Top House Party Games for Adults: How to Elevate Your Game in Party

Are you planning to host a house party and want it to be epic? You've come to the right place! Our definitive guide to top-rated adult party games for house parties will transform your event – making it one no one will forget.

These games are ideal if you're looking for ways to break the ice with strangers or want to have fun (and get competitive!) with pals you already know well. Whether you want classic picks or something unique, we've got suggestions that'll suit what you're after.

Prepare yourself for elevated revelry that leaves guests with amazing memories. All you need to do is round up some people, grab drinks, and let your game night begin. Explore these best party games!

1. Cards Against Humanity

Cards Against Humanity is a viral party game recognized for its twisted comedy and absurd premises. To play, participants take turns picking up a black card, which has a statement or question with missing parts.

Using their white cards, each of which has either words or phrases on them, the other players complete the blank(s) in the most hilarious or outrageous way they can muster.

The person holding the black card then selects whichever white card best fits the blank – and awards that round's point to whoever came up with it. This process repeats until everyone feels like stopping. At that point, whoever has collected the most points overall during the game wins.

2. Charades

Charades involve team members silently acting out words or phrases for others to guess. Categories can be anything from movies and books to actions or just silliness.

There's a time limit (often one or two minutes per turn). You can't use props or make sounds; it's all about your body language! If your team says the correct answer before time runs out, you get a point. Keep going back and forth between teams until the time is up – whoever has the most points wins.

3. Pictionary

Pictionary is a fun and active game where you have to draw fast to win. Split into teams and pick cards with words or phrases on them, then try to get your team to guess what's on the card—without using numbers or letters or speaking at all.

You have just one minute to illustrate whatever is written on your card, using only drawings while the clock ticks down. Score points if your team guesses correctly within the time limit.

Play passes back and forth between teams. When all the cards are used up, the round is over. The team with the most points wins!

4. Beer Pong

Beer Pong is a super fun drinking game where you test your skills while having a blast. You split into two teams and stand at opposite ends of a table laid out with cups of beer (or whatever you prefer to drink).

Each side then tries to throw a ping pong ball into the other team's cups. If you succeed, they have to drink it and take it off the table. Last person standing wins**.** It takes concentration, coordination – and maybe just a hint of competitiveness – to make it perfect for parties.

5. Kings Cup

Kings Cup is another popular drinking game. It can be played with any deck of cards and a large cup. The cup is placed in the center of the table. Then, each player takes turns drawing cards.

Each card has a specific action or rule attached to it. For example, if you draw a 2 you can choose someone else to drink. If you draw a 7 everyone must raise their hand and the person who does it last must drink.

As you go around playing cards, make sure to keep an eye on the central cup – everyone should pour some of their drink into it whenever they play. The game finishes when the fourth king is drawn: that player has to chug whatever is in the middle of the table!

6. Sardines

Sardines is an exciting twist on hide-and-seek that's perfect for big groups. Instead of everybody hiding from one person ("It"), one person hides, and everybody else has to find them.

But here's the fun part: when you find the hider, you quietly join them in their hiding place. This continues until lots of you are jammed in together – just like sardines! (That's why it's called Sardines.)

Then it's somebody else's turn to hide while everyone searches again. You keep playing until everyone has had a go at being the hider. There isn't really a winner – unless you decide there is one for finding where lots of people squash in quickest! Just enjoy playing for fun.

7. Never Have I Ever

"Never Have I Ever" is a party game where people can share and find out new things about each other. Players sit in a circle and one person says, "Never have I ever…" followed by something they haven't done.

If anyone else has done that thing, they have to take a drink or put down one finger (if you're playing the non-drinking version). Then, it goes on to the next person, who also makes a statement.

It can be played just for laughs or with more of a competitive edge – but there's no official winner. The idea is to discover more about one another while enjoying yourselves!

8. Two Truths and a Lie

Two Truths and a Lie is a game designed to break the ice, encourage creative thinking, and help people get to know each other better. To play, each person takes turns making three statements about themselves – two facts and one untruth.

The others in the group then have to guess which statement isn't true. After everyone has guessed, the person reveals which one was the lie.

You can give points for stumping people for correctly guessing the lie or just play for fun! Keep going around the group with new statements until everyone's run out of things to say – or until you're laughed out!

9. Taboo

Taboo is an exciting game of guessing words where players have to make others understand something, but with a catch: they can't use specific forbidden terms.

Everyone splits into teams, and one person from the team that's up picks a card. On each card, there's only one word at the top – which you want your teammates to guess – and a list of other words below it that you're not allowed to say!

