo cards and caption cards.
Image source: Meme Party
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