Even the best friendships are marked with uneventful days. You got together with an intention to have fun, but somehow you ended up being bored and without a single idea what to do.
Movie nights, parties, casual hang-outs with drinks… you’ve been doing that over and over again. Are you ready for something else? Fun games can spice up any friendship. From poker to board games to Truth or Drink, we’ll give you great ideas for your next gathering!
10 Games to Play with Your Friends
1. Online Casino Games
Poker nights have always been a hit among friends. But with the opportunity to access actual casinos online, they get a whole new dimension. You can gamble with real money and without being afraid that someone is cheating. All games on reputable casino sites are fair, reliable, and guaranteed to pay out when you win.
The online casino market is consistently growing. Over $20 billion are spent on Australian gambling sites on a yearly basis. The offer includes poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, and all other card games. You can also have fun playing slots, monopoly, and bingo for real money.
Of course there is a catch: real money casinos require everyone to create a profile with their actual identity. You’ll have to go through the laws and regulations that are valid for your location. Then, you’ll find a legit website that provides the games you like, and you can start playing!
Remember this: moderation is key for having fun when gambling. Set a low budget for that evening and do not surpass it under any circumstances! Gambling with friends is good, since you can keep each other accountable.
2. Alice Is Missing
Who doesn’t appreciate a healthy dose of horror in friendships? Alice Is Missing is a spooky role-playing game that’s played over text messages. Its unique concept may require a bit of time to get used to, but you won’t regret reading the instructions.
There’s no formal game master for this game, so you won’t create any tension regarding leadership roles. You can just choose someone to explain the rules. Then, the players will have 45 minutes to create their characters and relations with each other and the missing Alice. After that, the team will have 90+ minutes to follow the clues and find Alice.
This game needs some planning, as you’ll need to get the special cards and rulebook to play it. It’s an activity you’ll like to repeat, as the concept develops an emotional bond between the players.
3. Hot Potato Camera
How would you like to include your favorite devices into your games? Choose the smartphone that takes the best photos, and start passing it around. You should set a timer on the camera, and see who ends up taking a selfie. It’s like a Russian roulette, but without any potential for deadly consequences.
To make the game more fun, you can tell jokes and make silly faces while passing the phone around. The camera’s timer won’t always trigger a photo at a good moment. That’s why you have to pass the device and strike a pose as quickly as possible. By the end of the evening, you’ll have a great collection of selfies to share as Instagram stories.
4. Collaborative Drawing
Even if not everyone in the group has good drawing skills, this game can still be fun. It’s a collaborative activity that can be used for team-building, too.
You’ll need a minimum of four friends to play it. Divide everyone in two teams, and make sure they are even in teams of drawing skills. Then, distribute painting utensils between the groups, and assign a theme. The paper should be folded into equal sections (for the number of people in the group). Nobody should see what the other person drew, but everyone should give clues as to how the painting should continue. When you unfold the paper, you’ll see the finished product.
This doesn’t have to be a serious game with winners and losers. You can make it as fun as you would like it to be! Feel free to draw silly things and make each other laugh!
5. Truth or Drink
Limit the maximum number of drinks that a single person can have, as you want to play this game responsibly! There’s a thin line between having fun and having a disastrous night. You can also include non-alcoholic drinks.
A few drinks make Truth or Dare really fun. You’ll already know what the dare is, but a deck of cards can make the truth part more fun. The game includes hundreds of intimate and intense questions that can reveal really personal things about everyone in the group. The cards are divided into different categories, which progress as the level of intensity (and alcohol in your blood) increases.
6. Jeopardy
America’s favorite quiz can be revived among a group of friends in a few ways. You can play J!6, a daily game containing the sixth clue for each Jeopardy category on the official website. You can also compete in the World Tour mobile championship, or have a round of Infinite Final Jeopardy to see how many right answers you can get in a row.
This is a fun way to spend an evening with friends, as you’ll learn something new and get a chance to share trivia.
7. LCR Dice Game
It may seem like an old-fashioned dice game, but don’t ditch the idea just yet! Three marked dice (left, center, and right) decide where the chips are passed. The game can easily take an unexpected turn, so you never know who the winner is until the very end.
8. Psych!
If you like trivia, Jeopardy is not the only game to play. Psych turns the quiz concept upside-down, as it lets the players make up fake answers. Then, the group of friends will deduce the options to come down to the true answer.
The great thing about this game (as its name implies) is that you can use tricks to lure other players to choose your answer.
Psych! was created by Ellen DeGeneres. When you play it through the app (available for Android and iOS devices), you can add Ellen to the game.
9. Heads Up!
Here’s another game by Ellen DeGeneres that’s meant to bring laughter and fun into friend reunions. A player gets a card on their head, and all friends give clues to help them guess before the timer runs out.
The many categories make this game fun: silly accents, singing, celebrities, and custom categories that you can create. Even the smartest ones in the group will be challenged! The number of friends who can play this game is unlimited.
10. What Do You Meme?
This game can quickly get inappropriate, so it’s meant for adults only. A set of caption cards is dealt to each player, and an additional photo card is facing down. The players choose captions that correspond with the photo, and the funniest meme wins.
One of the friends should be the judge, but there’s really no need for that as the game progresses. The memes can get so hilarious that the laughter will decide who the winner is.
You’ll need to get a set of cards with instructions included, so the game requires some planning.
Have Some Fun!
When you’ve been through so much together that your friendships start looking boring, it’s time to try something new. Old-fashioned group games are great, but there are many new ones to try, too. Try some of the options we suggested above. Once you get into the routine of playing games, you might think of unique concepts, too! Who knows; maybe you’ll start an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign as a group!
