Are you trying to get the gang together for the most epic night since last year’s holiday bash? A good party needs fun people, delicious food and flowing drinks. However, even with all these ingredients, your fiesta can fall flat. What’s the solution? Great games. Playing games brings people together, giving them a common goal and forging bonds that last a lifetime. But you don’t want to choose any game. You want a memorable party game. Luckily, we’re here to help with the four best party games around.
Charades Tests Patience and Imagination
You’ve probably heard of charades. After all, this game is the oldest of all the party games. Its origins arise from an 18th-century French game based on riddles. That makes it an almost ancient form of entertainment, and there’s a reason for that: charades are awesome.
In case you haven’t heard of it or played it, we’ll do a quick rundown: the object of charades is to have one person acting out a scene, word or phrase, without speaking. Meanwhile, the audience tries to guess the scene, word or phrase. The first person to guess correctly gets a point.
The easiest way to do this is to have a bunch of words or phrases written down by a third party beforehand and placed in a hat for safekeeping. When it comes time to play, the person doing the acting draws from the hat.
Source: Expert Village
Charades is an excellent game to play at parties. Divide into teams to get the most out of this activity.
For this to work out perfectly, you need an odd number of people. That’s because party charades play best in teams — this develops friendly competition and camaraderie between teammates. You need an even number of people on the teams. You also need another person (probably you, the host) to time each round of acting and write down those times on a piece of paper.
At the end of the round, add up all the minutes it took the teams to guess their actor’s scene, word or phrase. The fastest team wins. The concept is simple, but charades can get loud quick. That’s why it’s so fun. Soon, you’ll have people rolling on the floor, jumping and other crazy antics. You’ll find both teams having a raucously good time, and that’s what a party is all about.
Poker Provides Friendly Competition
Poker is one of the best party games out there. It combines fierce competition with hilariously frustrated partygoers, all in the spirit of fun and having a good time. Poker works best with 5–9 players, so make sure you have enough people at your party to get the game off the ground.
You’ll want to come prepared if you’re serious about poker night. You’ll also need to be aware of all the possible hands and know which ones rank higher than the others. But there are a lot of hands, which can be confusing, especially if you’re a beginner. What’s the solution? Try printing out this handy poker hand ranking chart to have at the table with you. And you can consult the chart easily to figure out which person at the table has the highest-ranking hand if you find yourself in the middle of a game.
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Poker hands generally don’t take too much time to finish, so everyone will be able to keep an interest and stay invested as time goes on. The competition around the poker table can get intense, but it’s also excellent for a party. Everyone will have the chance to see how their bluffing skills hold up against their friends, and laughter will ensue. For the best results with poker, make sure you have a big enough table, chairs, cards and ample chips beforehand. Whether you choose to play with cash, personal favors or favorite snacks, keep the pot light and fun.
Fictionary Combines Creativity and Hilarity
Ever heard of Fictionary? This game is a classic twist on the popular Pictionary, except it’s way more fun. You’ll need to have a dictionary readily available and enough paper and pens for the whole party. The game begins with one person who looks through the dictionary to find a word that nobody knows.
The announcer iterates the word, and once you find out that nobody knows it, the announcer then writes down the correct definition without telling anyone what it is. Everyone else makes up their definition and writes it down on a piece of paper as well. All the papers go to the announcer, who then shuffles them and reads them all aloud.
The object of Fictionary is to guess which definition is the correct one. Everyone deliberates, then each player says which definition they think is real. After everyone has had their guess, the announcer reveals which definition is the true one. Everyone who guessed correctly gets a point, and the next person in line gets to be the announcer.
Once everyone has had a chance to be the announcer, you tally up all the points. The person with the most points wins the game. Fictionary is a lighthearted game with the potential to have your guests rolling on the floor with laughter. As the definitions become more and more outlandish, the partygoers have plenty of room for jokes and fun.
Obstacle Course Turns Game Night Physical
Getting outdoors isn’t only an excellent way to pass the time at a party. As a bonus, it’s also one of the best ways to exercise as a group. That means your party will be healthy and happy if you choose to go the obstacle course route. This last game on the list is one of the most challenging in the bunch. It requires the most preparation for you, the host of the party. To make an obstacle course stress-free, the best place to set it up is outside. People may be running, jumping, slipping and sliding around everywhere — and you don’t want them to slide right into your china cabinet.
That means an obstacle course party will work best during the warm months, and you want to schedule it while the forecast looks good. Rain may ruin your lawn or cause people to fall unnecessarily. You’ll also want to check out your yard beforehand and take note of any possible hazards, roping them off from the course.
Set up the obstacle course the day before. Which obstacles you choose, and how physical you want to get, depends on your preferences and the guests you invite. There are tons of ideas out there for you to try. You could make the challenges aerobic, with each guest having to shoot a basketball through a hoop or do some jumping jacks or jump rope before moving on. Since jumping rope burns an average of 12.5 calories per minute, you’ll get a worthy workout, along with a healthy dose of fun.
You could also alternate between aerobic challenges and brainteasers, with guests solving a riddle before moving on to the next challenge. You could even incorporate racing, crawling under chairs or beating out the beefiest guest in a friendly arm-wrestling competition if you don’t mind a little planning.
Have your guests go through the obstacle course as fast as they can. You can set it up as a race, which works best with a few guests. You could also set it up as a timed challenge, with each person going through the obstacles separately, and the person with the best time winning the course.
No matter which party game idea you decide to go with, you’ll have an epic night. Your guests will appreciate having an activity to focus on, and the party will go smoothly as a result. Remember, the party only works when everyone’s having a good time. That means you need to start planning your games today.