Easy to set up, requiring no special skills to play, and fun with an upper case ‘F’, these games will make your get-together come alive!
Looking for hilarious party games to keep your guests LOL’ing till the end?
We’ve gone through a lot - and I mean a LOT - of games that pop up at adults’ parties and events, and selected 10 of them for you to choose from.
It’s a mix of old classics and unique games. There might be the odd game involving a little drinking, some might be a little naughty, plus one or two that put your reflexes to the test.
Whether you’re looking for an entertaining activity for a dinner party, a memorable game for your Christmas get-together, or even a good icebreaker for your office event, you can take up games from this list.
10 games to make your party come alive!
The games are drawn from all genres, to appeal to various kinds of tastes.
Kids Against Maturity
Great Minds Think Alike
Murder Mystery Games
Drop A Hint
Name That Movie
Who Am I?
Which Doesn’t Belong?
The Not So Newlywed Game
The How Do You Doo Song Game
Never Have I Ever
If there’s a particular one you want to read about, hit (Ctrl for Windows, Cmd for Mac) + F to open the “Find In Page” search box, enter the game and hit enter; you’ll be taken straight to that game, instead of having to scroll down manually.
Kids Against Maturity
Image credit: Kids Against Maturity.
KIDS Against Maturity in a list of party games for adults? What gives?
Here’s the deal.
The game is called Kids Against Maturity, but it’s a game for everyone. Everyone with a sense of humor, that is.
Number of players? 4 or more people will do, but to make it fun, I suggest having 6 or more players.
How to play
The basic idea is to come up with the funniest answer to a question, from a number of alternatives.
If you want to include a bit of strategy, you can add a ‘double or nothing’ bit.
Get yourself a box of their cards (link to their website will follow).
Each box has blue question cards and white answer cards.
Put the question cards in a pile (face down), and the answer cards in a pile (face down).
Select the first Questioner (some say it should be the person with the hairiest knuckles).
The others (Responders) all draw ten answer cards, face down.
Responders can see their own cards, but shouldn't show them to the others.
The Questioner draws the first question card, and announces the question.
Responders select one answer card that they feel has the funniest answer to the question, and pass them along to the Questioner, face down.
The Questioner shuffles the answer cards. He/she then reads the question, and each answer aloud. And then they have to pick the answer they find the funniest.
Winning points - The Responder that gave that answer wins a point and becomes the Questioner.
He/she can pass along their answer cards to the Questioner, or all Responders can draw answer cards afresh.
Double or nothing
At any point, if a Responder is feeling particularly lucky, they can go double or nothing.
In response to the question, they can turn over two answer cards to the Questioner.
If the Questioner finds either/both (pick one) of their answers the funniest, that Responder wins 2 points.
If, however, the Questioner find only one/neither of their answers the funniest, the Responder loses 1 point.
Does this have anything to do with Cards Against Humanity? Inside sources say this is a tamer version of Cards Against Humanity.
Where can you get the set of cards? Here’s a link to their website.
Yeah, you need to buy a set of cards to play this game. If you’d rather not buy anything, here are games that you can play with only a pen and paper.
Great Minds Think Alike
A game where you are rewarded for being unoriginal. Now there’s a switcheroo, right?
Number of players? It’s no fun if you don’t have at least 5-6 players.
How to play
The basic idea is to see, given a particular category, how many players think of the same instances/examples of that category.
You’ll need paper, a bowl and a timer.
Write down as many categories as you can think of on pieces of paper.
It can be anything from MCU villains to Outrageously expensive clothing brands.
Fold the papers, throw them in a bowl, and shuffle them.
Pick out a paper at random, and read out the category.
Now everyone has 30 seconds (set a timer) to come up with three examples of that category.
Once time is up, compare answers.
Winning points - You win points depending on how many players thought of the same things.
Every answer that 3 players came up with is 1 point.
Every answer that 4 players came up with is 2 points.
And so on (depending on how many players you have, you can go on like that).
If you want, you can split up into teams and go head to head.
Speaking of going head to head, if you’re having a relatively large party with twenty or more guests - or you’re looking for office event ideas - you can check out our popup escape room (as in, we’ll bring it to your location), in which you can have friendly head to head contests.
Murder Mystery Games
Gif via giphy.
Earn bragging rights to being a real-world Sherlock Holmes by being the one that cracks the murder mystery ahead of everyone else!
Number of players? Depends on the game that you pick.
How to play
Check with your local games store - they should have a few murder mystery game sets.
You can also search for murder mystery games (like this one) online.
You may get a simple list of instructions to follow, or you could get a more detailed game, with downloadable set pieces, clues and instructions.
The one I linked to has everything from character backgrounds to costume suggestions.
Are there any online murder mystery games? You bet there are! If you’re having an online/virtual get-together, search for online games (like this one).
If you’re discovering a new love for mystery and thriller games, check out Chicago’s best Zodiac Killer escape room. Have a real-life adventure inside a serial killer’s lair with your friends and family!
Drop A Hint
Given an item or some sort of a topic, we can usually describe it in a sentence or two (unless it’s something we aren’t destined to understand, like the tax code).
