Probably the most common category that people will be looking for games is party games. Maybe not people who are steeped into the hobby, but people joining the hobby or even those who just want something else to play with family and friends. Party Games is great for that an there are a lot of really good ones that people can checkout.

And for other ideas check out the previous lists.

Two Player Games
Campaign Games
Solo Games

Party Games

Just One

Just One is the first of two cooperative party games on the list. That in and of itself is fairly unique. But these games are great for when you have that person or people you play with who get too competitive or into even party games.

In Just One you give a one word clue to the person who is trying to guess a single word. The trick comes that players aren’t able to know what the other people are writing. And you want to give a different clue. Clues that are the same, both of them are erased and the person guessing gets neither of them. I like that element of the game because you want to be unique, but if you are so unique and far out there it could point someone in the wrong direction. And it is possible that people will completely skip the normal clue or the best option as well.

So Clover

The other of the cooperative party games is So Clover. Both of these games are actually from the same company, Repos Productions, who makes an interesting party game seemingly every year.

This is one that is trickier to explain than Just One. But it reminds me of a Venn Diagram in some ways. You get two words and you need to figure out how those words overlap. But you do that four times, like the shape of a four leaf clover. Each overlap is going to give you a unique combination. And after you pick your words and write them down, you remove the cards with the words, which have four words on them, and add a random other one. The other players need to work together and figure out how to put it back in the right orientation.

This game also has a nice benefit of the flow of the game. Each player can write down their combinations at the same time. And then you just go around taking turns being the person to present your set-up of words.

Ready Set Bet

This is very different from what people think of when they think of party games. But it has the excitement that I expect when I play a party game. Ready Set Bet is a horse racing bidding game that is played in real time.

One person is going to be running the race. They, in real time, are rolling dice which moves horses down the track. The other players are all betting on the race in real time. Once someone takes a spot that spot is gone. So rolling two dice you think that 7 would win most of the time, it might, but if you roll the same number twice in a row, it causes it to surge ahead. And of course, there is luck of the dice.

This game is a bit more of a game than a lot of the other ones. Those tend to be experiences. Here you need to learn a few rules and be up for adding in a bit of complexity as you go. But it still has those stand-up moments as people are racing for a betting spot, or at the end of the race, everyone is holding their breath or cheering loudly for their horse, or the one they bet the most on, to win.

Medium

Now we go to more traditional party games, though this one is still unique. In Medium you and another player partner up for a turn. It isn’t a cooperative game, but you both want to match up. That is common for party games. But here, it feels more unique because you each pick a word to play, and then you both need to come up with a word that connects the two. If you don’t on the first try, you use the words you just said and try again. You get three tries with fewer and fewer points you get each time. After a few rounds, player with the most points wins.

I like this game because it leads to weird situations. You might go in two opposite directions with what connects or is between the two. Or you might both pick different synonyms and now you need to make that work for the next guess. And as the person who is watching people guess you always know what they should say. But as the guesser you second guess yourself so much.

Blank Slate

Finally for the party games we have Blank Slate, the most traditional of the party games. In this one you are filling in a blank, so it’d be like [your word] Slate for example. And you want to match with one person with the word you write down. If you watch one with person you both get three points. Match with no one and you get no points. Or match with more people and you all get one point. The game is a race to 20 points or so, and it’s a lot of fun.

I like this one better than a lot of games like it though. It almost has a Apples to Apples feel to it, but you get to be creative. You pick the word you want to play, not some random words that you have in your hand that might not match. And you play the people around the table as well. I might find a great sports word to fill in, but if that doesn’t match the interests of the people at the table, probably not the best play.

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of good party games out there. I still even enjoy the classic party game of Scattergories. But a lot of people have played the few party games from the 80’s and 90’s a lot at this point. So these games are all newer, sometimes familiar and sometimes different, add them into your gaming rotation with friends and family around the holidays. Or give them to people so you aren’t always stuck playing the same games over and over again with them.

What is your favorite party game?

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