Usually, these need to be communicated within 60 seconds. If you do say them? Honk, honk, buzz, buzz! You can lose the point for that card. Points are given for every correct answer guessed, though. The first person, who gets the highest score wins after however many cards.

10. Mafia

Mafia is an engrossing and fun game of deception and strategy. Each player is given a secret role as a Mafia member, Townsperson, Detective, or Doctor. The gameplay alternates between night and day phases.

At night, Mafia members choose someone to kill while the Detective investigates players' identities, and the Doctor can save someone from being killed.

During the day, everyone discusses who they think the Mafia members are – then votes to eliminate one person. This voting game keeps going until either all the Mafia are voted out (Town wins) or they outnumber everybody else (Mafia win)! Your ability to lie, judge others, and think on your feet will be tested every minute.

11. Flip Cup

Flip Cup is a game where teams compete to drink cups of beer or other drinks and then flip them upside down by flicking the rim with their fingers. It takes speed and coordination—and can cause bursts of laughter.

Stand up at a table, boys on one side, girls on the other. Each person fills a plastic cup with just a little beer (or soda).

The first player on each team drinks their cup's contents as quickly as possible—in one gulp if they can—then tries flipping it over by pressing down on the rim and letting go so it pops up into the air. If they miss after three tries, move to the next teammate.

When someone succeeds, that team member high-fives their neighbor, who does likewise until everyone's had a turn—or until one group finishes before another.

12. Murder Mystery Party

A Murder Mystery Party is an interactive game where guests play-act as detectives trying to solve a made-up crime. Each person receives details about their character and role in advance – including one guest who's secretly the killer.

During the event itself, which often has a fancy-dress theme, players chat, gather evidence and try to out sleuth each other by holding impromptu interviews. To help move things along there may be scripted moments or fresh clues revealed during dinner or drinks.

At the culmination of the evening, everyone says who they think did it. Then (dramatic pause) all is revealed. Will you correctly guess whodunit? Or will the murderer get away with it?

Naturally suspenseful but also requiring inventiveness – not to mention a good sense of humor – murder-mystery parties provide entertainment that's out of the ordinary.

13. Would You Rather

Would You Rather is an enjoyable game for social gatherings that gets people talking. To play, one person poses a challenging question or dilemma beginning with "Would you rather...?" Everyone else decides which option they'd go for and explains why.

Choices can be funny or serious – it depends on what kind of group you're with. The game gets players thinking outside the box and can lead to surprising revelations.

There's no scoring system and a winning team, either. So, the aim is to have a great conversation and discover exciting things about your fellow players through their decisions.

14. Drunk Jenga

Drunk Jenga puts a lively twist on the classic block-stacking game by incorporating drinking challenges for added fun. As they usually would in Jenga, players take turns carefully removing a block from the tower and then placing it atop without causing everything to crash down.

What makes this version different are the rules or challenges written on each block—such as "Take a shot" or "Make a rule"—that participants must follow after successfully stacking their pieces. The game continues like this: blocks get stacked, and people follow instructions.

If you knock over the tower on your turn? You lose. But don't worry, there's still plenty of time to enjoy yourself (and perhaps catch up) before that happens. The person who last placed a block down before it fell is considered the winner – until you play again, of course!

15. Celebrity

Celebrity is a lively social activity that combines elements of charades with a trivia game (similar to Post It Note game). Team members divide into two groups and jot down the names of well-known individuals, be they real or fictional characters, on separate scraps of paper, which they then mix up in a container or hat.

The game consists of three rounds played consecutively. In Round 1, participants provide verbal hints to help their own side correctly identify as many celebrities as possible within an allotted time period—for example, one minute.

In Round 2, players may give only a single word as their clue for each famous person. Finally, in Round 3, givers can do nothing but act out clues using gestures; no talking aloud is allowed!

At the conclusion of all three rounds (or sometimes four if you prefer), add up scores to determine which team has triumphed: they got the most answers right overall.

16. Scattergories

Scattergories is a game where players have to think fast and creatively. You get a list of categories. Then, a letter is chosen at random. In two or three minutes, you have to come up with words that fit each category – and start with the letter picked!

For example, if the letter is "B" and one of your categories is "fruits," – yep, you've got to write down "banana." After time's up, everyone reads out their answers.

You score points for unique words;; however, if other people have the same word as you, there are no points for anyone! The person with the most points after several rounds wins.

17. Spoons

Spoons is a fast-paced card game that requires both quick thinking and agility. Sitting in a circle with one fewer spoon than players, everyone has a deck of cards at hand.

The aim is to collect four matching cards. To do this, you must pick up cards from the deck or take your neighbor's. After each round, you keep one, passing the rest along.