But, can you describe it in a single word?
There, I’ve dropped a hint on what this game involves.
Improving communication is also a key reason why team building matters for managers & supervisors.
Number of players? One team requires a minimum of four players. If you’re playing just like that, 4 players will do…and if you want a competition you need 8 players minimum.
How to play
The basic idea is that a player has to identify a word or phrase based on one-word hints from their teammates.
You’ll need paper, a bowl and a timer.
Write down a number of words/phrases on pieces of paper (ask each player to contribute). Fold the pieces of paper, throw them into a bowl and shuffle them.
If you’re playing competitively, divide yourselves up into teams of minimum 4 players each (say Team A and Team B).
Team A chooses one person to be the first Guesser.
The Guesser remains seated while the others select a piece of paper from the bowl and see the word/phrase written on it.
Within one minute (you can set a timer), the others start giving clues to the Guesser on the word/phrase.
The clues can only be one word. For example, for ‘The Statue of Liberty’, the clues can be ‘statue’, ‘island’, and ‘Ellis’.
The players must give the clues in turn, one word at a time, till the Guesser takes a guess or till time runs out.
Here’s the deal - the Guesser gets only one guess. If they get it wrong, the team nominates another Guesser and starts with another word/phrase.
The game can go on till everyone has been the Guesser at least once, or till you run out of words/phrases, or for a fixed number of rounds.
Winning points - Each correct guess equals a point. At the end of the game, the team with the most points wins.
Is drop a hint a bit like charades? Kind of.
While being fun, this game teaches you an important life skill - given a topic, how succinctly can you communicate it to others?
Communication is a key skill that office groups can best pick up through off-site team events.
Name That Movie
Think I’m just telling you about charades, under a new name? Think again.
Name That Movie is nothing like charades, and will put your quick thinking skills to the test.
Number of players? You’ll need seven or more players to enjoy the game.
Note: This game is competition-based (that is, you need to split into two teams). It also needs an officiator. Which means you need an odd number of people, with one being the Officiator.
How to play
The basic idea is that a player tries to get their teammates to guess the title of a movie through verbal clues…however they’re limited by how many words their clues can have.
You’ll need index cards, a bowl, two buzzers, and a timer.
Write the titles of movies on index cards, throw them in a bowl, and shuffle them.
Split up into two teams, say Team A and Team B.
Both teams must nominate a Clue-master, who will give them clues on the movie title.
The remaining team members are the Guessers.
Each Clue-master gets a buzzer.
The Officiator picks an index card, and shows the movie to the Clue-masters simultaneously, but not to the Guessers.
Here’s the interesting bit. The Clue-masters will have to bid on the number of words their clues will contain, in total.
For example, 2008’s Body Of Lies can reasonably by identified by Leonardo Di Caprio and CIA agent as the clues, adding up to a total of five words.
Whichever Clue-master decides on a number of words first hits their buzzer.
They must then announce their number of words.
If the other Clue-master can do it in fewer words, they can counter-bid, and this can go on as many times as the Clue-masters want.
Once the bidding is over, the winning Clue-master gets one minute to get their team to guess the movie, within the number of words they bid on.
The Officiator keeps track of the number of words and the time.
The team Guessers have one guess.
Winning points - Each correct guess gets that team 1 point. You can also make things harder by introducing a loss of 1 point for each incorrect guess.
Thinking up clues, counting the number of words, placing counter-bids - this game has a lot of moving parts, a lot to teach players about thinking on their feet.
Analyzing team performance can be similarly as it too involves various aspects, but it's been seen that escape rooms are great for SWOT analysis of your team - they're both effective AND fun!
Who Am I?
For the sixth game on our list, we come to the good old Who Am I name game, a.k.a. Who’s this?
This game is a great icebreaker, and a good fit for office parties as a great way for employees to get to know their colleagues on a more personal level.
Number of players? I’d say you need 7-8 players minimum to really get things going.
How to play
The basic idea is to identify a famous person based on a series of Yes/No questions about them.
You’ll need paper, a bowl and sticky tape.
Write down the names of famous people on pieces of paper, throw them in a bowl, and shuffle them.
If you want, you can choose a theme. For example if you choose showbiz, you can only have the names of people in the showbiz industry.
Each player picks a paper, and tapes it to the back of another player so the name on the paper is visible, without letting that person see the name.
The idea is for everyone to have a name on their back, but not know what the name is.
Now the fun begins. Players walk around, asking the others Yes/No questions about the name they have on their back.
You can decide on a maximum number of questions that a player can ask before they have to guess what the name is.
Based on the answers, players try to guess their names.
This game works the best as a simple socializing game. I’d advise against introducing points or competition into it.
Which Doesn’t Belong?
Remember players coming up with specific instances of a given category in Great Minds Think Alike (the first game on this list)?
This game is just the opposite, well, kinda.
Number of players? A minimum of 11 players would be needed for the game to come alive.
Note: The game will need an Officiator, so you’ll need an odd number of players - two equal teams plus an Officiator.
How to play
The basic idea is, given a list and a category, can players identify which entries on the list don’t belong to the category?
