As I’ve gotten older, one thing has remained a constant at every worthy party I’ve attended: there’s always a game. Growing up, whenever my family had company in town or I had friends over, a board game inevitably made an appearance. Whether it was Monopoly, Scrabble, or Clue, a game would end up on a kitchen table, with the group and me huddling around it, acting as if it were a sport.
However, as an adult, I’ve realized not everyone enjoys party games as much as I do. For a long time, I couldn’t understand why, until I realized it wasn’t the idea of a game, but the games themselves. This generation has lost the fun of competitive party games because tastes haven’t evolved, and classic games have become redundant. Nostalgic as they are, they’ve become predictable. A game of checkers doesn’t always hit the same with a group of 20-something-year-olds looking for energy, chaos, and maybe a little bit of friendly sabotage.
Luckily, I have plenty of experience with party games that go beyond the surface of classics — niche games that are guaranteed to revive game-night energy and actually fit the vibe of a modern party.
- Codenames
-
Codenames is a game of strategy, tactics, and partnership. In the game, there are two teams, each of which is equipped with half the group. Each team chooses a “spymaster” who can see, based on the key card, which five words on the 25-word grid belong to their team.
The spymaster will give single-word hints to encapsulate multiple words on the grid, so their team can guess which words are theirs. The goal of the game is to guess the words on your team before the other team does, but there are inactive tiles in the grid and an assassin. If your team guesses the word that is the assassin, the other team automatically wins.
I’ve found this game is most fun with people who understand how you think and are creative. It’s a game mixed with clever wordplay, teamwork, and high stakes, with some laughter, too, if the hint is stretching the boundaries of sense.
- Occupation
-
There are variations in the ways to play Occupation, which is what makes it so fun! Most of the time, it becomes a game of charades; however, I’ve always played it a different way. In a large group, everyone has a pen and a slip of paper to write down a random occupation; it can be real, fake, or outlandish, but it has to make some sort of sense as a job.
The random occupations are thrown into a hat and mixed around, with one person reading each occupation out for the rest of the group to guess who wrote down which job. The catch? The occupations are only read aloud once, and with a group of 20 people, this can get a bit complicated. Everyone takes their turn guessing who wrote each occupation. If you guess correctly, you gain a team member, or multiple members if that person has already guessed others correctly.
This game becomes hectic and funny, involves memorization, and is excellent for large groups. I’ve had the best time playing Occupation when the occupations are the silliest. Having to repeat “professional nostril-hair plucker” is something I never thought I’d have to do.
- Jackbox Games
-
This set of games is one of my favorite things to play with groups of close friends. Jackbox Games are digital party games played through a TV or computer, with everyone using their mobile device as a controller. Each game has a different challenge, answering prompts to compete against each other, creating T-shirts from designs and phrases submitted by other players, bluffing with fake trivia questions, and guessing the correct answers to strange statistics. When each game starts, players submit their answers and vote for their favorites in real time.
Jackbox Games are fun because they mix creativity, humor, and audience participation. There are no complex instructions, strategies to learn, or game pieces to set up. It’s quick to play and great for big groups who prefer interactive, easy fun.
- Mexican Train Dominoes
-
This may be a bit less niche, but I couldn’t talk about board games without mentioning my favorite. Mexican Train Dominoes is a domino-based game where players build “trains” on a central hub (or the station) to get rid of all their domino tiles.
Each player has an individual spot at the station for their personal train, and all players can also add tiles to the communal “Mexican Train.” On each turn, a player plays a tile that matches one end of a train. If they can’t play, they draw a tile from the draw pile. If they still can’t play, their train is marked as “closed,” which allows other players to add tiles to it until the owner can play again.
Players should plan their trains strategically, aiming to get rid of high-value tiles first, and play through a total of 13 rounds, starting with the double-12 domino and ending with the double-blank. The goal is to have the lowest total score after all rounds, making both strategy and luck important. Personally, I’m notorious for beating my mom and aunt, which speaks to my strategic skills (or maybe just my luck)!
- Just One
-
Just One is a word-based game that combines charades and Codenames. Each player gets a small whiteboard and takes turns choosing a number between one and five that correlates to a word on the current play card. The player holds up the card for all to see the number, and everyone writes down a single word on their whiteboard to help the guesser figure out what word they’ve chosen.
The catch is, everyone reveals their whiteboards to each other before they do to the guesser, if anyone has the same answer, that answer cannot be shown to the guesser. This game is always a fan favorite because it is easy to play, encourages creativity, and leaves players feeling crazy by the end.
Honorable Mention Games
If any of these games are of interest, look further for your own. CATAN is a fun strategy game for those who enjoy building and settling civilizations. Heroes of Barcadia mixes Dungeons & Dragons with alcohol, perfect for anyone who loves battling monsters while getting intoxicated. There are even variations of UNO that step up the original, like UNO Flip, No Mercy, All Wild, and more.
Regardless of your age or who you’re with, a game night is always a good idea. Don’t be afraid to try something new and get competitive — sometimes you win, sometimes you end up a pawn in someone else’s game!
Want to see more HCFSU? Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest!