Having friends and family over and don’t know how to keep them entertained? There’s no faster way to fix “boring” than by turning to party games. No matter what one plays on – PC, console, or mobile – these games are sure to keep guests happy until the night is over. With the right selection of games, no one is going to want to leave. These are our picks for the best party games to play with friends and family!
Jackbox Party Pack
WHERE TO PLAY
The Jackbox Party Pack is a series of party games from Jackbox Games that started in 2014 and has released new games on a yearly basis since.
TheJackbox Party Packhas some of the easiest games to play, especially with a mix of family members who may or may not know that Nintendo is in fact not a system in and of itself. All of theJackboxgames are super fun, but each iteration offers a unique set of games based on talking, trivia, drawing, and more. For instance,The Wheel of Enormous ProportionsinParty Pack 8offers easier trivia thanParty Pack 2and6’sTrivia Murder Party, whileDrawfulcan be tackled by almost anyone.
Regardless of which pack is played (or if all of them are), it’s a great time for grandma, the kids, and everyone in between. Only one person needs to host using almost any device, and most phones or tablets can be used to play along. Plus, non-players can join in the audience to simply vote for their favorite players, often giving them points in the process. This party game is one of the best options for families, friends, and even conventions or other special events!
Related:Amazon Luna: How To Use Luna Couch To Play Local Co-Op Games
Nintendo Switch Sports
Face off against opponents worldwide and strive to reach the Pro League in every sport. As you play online in random matchmaking, redeem points you earn for in-game rewards like outfits, sports accessories, gear, and much more for your avatar. The selection of items rotates each week, so check back and see what’s in stock!Play with friends and family in the same room or across the worldBowl, spike, and duel with friends in all 8 sports! Pass a Joy-Con controller to a friend for some 1v1, 2v2, or a free-for-all that will get everyone moving. In Bowling, all players can bowl simultaneously—no waiting for your turn. Play each sport online, or team up with a friend on the same system to take on opponents near and far in team sports like Basketball, Volleyball and Tennis.
Like its predecessors,Nintendo Switch Sportssupports in-person multiplayer, making it easy to compete against friends and family. The games are still as quick and easy as withWii Sports, featuring games like tennis and bowling. This time around, however, there are some games that promise unique challenges and new experiences, such as the Chambara sword fighting.
Again, the mass appeal of these short, competitive games means that everyone will want to have a chance to dethrone the reigning champ, whether that person is a favorite aunt or a long-time family friend. Even once everyone goes home, players can continue the fun with the new online mode!
Mario Party Superstars
Roll your dice and race to get the most stars (and sabotage your opponents) on 5 game boards. Each board is filled with treats and tricks—plant flowers (and Piranha Plants) on the delectable Peach’s Birthday Cake board or go intergalactic on the Space Land board. With minigames, star-stealing ghosts, and the troublemaking Bowser, you can turn the tables on your friends and family in an instant. Want to play with far-off friends and family? All modes can be played online.Try your hand at a superstar collection of minigames from throughout the Mario Party series. Whether you are sharpening your skills solo or challenging your family at game night, there is nothing quite like being the last one standing in Booksquirm or surviving a penguin stampede in Pushy Penguins.
Mario Partygames are the perfect way to distract kids of all ages without letting them get crushed by their elders. The luck element, like Bowser redistributing wealth or a special tile causing two players to swap coins, make it easy for players to catch up and even win against players that are performing well in the mini-games.
However,Mario Party Superstarsmanages to do this without making it feel like the mini-games are useless or boring. In fact, most of the mini-games are hilarious, challenging, and most importantly, a blast! On top of this, the colorful and imaginative game boards are great at keeping kids fully engaged throughout each turn. It can even help young readers through the use of iconography and simple words.
Overcooked! All You Can Eat
Finally, everything fans love about Overcooked has been blended into one delicious game! Overcooked!, Overcooked! 2, and all of the DLC for these games are available in one convenient package. Play with friends through couch co-op or online and serve up some meals to save the day and defeat the enemies of the Onion King and his BFF, Kevin the dog!Team 17 made a number of improvements, from speeding up background processes to adding seven new levels and three new chefs! With over 200 levels to cook through, players can prove their friendship as things heat up more than ever before!
The basic cooking game has kept players on their toes by putting them in kitchens with moving parts and even hazardous falls through two games and multiple DLC packs. Now, withOvercooked! All You Can Eat,players have access to all the previous games and DLC, plus seven new levels and three new chefs! Ideal for close friends or siblings, it’s highly likely that it will end in a lot of shouting and laughter as everyone inevitably fails to properly control their chef.