You’ll need paper and a buzzer.
(Assuming you’re the Officiator) Pick some categories and prepare a list for each category. Each list should have 6 entries - 3 of which belong to the category and 3 of which don’t.
Example: Say you pick the category Sherlock Holmes stories.
Your list can be:
The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place (Sherlock Holmes)
The Case of the Black Cat (Perry Mason)
Five Orange Pips (Sherlock Holmes)
A Study In Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes)
The Mystery of the Blue Train (Hercule Poirot)
The Moving Finger (Miss Marple)
You can change things up by changing the number of things that belong, but don’t make the lists too long as the game loses steam.
Keep a buzzer where both teams can reach it.
Announce a category, and start reading out the list.
If someone (from either team) feels they’d ID’d an entry that doesn’t belong, they have to get to the buzzer, ring it, and announce which one it is.
If they’re right, they can eliminate someone from the other team.
If they’re wrong, they get eliminated themselves.
The team that loses all their members first loses the game.
This game will really put players’ reflexes to the test. They can’t just identify which entries on the list don’t belong; they have to get to the buzzer and ring it before they say which entry it is.
You can also put your reflexes to the test while having a thrilling adventure with your friends at Chicago’s best heist-themed escape game.
The Not So Newlywed Game
We’ve been married all this time and you’re telling me this now? I feel like I don’t even know you.
A chain of conversation that could end so many ways - with a laugh, with a kiss…so many choices.
This game is your chance to find out where it takes you, as a married couple.
(OK, it might lead to an argument; but if that’s a concern then you probably should be reading about marriage counseling rather than about party games)
Number of players? Well, you need couple participants. I make it at least 5 couples to make the game fun. Plus you need an Officiator. So that’s 11 people minimum.
How to play
The basic idea of the game is to see, given a question, how similar the spouses’ responses are.
You’ll need a list of questions and paper for players to write answers on.
Have a list of questions ready. They can be everyday questions, factual questions, intimate ones, funny prods…and maybe even a few ‘dirty’ ones, depending on the atmosphere. Here’s some inspiration to get you started.
Give each person a sheet of paper.
Divide the couples up into groups.
It could be Husbands and Wives, Born Earlier and Born Later, Who Popped The Question and Who Accepted…or anything else you can think of.
The point is, spouses must be in different groups.
Send one group out of the room, out of earshot.
I prefer this approach as it makes it easier for people to spontaneously answer questions.
Now start announcing the questions, and ask the people of the group in the room to write down their answers.
Once the group is done, send the group out of the room. Ask the other group to come in, announce the questions one by one and ask them to write down their answers.
Then gather everyone together and compare the answers.
Winning points - If you think a contest will liven up the proceedings, award couples 1 point for every answer that matches. On a related note, the problem with many team building and motivational events is that they're well-meaning but boring.
The How Do You Doo Song Game
Image by Bernd Everding from Pixabay.
I’ve become so numb…darra da da da…dara da da da…
I don’t know about you, but that’s how I sing Linkin Park’s Numb. It’s one of my favs, but hey, who has the time to learn all the lyrics?
If that’s been your singing experience too, this is a game you’re really gonna love.
Number of players? The more, the merrier!
How to play
The basic idea is for someone to sing a song, but with all the words replaced by the sound “Doo”. The challenge is for their teammates to guess which song it is, based solely on the tune.
You’ll need paper, a bowl and a timer.
Write down some song titles on pieces of paper, fold them shut, throw them in a bowl and shuffle them.
Split up into two teams - say Teams A and B. Both teams nominate their first singer.
The timer is set to, say, 5 minutes.
Team A’s singer looks at the first song, and starts singing it, but with the words replaced with the sound “Doo”.
If they don’t know the song, they can just move to the next one.
The rest of Team A tries to guess what it is.
If they guess it correctly, the singer moves on to the next song.
If they’re unable, the singer can move on.
Teams have 5 minutes to guess as many songs as they can.
If you want to make it even more competitive, you can set a limit on how many guesses are allowed per song.
Once the timer rings, it’s Team B’s turn.
Winning points - Every correct guess gets that team 1 point.
Never Have I Ever
Finally, a party game for adults that rises to the occasion (as in, there’s booze involved).
Number of players? The more, the merrier!
How to play
You’ll need glasses and drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, to ensure everyone can take part).
Stand around in a circle with your glasses of alcohol in your hands.
People who’ve joined the Temperance Movement can have squash.
The first player starts, saying ‘Never have I ever…’ (kissed on the first date, faked sick from work, and so on).
At that point, the people who’ve done that take a sip from their glasses. Those who haven’t do nothing.
You can take things up a notch by saying that if nobody takes a sip, the person who said never have I ever will have to take a sip.
And it proceeds like that till there’s only one person left whose glass isn’t empty.
What are some good Never Have I Ever questions? There’s literally hundreds of great Never Have I Ever questions that will light up your party. You can start your research here.
Have a great get-together with your friends and family!
Hope our list of party games for adults gives you the game ideas you need to make your party a memorable experience!
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Featured image by Tanya Pro on Unsplash.
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