Party games for a proper games night

Mates on the way over and nothing planned. Or the dinner's done, the plates are stacked, and the telly's about to win again. This page is the answer to the question every games night starts with: what will we actually play?

Or find your own.

Answer any of the three, or none, and the shelf narrows itself. Every classic flips over: the whole rules in thirty seconds, no rulebook.

• Charades 4–10 playersNo kit15–30 min Act out a title in total silence while your team shouts increasingly wrong answers at you. How to play →

  How to play

  1. Split into two teams. The other team gives your actor a film, book or show title in secret.
  2. Act it out in silence. No words, no mouthing, no pointing at the actual thing.
  3. Your team has two minutes to shout it. Got it, a point. Swap actors and go again.

  Stuck for ideas? The dealer below deals free → Flip back
• The hat game 4–12 playersPen, paper, bowl30–60 min Three rounds, the same famous names, and less to work with every time. How to play →

  How to play

  1. Everyone writes five famous names and folds them into a bowl. Two teams, 30-second turns.
  2. Round one, describe the name freely. Round two, one single word. Round three, act it out.
  3. Same names all three rounds, so pay attention early. Most names guessed wins.

  Flip back
• Two truths and a lie 3–10 playersNo kit10–20 min You will learn things about your friends you cannot unlearn. How to play →

  How to play

  1. Tell the room three things about yourself. One of them is false.
  2. The room interrogates you, then votes on the lie.
  3. A point to everyone who caught it, two to you if nobody did. The skill is a truth that sounds like a lie.

  Flip back
• Wink murder 6–20 playersNo kit10–20 min One murderer, killing with a wink. Victims must die dramatically, it's the law. How to play →

  How to play

  1. Eyes shut, one person taps the murderer. One volunteer detective stands in the middle.
  2. The murderer kills by winking at people. Caught a wink, count to five, die theatrically.
  3. The detective gets three guesses to name the murderer before the room runs out of bodies.

  Flip back
• Werewolf 7–20 playersA narrator30–60 min Spend the evening confidently accusing your closest friends of murder. How to play →

  How to play

  1. A narrator secretly assigns two werewolves; everyone else is a villager.
  2. Night: the village shuts its eyes, the wolves silently pick a victim.
  3. Day: the victim is announced, the village debates and votes somebody out. Repeat until one side is gone.

  Flip back
• Twenty questions 2+ playersNo kit5–15 min The oldest game on this page, and still the best one for a long car journey. How to play →

  How to play

  1. One person thinks of a thing. Any thing.
  2. The room gets twenty yes-or-no questions to close in on it.
  3. Name it within twenty and you take the chair. Fail and the thinker gloats and goes again.

  Flip back
• Consequences 3–10 playersPen and paper10–20 min A story written by committee, where the committee never saw the last line. How to play →

  How to play

  1. Everyone writes a name at the top of a strip of paper, folds it over, passes it on.
  2. Keep going one line at a time: met who, where, they said, the consequence was.
  3. Unfold and read the stories aloud. That's it. That's the game. It has not failed yet.

  Flip back
• Categories 2–8 playersNo kit5–15 min Name things that fit. Hesitate and you're out. Harder than it has any right to be. How to play →

  How to play

  1. Pick a category: crisp flavours, football clubs, things in a kitchen.
  2. Around the circle, each person names one that fits. Keep a rhythm going.
  3. Hesitate, repeat, or blank: you're out. Last one standing picks the next category.

  Let the letter round pick for you → Flip back
• MortifiedFree to try 2–15 playersEveryone's phoneNo internet needed A scenario about someone in the room lands on every phone. Anonymous answers, then the reveal names names. One person has the app, the rest join by QR; a hotspot is plenty. See the game →
• CamoIn testing 3–12 playersEveryone's phoneFamily friendly Everyone knows the secret word except the Chameleon, who bluffs it, and the Salamander, who is confidently wrong. Catch them both. See the game →

Try a charade on us.

The eternal problem with charades is thinking of something to act. Sorted: deal a card and hand the phone to your victim.

Everyone has a phone. Use them.

The honest bit: we make party games, so of course this section exists. We make them because phones are the one bit of kit every room already has. One person downloads, the whole room plays. No ads, no tracking, one fair price.

• Mortified

  

  Mortified

  The dignity-shredding party game.

  Out now Free to try

  A scenario about someone in the room lands on every phone. Everyone answers anonymously. Then the reveal names names.

  • 2–15 players
  • Same room
  • Plays offline
  • No accounts

  
• Camo

  

  Camo

  The Chameleon & Salamander game.

  In testing Family friendly

  A Chameleon bluffing a word they don't know, a Salamander sure of the wrong one. Catch them both.

  • 3–12 players
  • Same room
  • Plays offline
  • No accounts

Planning a specific kind of night?

The deeper guides. One page per occasion, same promise on every one: rules in thirty seconds and nothing to buy unless you want to.

Games night questions, answered.

One more thing. If the night produces a moment somebody will never live down, Northern Ireland has a word for how they'll feel about it: scundered. We keep a wee dictionary of the rest.