10 Fun Group Games for Your Next Get-Together

Tired of the same old "so, what's new?" conversation at every party? Whether you're with family, friends, or a mix of both, having a few fun group games up your sleeve can turn a potentially awkward gathering into a memorable one. Here are ten easy-to-learn games that work for just about any crowd, from a large group to a smaller gathering.

Games That Use Your Phone

Let's be real, everyone has their phone on them anyway. Might as well use it for some fun.

Explosive Seconds

If your group loves fast-paced guessing games, this app is a fantastic choice. Explosive Seconds is a charades-style game where you have to describe words to your teammates without actually saying the word on the screen. The app takes care of the timer and scorekeeping, which is a huge plus.

How to Play:

• Team Mode: This isn't your typical team game. It's more like hot potato with a timer! Each team has a 45-second clock. When your team guesses a word correctly, your clock stops, and the other team's clock starts. If your timer runs out, you lose a life. The last team with lives remaining wins.
• Free-For-All: In this mode, it's every player for themselves in a race to 50 stars. You team up with a different guesser each round, scoring points for fast descriptions and correct guesses.

Heads Up!

This is another popular app-based game that gets everyone involved and laughing.

How to Play:

1. One person holds the phone to their forehead, with the screen facing out so they can't see it.
2. The other players have to describe or act out whatever word or phrase appears on the screen.
3. The person with the phone has one minute to make as many correct guesses as possible.
4. Categories range from celebrities to animals to movies, so there's something for everyone.

Classic Party Games

These are the games that have been entertaining people for years. They're popular for a reason!

Charades

You can't go wrong with a classic. Charades is a go-to game that always delivers.

How to Play:

1. First, have everyone write down people, movie titles, or concepts on a slip of paper and toss them into a bowl.
2. Divide into two teams.
3. A player from one team draws a slip of paper and has to act out what's written on it without speaking.
4. Their team has a set amount of time (usually a minute) to guess correctly. If they do, they get a point.
5. Teams alternate turns until all the slips have been acted out.

Mafia

If you have a large group and want something with a little more strategy, Mafia is the perfect game.

How to Play:

1. Assign Roles: You need a narrator to run the game. The other players are secretly assigned roles like Mafia, Detective, Angel, and Townsperson. You can do this by drawing roles from a hat.
2. Night Phase: The narrator tells everyone to close their eyes ("go to sleep"). Then, the narrator asks the Mafia members to "wake up," silently choose someone to "kill," and then "go back to sleep." The narrator then wakes the Detective to investigate a player and the Angel to save someone.
3. Day Phase: Everyone "wakes up," and the narrator reveals who was "killed" during the night (unless the Angel saved them). That player is now out of the game. The remaining players discuss and vote on who they think is in the Mafia. The player with the most votes is eliminated.
4. Objective: The game continues with night and day phases until either all the Mafia members are eliminated (the Townspeople win) or the Mafia outnumber the Townspeople.

Spoons

This game is like a slightly more frantic version of musical chairs, but with cards and spoons.

How to Play:

1. Sit in a circle around a table. Place spoons in the middle—one fewer than the number of players.
2. Deal four cards to each player. The goal is to be the first to get four of a kind (e.g., four Kings).
3. The dealer starts by picking up a card from the deck and passing one from their hand to the left. This continues quickly around the circle.
4. Once a player gets four of a kind, they quietly grab a spoon from the center.
5. As soon as one person grabs a spoon, everyone else can make a grab for the remaining ones.
6. The player left without a spoon is out. Remove a spoon and play again until only one winner is left.

Easy Icebreaker Games

These games are perfect to break the ice and get everyone comfortable and laughing.

Two Truths and a Lie

This is a fantastic game to learn surprising things about your friends, even the ones you’ve known forever.

How to Play:

1. Each person thinks of three "facts" about themselves. Two are true, and one is a lie.
2. Taking turns, each player shares their three statements with the group.
3. The rest of the group votes on which statement they think is the lie.
4. Once everyone has guessed, the player reveals the lie. You'll be amazed at what you learn!

Never Have I Ever

A classic getting-to-know-you game that can be as tame or as wild as your group wants.

How to Play:

1. Everyone sits in a circle and holds up three fingers.
2. One person starts by saying "Never have I ever..." and finishing the sentence with something they've never done.
3. If anyone in the group has done that thing, they must put one finger down.
4. The game continues around the circle. The last person with fingers still up is the winner.

The One-Word Game

This game is all about teamwork and creativity. The goal is to build a coherent sentence one word at a time.

How to Play:

1. Sit in a circle. One person starts by saying a single word to begin a sentence.
2. The person next to them adds another word, and so on around the circle.
3. The story can get hilarious and weird pretty quickly. Keep going until the sentence feels complete or someone messes up, then choose one person to start a new sentence!

A Creative Paper-and-Pen Game

Sometimes you just can't beat the old-school fun of a game with a piece of paper and a pen.

Telephone Pictionary

This is a hilarious combination of the classic Telephone and Pictionary games.

How to Play:

1. Everyone starts with a piece of paper and a pen.
2. Each person writes a sentence or phrase at the top of their paper.
3. Then, everyone passes their paper to the person on their right.
4. The next player reads the sentence, folds the paper over to hide it, and draws a picture of what the sentence described.
5. The paper gets passed again. This time, the player looks only at the drawing, folds the paper over it, and writes a sentence describing the picture.
6. This continues, alternating between drawing and writing, until you get your original piece of paper back. The final results are usually wildly different from the starting sentence and always good for a laugh.

The Bowl Game

This is a simple and fun group game that helps people get to know each other, even if you've known them for years.

How to Play:

1. All you need is a bowl, a piece of paper for each person, and pens.
2. Each person writes a true, interesting fact about themselves that no one else in the room knows. They fold the slip of paper and put it in the bowl.
3. The game starts when one person draws a slip of paper and reads the fact out loud.
4. The group discusses and then on the count of three, everyone points to the person they think wrote the fact.
5. The actual author then reveals themselves. There are no real winners or losers, just a lot of fun discoveries.