Overcooked’s best feature is how it brings back holidaymemories of couch co-opchallenges we faced with our favorite people. It also helps that the controls are extremely simple, so even for siblings that may not have picked up a controller in recent years, the gameplay will be about as easy for them as it is for more experienced gamers.
Mario Kart 8
Race with Mario and friends anytime, anywhere! Burn rubber across Mushroom Kingdom raceways—underwater, in the sky, upside-down in zero-g, and past the finish—for the win! Get revved up for local multiplayer*, online** in-game tournaments, a revamped battle mode, and more!Stay fresh in the Mario Kart™ 8 Deluxe game by playing as guest characters Inkling Girl and Inkling Boy! you may use their Splatoon inspired karts on their battle mode stage, Urchin Underpass. There are also returning items, like Boo, the item-stealing ghost, and the Feather, used exclusively in battle mode. Veterans rejoice—you can hold two items at once! Prove you’re the world’s best racer and battler in online tournaments, or simply race and battle friends online. With many control options and handheld mode, there’s always a way to play on the Nintendo Switch™ system!
Just about everyone is familiar withMario Kartthanks to itslong history of successand accessibility. With a wealth of tracks both old and new, nostalgia can meet the modern age when playingMario Kart 8with friends and family. The racing itself is very easy compared to more realistic racing games, making it a cinch for new players to join in on the fun. For players that already own the game, picking upthe DLC trackswill make everyone smile – unless, of course, your secret skill is falling off Rainbow Road!
Finally, for gamers who are always ready to give it their best,Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis the newest installment in the classic fighting game series and a fantastic party game choice. Although it isn’t ideal for mixed company, a room full of gamers will have a blast as they enter melee after melee. Plus, with a robust story mode and various challenge levels, it’s easy to join forces with friends to conquer every opponent and win every trophy!
Gathering with loved ones is always a blast, no matter what events are going on. Put aside an evening for hanging out and having a blast together with these party games that will keep the festivities alive until the sun rises the next morning!
Keep Talking And Noboby Explodes
You’re alone in a room with a bomb. Your friends, the “Experts”, have the manual needed to defuse it. But there’s a catch: the Experts can’t see the bomb, so everyone will need to talk it out – fast!Put yourpuzzle-solvingand communication skills to the test as you and your friends race to defuse bombs while attempting to communicate quickly before time runs out!Rounds are fast-paced, tense, occasionally silly, and almost always loud.Whether it’s defusing a bomb or deciphering information from the manual, everyone has a crucial role to play.A local co-op party game for two or more playersWhile usually played in person together, you can play remotely using your favorite third-party voice chat service.Play a different bomb every timeProcedurally generated puzzles keep the action fresh.Only one copy of the game neededHave friends join in as Experts by printing or viewing the free Bomb Defusal Manual atExplore Mission and Free Play ModesMissions increase in difficulty as players face new modules. Unlock Freeplay Mode to set the pace by configuring your own custom bombs.Supports modsTry new community-made modules, missions, and more from the Steam Workshop!Supports VREnter an unmatched immersive experience, isolated from your Experts. Swap out between rounds and share the experience with your friends!
Ever thought, “I can definitely defuse a bomb, especially when I have my best friends telling me the instructions clearly and coherently”? Well, withKeep Talking and Nobody Explodes, gamers can find that out. But let’s just say that when that time starts ticking down, every puzzle seems a lot harder, and one’s friends start to get louder and louder.
Despite the stress this game may cause, it is a perfect party game, especially for those groups that don’t really want to sit down and play a video game. There will be one or two people who are defusing the bomb, and the rest will be reading through the instructions to help solve the puzzles.
WarioWare: Get It Together!
Wario is back in the world of microgames—literally! Take on over 200 quick and quirky microgames—lightning-fast minigames filled with frantic fun—solo or with a friend! When his latest harebrained business scheme goes awry, Wario must use his signature style (and smell) to fix it. How? By playing a twisted collection microgames of course! From assembling a robot to pulling out a statue’s armpit hair, the WarioWare: Get It Together! game is a comedic, cooperative microgame mashup.Escape from a monstrous mountain of microgames! Wario is trying his luck at video games again, but this time he’s really getting into it! Help Wario and friends play their way out of a microworld of microgames by taking on over 200 madcap microgames in Story mode, then unlock more modes for even more fun!Multiplayer mayhem: Team up with a pal* in Story mode or take on up to three* other players in Variety Pack!
WarioWaredoesn’t have the same widespread love thatMario Partyhas, but in Game Rant’s opinion, it should. Since the first one was released for the Game Boy Advance, this series has been a great place to go for wacky and weird mini-games.WarioWare: Get It Together!continues that trend spectacularly.