Here's where it gets chaotic: as soon as someone snags four of a kind, they grab a spoon from the center – then all hell breaks loose. Once other players see a spoon has gone, they need to swipe one too!

Anyone who doesn't manage to grab hold of something metallic and shiny is out of that round. Keep playing until just one player remains. They're the winner!

18. Liar's Dice

Liar's Dice is a game of deception and intuition where players bluff their way through five dice and a cup. Shake your dice in secret, then make a bid on the total number of a face value you believe exists within all dice combined.

Others will increase your bid or challenge it! Everyone reveals their dice when there are challenges. If the bid is correct, the challenger loses a die. If incorrect, you lose one instead. Keep playing until only one player has any dice left—that person wins.

19. Truth Or Dare

Truth or Dare is an old-fashioned party game where players have to decide between answering a question truthfully or doing a challenge. Players all sit in a circle and take turns.

When it's your go, you can ask another person "truth" – and they have to answer any question you ask honestly (even if it's embarrassing!), or "dare" – and they have to do something silly or complicated that you tell them to.

The game carries on like this until everyone's exhausted from laughing too much! There's no points system, winner or loser. It's just an excuse for good mates (buddies) to bond closer, have fun together, and make some brilliant memories!

20. Psych!

Psych! is a game you can play on your phone that combines trivia with fibbing for fun. Pick from different categories, then use your device to make up a phony answer to a question. The goal is to stump opponents or get them to pick your made-up answer.

Points are awarded when you select the proper response or if someone else chooses yours. Rounds feature new queries and answers. It's about showing off both your smarts and sneakiness – whoever has the most points at the end wins!

21. Codenames

Codenames is a game where you have to think hard and work well with others to win. On the table, there's a grid of 25 words. Their aim is to help their teammates guess right rather than pick the assassin themselves.

If someone guesses every word that belongs to them first, hooray: they've won. But if somebody gets unlucky enough to pick out that assassin word, then oops! Because that means they lose instantly.

22. Bingo

Bingo is a game of chance, popular at many parties. Players get bingo cards (grid of numbers). Someone picks numbers randomly and says them out loud – if it's on your card, mark it.

You win by being the first to complete a specific pattern (such as a line down, across, or diagonally) and yelling, "Bingo!" Multiple rounds can be played with different patterns for variety.

Each round has its own winner. This creates excitement as people listen for their numbers, mark their cards, and hope to complete the pattern before anybody else does.

23. Exploding Kittens

Exploding Kittens is a card game where luck and strategy are key. Each player takes turns drawing cards from the deck, hoping they don't pick up an Exploding Kitten. If they do, they're out – unless they can use another card to defuse it.

Action cards let you skip your go, look at what's coming up next, or force other players to pick up more cards. Keep playing like this until there's only one person left standing: congratulations, you've won. With funny art and a silly-sounding theme, it's no wonder that this one is popular.

24. Quiplash

Quiplash is a side-splitting party game that you play using digital devices (like smartphones) and a central screen. You answer prompts on your device like "the worst thing to say during a job interview…" or "the most inappropriate time to fart is when…"

Then, players' answers go head-to-head while the rest of the players (and audience members if you're streaming) vote for their favorite. This game works best for big companies.

It's super funny and the prompts get crazier as each round progresses. Besides, it's creative! The one with the highest total score wins because they've had came up with quick-witted comedy sentences all night long.

Conclusion

Completing your collection of great party games, these options will turn any gathering into an evening to remember. Have fun with friends, laughing and getting to know each other better – break the ice with Cards Against Humanity. See if you can outwit them at Mafia or keep everyone guessing (and moving fast) with Spoons!

Whether there are lots of people or just a few close pals, there is something here for all sorts. Get the snacks and drinks ready then set up the games: now all you need are players who want to have a great time.

These games will help make sure those memories stick around long after everybody's gone home. So why not give it a go tonight?

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Adult Party Game Is the Most Popular?

Cards Against Humanity tops the list for its dark humor and outrageous prompts – it's a winner at grown-up get-togethers.

What Is the Game Where Only One Person Hides, and the Rest Seek?

The name for that game is Sardines. Here, hide-and-seek is taken to a whole new level: once you've found the hider, you hide with them.

What Adult Party Game Is Suitable for All Family Members?

Pictionary suits all ages because it doesn't matter how well you can (or cannot) draw: being able to guess what your teammates are sketching is the main thing.

What Is the Adult Party Game That Doesn't Require Anything?

As long as there are people willing to answer questions or take part in dares, Truth Or Dare requires absolutely nothing.