Party games for adults
The best party games for adults get everyone talking at once: social deduction games like Imposter and Mafia, word games like Fishbowl and Charades, question games like Most Likely To, and music games with real songs. Here are 28 party games for adults in five groups, with the rules in one line and a table that tells you which ones fit your group size.
Imposter
Everyone gets the same secret word except one player. Each gives a one word clue, then the group votes out whoever is faking it.
RulesSwitch off Active if you are stuck around a table, or Music if there is no speaker.
Tap the card to draw a random game for tonight. None of them are drinking games, though any of them can take a sip as the penalty if your crowd wants one.
- Games
- 28
- Players
- 3 to 30
- Sorted by
- Kind of game
28 party games for adults
The five groups match five kinds of evening. Social deduction games are for people who like to argue. Word games work for any crowd. Question games are best when people know each other a bit. Music games fill a room, and active games get people off the sofa.
Social deduction party games
5- Imposter: everyone gets the same secret word except one player. Each gives a one word clue, then the group votes out whoever is faking it.
- The Spy: everyone knows the location except the spy. Ask each other questions until someone gives themselves away.
- Mafia: a narrator secretly picks a few mafia players. They pick a victim each night, and the town argues and votes each day to find them. Also called Werewolf.
- Wink Murder: one secret murderer kills people by winking at them. Victims die dramatically, and the detective has three guesses to catch the killer.
- Murder Mystery Dinner: every guest gets a character and a secret before the party. Over dinner, the clues come out, and at the end everyone names the killer.
Word and guessing games
7- Forbidden Words: describe a word to your team without saying it or the five words listed under it. Taboo style, and easy to make with paper slips.
- Charades: act out a film, a song or a book without speaking while your team guesses against the clock.
- Fishbowl: everyone writes names on slips. Teams guess the same slips in three rounds: describe freely, then one word only, then charades.
- Who Am I: a sticky note with a famous name on everyone's forehead. Ask yes or no questions until you know who you are.
- Draw and Guess: one player draws a word on a big pad while the team guesses. No letters, no numbers.
- Categories: draw a letter and fill in a city, a band, a food and more that start with it before the timer runs out.
- The Bomb: say an answer to the category on the phone and pass it on before the hidden fuse blows.
Question games for adults
6- Most Likely To: read a question, everyone points at once, and the person with the most fingers has to explain themselves.
- Would You Rather: two impossible choices, everyone picks a side, and the minority defends it.
- Never Have I Ever: say something you have never done. Everyone who has done it puts a finger down.
- Truth or Dare: pick truth or dare and answer honestly or take the challenge.
- Pandora's Box: everyone writes a question, everyone answers, and the answers are read out without names.
- Two Truths and a Lie: say three things about yourself, one false. The table votes on the lie.
Music and trivia games
5- The Board: music jeopardy with real clips. Teams pick a category and a value and guess the song.
- The Timeline: hear a real song and place it in your timeline by year, Hitster style.
- Guess the Song: real music clips, and you pick the right title before anyone else.
- One Second: guess the song from a split second of music.
- The Quiz: live trivia where up to 16 players answer on their own phones with a pin code, and the fastest right answer scores most.
Active and silly games
5- Sardines: hide and seek in reverse. One person hides, and everyone who finds them squeezes in too, until the last seeker is alone.
- Photo Scavenger Hunt: teams get a list of photos to take around the house or the block, like a stranger's dog or the whole team in one chair.
- 60 Second Challenges: tiny tasks against the clock, like stacking cups, keeping a balloon in the air or eating a cracker and whistling.
- Spoons: pass cards around a circle. When someone gets four of a kind and grabs a spoon, everyone grabs, and there is one spoon too few.
- $20 Draft: the viral TikTok game for two players or two teams. Bid 20 coins on items for something like the dream backyard, and the app draws what each side built.
How to run a party game night for adults
Most party games fail because of the start, not the game. Adults need a minute to stop being polite. These steps get a room from small talk to shouting answers.
- Open with something everyone can joinPick a game where nobody can be bad at it, like Most Likely To or Who Am I. No teams, no scores, just reactions.
- Then add a light competitionSplit into two teams for Fishbowl, Charades or The Board. Mix couples and friends across the teams.
- Bring out the deduction gameImposter or Mafia once people are warm. Accusing your friends of lying is more fun when everyone is already laughing.
- End slowerLate in the evening, move to Pandora's Box or Would You Rather. People talk more when the volume drops.
Imposter and Mafia, the two big social deduction games
In Imposter everyone except one player sees the same secret word, like "pizza". Going around, each says one word linked to it. The imposter has to blend in without knowing the word, and the group votes on who it is. A round takes five minutes and works from 3 to 20 players.
Mafia needs a narrator and at least six players, ideally eight to fifteen. The narrator secretly gives out roles: one mafia player for every four or five players, plus usually a detective and a doctor. At night everyone closes their eyes, the mafia silently picks a victim, the doctor picks someone to save and the detective learns one player's role. By day the town discusses and votes someone out. The town wins when every mafia player is gone, and the mafia wins when they equal the town.
Fishbowl
- Everyone writes three to five names of famous people, characters or things on slips and puts them in a bowl.
- Split into two teams. One player has 60 seconds to get their team to guess as many slips as possible, then the bowl passes to the other team.
- Round 1: describe with any words except the name. Round 2: one word only. Round 3: acting only, no sounds.
- The same slips are used in all three rounds, so by round three everyone knows the pool, and the jokes from round one come back.
Party games by group size
The size of the group decides more than the theme of the party. Use this table to pick a game that fits the people in the room.
| Group size | Best games | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 3 to 4 | Imposter, Two Truths and a Lie, The Timeline | Everyone takes a turn every minute |
| 5 to 8 | The Spy, Who Am I, Most Likely To, Spoons | Big enough to bluff, small enough to hear everyone |
| 8 to 12 | Fishbowl, Charades, The Board, Mafia | Two real teams, and Mafia gets its best numbers |
| 12 to 16 | The Quiz, Wink Murder, Photo Scavenger Hunt | Everyone plays at once on their own phone or in teams |
| 16 or more | Sardines, Murder Mystery Dinner, Imposter | Games that run in parallel or need many roles |
Want the drinking versions? See the drinking games, the drinking card games or the drinking games without cards.
Imposter, The Board and 14 more on one phone
Dronk has 16 party games on one iPhone, so nobody has to bring a box or remember rules. Start with Imposter, play music jeopardy on The Board, or let up to 16 players join The Quiz from their own phones with a 4 digit pin.
Get Dronk free on iPhone
Questions people ask
What are the best party games for adults?
Imposter and Mafia for groups that like to argue, Fishbowl and Charades for teams, Most Likely To and Would You Rather for friends who know each other, and The Board or The Timeline for music lovers.
What are good social deduction party games?
Imposter, The Spy, Mafia (also called Werewolf), Wink Murder and a Murder Mystery Dinner. Imposter is the fastest to learn, Mafia is the best with eight or more players.
What are funny party games for adults?
Fishbowl gets funnier every round because the jokes come back. Who Am I, Most Likely To and 60 Second Challenges also reliably get the room laughing.
What party games work for a big group?
Fishbowl, Charades, Mafia, Wink Murder and The Quiz all work for 12 or more. In The Quiz, up to 16 players answer on their own phones at the same time.
Are these drinking games?
No. Every game here works without drinks. If your group wants a penalty, a sip of anything, water included, works in all of them.
What party games can you play with a deck of cards?
Spoons is the best party card game for a crowd. You can also make Forbidden Words and Who Am I with paper slips, no box needed.
Keep the night going
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