I was going to begin this post with some self-deprecating humor about the squareness of a “party” that involves board games, but NO. If you’re on this site, you like board games. You know that a great party can have a raging dance floor or a big game night. Sometimes, and.
Here are some of our favorite party games to play in the Many Worlds Tavern.
Monikers
The concept: Commonly known as the folk game “Fishbowl” or “Celebrity”, the retail box of Monikers adds a little spice to the old formula
Monikers is played over three rounds, where teams try to guess words or phrases written on a shared deck of cards. In round one, you can say anything to get your team to get the answer (AKA Taboo). This round continues until all cards are guessed. In the 2nd round, you can only describe the answer with one word. Sounds impossible, but because cards are preserved over rounds, it’s surprising what kinds of connections you can make.
For example, for the card that says “A muggle”, you might say “Harry!” for Harry Potter. When your team inevitably guesses “Bob Ross”, it’s a good time.
Round three is charades with same set of cards again, and then most points wins.
Pit
Armpits? No! Pit, as in “Stock Market Pit”
Pit is about screaming at your friends. A simple game of set collection, in Pit you trade cards secretly in various quantities. For example, yelling out “Three! Three! Three!” means you’re willing to part with three cards, and someone can take you up on your offer and trade you with three of their own. There are no turns in Pit, so it’s a mad dash to collect the first complete set before everyone else.
Obama Llama
No politics, just “finding the rhyme in time”.
Obama Llama is a charades/taboo-like where all of the answers are rhymes, in the form of celebrity + action. For example: Cara Delevigne on a Washing Machine. The premise sounds like a great Jeopardy category, and this simple tweak to classic guessing party games adds an extra dimension that leads to very clever interactions.
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
My preferred lie-to-your-friends-to-their-faces game.
Resistance, Spyfall, Chameleon, Bang… Using board games as a socially acceptable situation to lie is not a new concept, and O.N.U.W. is still my favorite implementation of this mechanic. It’s one of the classics, and the app implementation is great.
Wavelength
Mind-meld or mind-fart with your friends.
Wavelength is a new party game darling for my group, and I think it’s absolutely fantastic. Arguing about completely arbitrary things (just how big IS the Sun?) leads to hilarious results.