One of the best things to do with a large (or even small) group of people is a good ole game night. Playing games with friends is one of the best ways to let loose, have fun, and really get to know the people you are with.
Wondering where you would even begin when it comes to hosting your own game night? Well, look no further because we’ve got you covered! Whether you’re in need of some great game night ideas or some great tips on how to host the perfect night, we have just what you need!
GAME NIGHT IDEAS
When it comes to hosting a game night, your end goal should always revolve around people having fun and getting to know each other better. There are tons of games out there that do this. Here are some of our top game ideas for game night!
THE BOWL GAME
One of our favorite games that we like to play frequently for our game nights is the Bowl Game. It’s seriously the best party game that you’ll ever play! If you are looking for a game that will have everybody laugh-crying, while learning random facts about your friends, then this is the game for you.
CRAZY KISS, MARRY, KILL
Have you ever heard of this game? While it can be played using names of people that you know, this version of Kiss, Marry, Kill is a little less personal and a little more fun! You can use the names of celebrities/sports stars or fictional characters for your choices, such as cartoon characters, tv show/movie characters, and book characters.
Example: Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Piglet. It’s really funny to hear the reasons WHY each person chooses who they will kiss, marry or kill. Someone may kiss Piglet because he’s so cute, marry Tigger because he’s always excited to do new things, and kill Pooh so that they can have the honey all to themselves, ha!
This game is super simple, since you need only pens and paper. You can either write up the list of options ahead of time or have everybody come up with their own options for everybody else to choose from. It’s a lot of fun to see which names each person chooses and why!
PRESS CONFERENCE
Looking for a more unique game to play at your game night? This one is a great choice! For this game, someone holds a “press conference” and answers questions from other guests. The catch? The person holding the press conference doesn’t know who they are pretending to be, but the “interviewers” do. During the press conference, they try to guess who they are based off of the questions that they’re answering. It’s such a fun game!
REACT AND ACT
If you need a good icebreaker to get your game night started off right, then you’ll love this one! In React and Act, guests take turns reacting to various situations, like winning the lottery or getting fired, while the rest of the group has to try and guess what situation is being acted out. It’s kind of like charades, but you can use words and noises, which makes it even more hilarious! Trust me, seeing someone running around like they’re being chased by a bear and screaming is definitely a sight to see.
THE NOT-SO-NEWLYWED GAME
Hosting a couples game night? This game is a simple question and answer game that really helps you get to know each couple and see how well each couple knows one another. The questions can be as simple as “where did you go on your first date?” to see if they remember the details. Or they can be a little bit more controversial, such as “who is the better cook?” It can get really funny to see who remembers all of the little details better and if they agree with each other on the more controversial questions!
SPOONS
If you’ve played this game, then you know exactly why it made our list. The game of Spoons has been around for a while. In case you haven’t had the opportunity to play it yet, here’s the rundown! You need a deck of cards (without the jokers), some spoons, and a group of 3-13 people.
Pile your spoons in the center of the table, using one less than the number of people you have playing. (So if you have 12 people playing, you have 11 spoons in the middle.) Each player gets 4 cards and the rest of the cards are in a pile on the table. The game begins with each player discarding and drawing a card, doing so until they get 4 of a kind.
Once the first person gets 4 of a kind, they can take a spoon from the pile. After that, everyone else can grab a spoon. The last player who doesn’t grab a spoon gets the first letter in the word “Spoons.” Once a player has gotten all of the letters, they’re out and a spoon is removed from the middle of the table. The game keeps going in this fashion until there is one player remaining. It’s a simple, yet fast-paced game that is definitely a fun game for everybody!
MURDER MYSTERY GAMES
Murder mystery games aren’t just for Halloween! You can definitely play these games year-round and have your guests asking for more. While there are a lot of great murder mystery games that you can buy, you can also find some free ones that are just as good! The Spruce has 12 free murder mystery games for you to choose from.
DROP A HINT
This simple game is a crowd favorite and requires little prep. All you need are some index cards with a word or phrase written on them (or use the cards from Reverse Charades). Divide everybody into two teams. For this game, one person guesses while their teammates work together to get the guesser to guess a particular word by dropping hints. The catch? The teammates can only say one word at a time! This can be really funny since they’re not allowed to talk between themselves to know which words the others are going to say.
MIRROR CHARADES
This is a fun twist on the classic game of Charades. Instead of one person going up and acting out the chosen word, there are two. Out of these two people, one of them draws the word and looks at it; making sure their partner doesn’t see it. Then, the player who drew the word stands behind the group of people who are guessing and begins to act out the word, while their partner stands in front of the group of people guessing and mirrors the actions their partner is doing.
Everyone guessing can only look at the person standing in front of them and try to figure out what word they are acting out. This makes it a little more difficult since the person standing in front of them has no clue which word they are acting out! This game can be quite tricky, but is tons of fun to play.
HOW TO HOST THE PERFECT GAME NIGHT
Alright, so now that you have a lot of game night ideas that you can play, we can move on to some tips for hosting the perfect game night!
CREATE YOUR GUEST LIST
As we mentioned before, game nights provide a great opportunity for people to have fun and get to know each other better. There are a few options when it comes to who you’re going to invite.
- You can invite close friends/family you already spend a lot of time with. Even though you do tons of things together, you’ll still have the opportunity to learn something new about each other!
- Invite a mix of close friends/family and acquaintances. Choosing to go with a guest list like this helps keep things familiar, but also widens your circle of people you know.
- If you’ve recently moved to a place where you don’t have any close friends or family, then invite people that you’ve met and would like to get to know better!
Whoever you end up choosing to invite, just make sure that they genuinely want to play games. Nothing will kill your fun game night vibes faster than someone who doesn’t want to participate!
SEATING ACCOMMODATIONS
You always want to make sure everyone has a place to sit during game night. Before your guests arrive, make sure you have enough seating that also allows everyone to feel comfortable and included in the group. If you’re playing board games, make sure you have enough table space for everyone to easily pull up a chair. Or, if you’re playing more interactive games, move your furniture around so everyone can join in on the fun!
FOOD AND DRINKS
It’s hard to have fun when you’ve got the hangries. So, for true game night success, you’ll want to make sure that you’ve got the food and drinks covered! Use the tips in THIS post to get some cheap party food ideas.
To help keep the costs down, ask your guests to bring their favorite drink, treat or food. Along with taking some things off of your to-do list, it’s also a great way for your guests to get to know each other a little better through the foods and drinks they are bringing.
HAVE FUN
Sometimes when you’re hosting, you completely forget to have fun. Really, isn’t that the entire reason you’re hosting a game night in the first place?! The more fun you have, the more fun your guests will have. So, let loose a little and don’t be afraid to step down from your hosting responsibilities and join in on the party!
So there you have it! Hosting a game night really is quite simple, especially if you follow these tips! Do you have any game night ideas that have worked for you in the past? Let us know in the comments!
Check out these posts while you’re here!
- Get your house ready for your game night – check out these products that we use to clean our house (kids included!).
- If you’ve got leftover party food, use these creative ways to use them up rather than throwing them out!
- Make the best chocolate chip cookies for your game night.
Happy game night 🙂
