The 5 best Party Games
If you want to play a video game in party settings, your choices are a bit more limited. Unless, of course, your guests don’t mind watching you try to climb the ranked ladder in CS:GO, you’ll probably need to pick something that will involve more people.
Luckily, party games have become an increasingly popular genre of video games.
Where there once were only a few games to choose from, there are now several top-tier options that will entertain multiple people at once - even if they need to take turns.
Ahead, we’ll cover five of our favorite party games for you to try at your next get-together. Some of these are also very inexpensive - costing far less than even popular card games like Cards Against Humanity.
It’s worth giving them a try at your next party - whether you’re hosting gamers or non-gamers.
Some of the games can be played on mobile - and some of them are good candidates for the best game to play for couples.
Quiplash
Pretty much any JackBox game can be a party game, as that’s the inherent design of the system. JackBox Party Pack includes a long list of fun games for parties, but one of the most popular games that pops up in multiple packs is Quiplash.
Quiplash is a lot like the popular card game Cards Against Humanity. Each player gets two prompts per round, where they create the funniest answer they can think of. After that, their answers go head-to-head against another player’s answers, as the rest of the members vote for which one they think is the funniest.
The winner will be the person who has the most points at the end of the game. Party games are all about getting as many people involved as possible. One of the good parts about all JackBox games is that anyone watching can join the game and help influence the outcome by voting on their phones.
JackBox might be the king of video game party games, and Quiplash is one of their best selections. The good news is that if you just want to play Quiplash, you can buy it without needing to spend up for the whole pack.
Mario Party
Mario Party is the classic fun party game since its original release. Now, years later, it’s still probably what most people think of when they’re thinking about a video game in party settings.
The classic title features a board game format, with each round divided into several different mini-games that require various levels of skill.
You earn coins through your performance, with the ultimate goal of buying stars from Toad. You can, of course, also steal stars from other players and earn stars at the end of the game for different superlatives.
Whoever has the most stars at the end of the game wins.
Although Mario Party is a classic and undoubtedly a fun party game, it doesn’t include as many people as some of the other titles on this list. If your guests don’t mind watching four people play a game, then there won’t be an issue. If some of the viewers start to get bored, you might find yourself cutting Mario Party short.
Still, you can’t make a list of video game party games without including Mario Party. However, if you don’t want to spend so much money on Mario Party, you can try out the next game on our list.
Pummel Party
Do you want to play Mario Party but don’t have a Nintendo Switch? Or do you not want to pay a premium price for a game that you’ll probably only play a handful of times with friends? That’s where Pummel Party comes in.
Essentially, Pummel Party is a Mario Party clone without the characters. It’s a board game-style video game where, after each turn, players compete in a mini-game to earn coins and set the turn order for the next round.
Instead of stars, players compete for goblets. The player with the most goblets at the end of the game is the winner. Like Mario Party, Pummel Party features several maps with unique challenges, twists, and obstacles.
Fibbage
Fibbage is another title in the line of JackBox Games that gets a lot of attention. Similar to Quiplash, players enter their answers to a prompt shown on-screen. Unlike Quiplash, though, the point of the game isn’t to make people laugh - but to fool them.
Instead of coming up with the most bizarre answer you can think of, your goal is to make the other players think that your answer is the correct answer. Each question has one answer, with the rest being filled in by the contestants. You get points for fooling other players and choosing the right answer yourself.
While this isn’t the funniest game in party settings, it’s still a good form of entertainment and is an awesome icebreaker. Like all JackBox games, everyone at the party can participate by joining the audience from their phones.
Gang Beasts
Was your last party ruined by a Super Smash Bros. sweat who clobbered everyone and ruined the fun? Don’t worry!
There’s another game where everyone can compete and we can nearly guarantee that none of the partygoers have hundreds of hours under their belts.
Gang Beasts is like Super Smash Bros. without the necessary skill. Sure, those with experience will probably fare better than those without it, but the skill gap is nowhere near similar fighting games like Super Smash.
Instead of precision hits and combos, Gang Beasts is more like a drunken, derpy wrestling game that allows you to play local and online multiplayer. The idea is the same as something like Super Smash Bros.
Your goal is to be the last one alive at the end. The means by which you win are much different: a combination of sillier and more violent.
Although there isn’t a ton of depth to the game, it’s one of the hilarious party games that will undoubtedly make for lots of laughs in your next get-together. If you’re looking to game in a party with a fighting game that doesn’t require a ton of experience, Gang Beasts is a perfect choice.