Top 7 In House Party Games in 2021

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An entertaining game is the fastest and the most effective way to liven up any party.
This article presents 7 of the most popular and most engaging in house party games in a simple and understandable way.
Choose a game that would fit your type of party best – family dinner, close friends party, awkward party, chill evening…you name it!

Sometimes, snacks and drinks aren’t enough to throw a great party. When all the gossip news and weather prognoses are already discussed and on top of that some of the party members have a no-talking-day – no cheeseburger will save the evening from boredom. That’s the time you have to pull your secret weapon out – GAMES!

Here are 7 the most attractive in house games that will boost the atmosphere of your party in a flash!

1) Scrabble

Type of the party: Chill-with-the-friends evening, Not-chatty-people party, Pyjamas party, Family dinner

Players: 2 – 4

Too lazy to move from where you’re sitting? Enjoying the chill of the evening but still up to have some fun? Scrabble is the choice! This crossword game is easy to learn even for those who never played it before. Also, it’s fun and it doesn’t require a lot of your energy. Take it easy and play Scrabble!

How to play?

Everyone gets 7 letter tiles. Scrabble players earn points by constructing words with letter tiles and placing them on a square grid. Each letter has a different point value and a winner will be a person with the highest score (use pen and paper to track scores of each player).
During his turn, the player has three options – to place a word on the board, exchange tiles, or to pass.
The main principle is simple – pick a letter tile from the ones you have and try to form at least one complete word by placing that tile next to the letter that is already on the board.
When one player gets rid of all his tiles or no one else can make any more words – the game ends. Now, calculate the score of each player and announce the winner!

2) Monopoly

Type of the party: Family dinner, Pizza party, Chill-with-the-friends evening, Old School friends party

Players: 2 – 8

Pretty old-fashioned game but will definitely work if the company isn’t up to learn some new board games. Maybe the most silent person in your company is actually the most clever trader? A monopoly will reveal all the hidden skills. A funny, easy, competitive board game for all kinds of generations. The goal here is simple – find a way to become rich and influential.

How to play?

Choose a banker! Make sure this player is rather honest than cheater as he will have many important responsibilities: money, houses, property, hotels – all of this initially belong to the bank.
Set up the game board: place two decks of the Chance and the Community Chest cards in the center.
Big moment- choose the game piece to walk around the board.
Ask the banker to give each player $1500 for a start.
Finally, roll the dice, move your game piece further and resolve the space you land on accordingly: buy street, pay rent to an owner, build a property – monopolize the city! A winner is a person who earns the biggest amount of money before going bankrupt.

3) Alias

Type of the party: Chatty people party (will help to control their talking), Close friends party, Boring family dinner, Couples party

Players: 2-10

This game will make each party member speak up. Teamwork, creativeness, speed, strategy – everything is important here! For those whose vocabulary is not that rich, Alias might be a little more challenging. Nonetheless, even more fun is guaranteed. Let your imagination blossom out!

How to play?

Choose your teammate (each team has to consist of 2 members).
Pick the card from the deck of cards and use your tongue to explain to your teammate as many words as possible within the fixed timeframe.
When time is up, calculate the words your colleague has managed to guess correctly and move forward on the game board as many places as points earned. A team that reaches the finish space first – is a winner.

4) UNO

Type of the party: Friends party, Family dinner, The Awkward party, Grandparents-Grandchildren reunion party, Kids party

Players: 2 – 10

Oldies are goodies. Just like Monopoly. Family gathering? Friends meeting? Awkward party with the people who barely know each other? There is no bad time or place to play UNO! One of the best things about this funny game is that it is super easy to play. Therefore, it is a great way for all kinds of generations to spend some entertaining time together.

How to play?

Each player gets 7 cards and the remaining deck is placed in the middle with one card turned up on the top.
The cards you have in your hands have to match the color, number, or the action of the top card in the Discard Pile.
There are some special cards that tell the next player what to do – skip, draw 2 or 4 extra cards, play a certain color card or similar (these innocent cards drive other people crazy).
Don’t have the right card? Pick one from the Discard Pile!
The goal is to get rid of all of the cards as fast as possible.
IMPORTANT: do not forget to say “UNO!” when there’s only one card left in your hands! Otherwise, you’ll get back on track with some additional cards again. That’s the beauty of the game – you can never be guaranteed that you will win because each new card can take away your victory.

5) Settlers of Catan

Type of the party: Close friends party, Game night party, Couples party

Players: 2-4

You know your friends pretty well so that you could compete with them without getting into a real fight? Then Catan must be real fun for you! There are no friendships in this game. Your goal is the same, your strategies – different. Who’s gonna choose the best and fastest strategy to settle the Catan island?

How to play?

First of all, imagine that you are representing your tribe that just got into an uninhabited Catan island. All the resources, raw materials, roads, coastlines – belong to nobody. What would you do? Of course, you’ll start to make plans on how to settle the island. Simple, right? Well, not exactly.
Turns out, there are 3 more tribes that have discovered the island… Thus, you’ll have to expand your territory to become the dominant tribe on the island of Catan.
It’s all about great resource management! To maintain superiority, you’ll have to build a strategy to acquire as many resources as possible and conquer the island. There are 5 types of resources: ore, grain, lumber, wool, and brick. These resources are the key to further development: to build the roads, settlements, cities.
For each settlement you build, you get 1 point, for the city – 2, for the longest road – 2, and for the biggest army – 2 points. 10 points are all you need to win the island of Catan.
That’s it – roll the dice and start the game!

6) Cards Against Humanity

Type of the party: Close friends party, Adult party, Cocktail party, Shameless people party

Players: 3 – 4 or more

Having a no-kids party with a people who have a great (actually, black) humor sense? Time to play a game where no moral values or shame exist – Cards Against Humanity! They say it’s a card game for horrible people. So tear off that mask and reveal your true self.

How to play?

There are 2 staples of cards – black and white. To put it in a simple way, the black card is a “question” or “fill-in-the-blank” card, and a white card is an “answer” card.
Each player gets 10 white cards. The person who begins the game – draws a black card from the Discard Pile and reads a question out loud.
Players holding white cards have to decide which of those cards would answer that question in the most awkward, hilarious way.
A person who played the black card chooses which answer he likes the most. If it’s you – one Awesome Point is yours! Easy, right? No need for strategy or knowledge. Your humor sense is the only weapon to win this game.

7) Charades

Type of the party: Close friends party, Work Party (Team-building party), Family evening, Cocktail party

Players: 4 – unlimited

Now, this kind of game will encourage even strangers to become friends. The teamwork is very important here as well as eye contact with the person who is doing all the crazy expressions to explain the certain word to his team. Charades is an extremely effective way to encourage people to communicate even if they see each other for the first time in their lives.

How to play?

Divide players into even teams. Let’s say, there are two teams only – 1 and 2.
Team No.1 decides what word or phrase a person from Team No. 2 has to act out. While that person is doing all the weird things trying to explain the word (no talking allowed!) – his teammates have to do their best to guess it as fast as possible (usually, in 2 – 3 minutes). If they get the correct answer – they earn 1 point.
After that, the opposing team takes their turn.

This game is really flexible – there are many variations of it. Thus, players are free to decide when the game is over. No more awkwardness talking about the weather. This game will liven up even the most boring party!

Hopefully, you never get bored with your mates. But let’s be honest, sometimes we all need a little kick-in to bring the party to the next level. No doubts – these games will do that.