This game works excellently as a solo or party game. Admittedly, it is way more fun as a party game, though. There are 200 mini-games that players have to beat to help Wario with his latest scheme that goes horribly wrong. For parties, we recommend passing the controller around after each mini-game is either completed or failed, trying to beat the levels. Do be warned: players get a limited number of lives in each level, so losing means starting the whole level over.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Gaming icons clash in the ultimate brawl you can play anytime, anywhere! Smash rivals off the stage as new characters Simon Belmont and King K. Rool join Inkling, Ridley, and every fighter in Super Smash Bros. history. Enjoy enhanced speed and combat at new stages based on the Castlevania series, Super Mario Odyssey, and more!Having trouble choosing a stage? Then select the Stage Morph option to transform one stage into another while battling—a series first! Plus, new echo fighters Dark Samus, Richter Belmont, and Chrom join the battle. Whether you play locally or online, savor the faster combat, new attacks, and new defensive options, like a perfect shield. Jam out to 900 different music compositions and go 1-on-1 with a friend, hold a 4-player free-for-all, kick it up to 8-player battles and more!
Similar toMario Kart,Super Smash Bros.is an instantly recognizable game that even many non-gamers are familiar with. Although some professional gamers may disagree,Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis easy to jump into and have fun.
Players who haven’t touched a controller in years will likely be able to play well with a quick tutorial or enjoy simply button-mashing to sow chaos. Often, inexperienced guests can have fun acting as unpredictable obstacles for more experienced players or leveling the playing field among a mix of young and old family members. Plus, the huge roster is filled with iconic characters that will satisfy most people with even a cursory interest in Nintendo.
Of course, experienced players will have tons of fun breaking out this classic brawler, especially by customizing the game through the menus with house rules such as no smash balls or only speed-increasing items. Although some fighting games can get somewhat heated, the colorful and cartoonish setting ofSuper Smash Bros. Ultimatetends to help cooler heads prevail, keeping family and friend time a happy affair.
How to Choose a Good Party Game
Keeping everyone entertained during family get-togethers can sometimes seem like an impossible task, while with friends there’s often a lot of pressure to make it worth everyone’s time to show up. With party games, it’s easy to get things started, keep things going, or close out the night with some excitement. But how exactly does one choose the right game? Which party games are the best and why?
In general, players should consider three key elements to determine whether that party game is suitable for their group:
Number of People
How many people will be arriving at the party? How many people will want to play party games? Knowing this will let players figure out if there should be rounds to a game or if it’s up to just a few gamers to entertain spectators. It also allows people to know whether to ask others to bring extra controllers or if they need to set up a separate space for the guests who want to play.
For example, if the party game of choice isSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, hosts will likely need to ask guests to bring their Joy-Cons with them. On the other hand, a game ofJackboxrequires guests to have nothing but a smartphone or tablet and can accommodate a larger number of players overall.
Difficulty Level
How much gaming does each guest do? Easier games are much more approachable to kids and non-gamers, though for parties without kids, hosts shouldn’t pick a party game that’s too easy. For groups with a wide variety of skill levels, more recognizable titles such asMario KartorSwitch Sportswould be best. Grandparents likely know how golf is played and could probably give the kids a run for their money inSwitch Sports, even if those kids have never really interacted with golf before.
At the same time, adults hanging out probably don’t want to play games made for children, regardless of whether they’ve gamed recently. More challenging games with simple controls, such asKeep Talking and Nobody Explodesare perfect for a mix of gaming and non-gaming adults. Further, for parties where guests are planning on getting inebriated, more frustrating games likeOvercookedmight not be the best choice.
Length of Each Game
Game rounds can vary from a few minutes to over an hour, regardless of whether there’s a party going on. Depending on the other planned activities, the length of each round of a party game may or may not be ideal. Cookouts usually have a lot of downtime for those not enamored by the grill, so longer games likeMario Partycan be started without fear of interruption. Alternatively, general hangouts are usually best suited to quick games that can be stopped and started in under 10 minutes, like a single mini-game inWarioWareor a quick round ofQuiplashinJackbox.
Using quick games to entertain leaves plenty of room for new activities to be started according to the whims of the party. Playing longer games is better for keeping groups busy while waiting for the next event to begin.
FAQ
Q: What kind of party games should I get for a big party?
When considering what games to get for a big group, consider what is fun to watch and also fun to play. If you’re getting a game for a group setting, odds are there will be some that only watch the game being played, which is why games that are fun to watch are just as important as games that are fun for party members to play.
Q: How long should rounds be in a party game?
Round length can vary, but a good party game has rounds that last no longer than ten minutes. That way, as many people as possible can take their turn with the game.
