Games for Adults: Fun Ideas for Grown-Up Game Nights

Looking to have a fun evening at home with your friends? Then there’s nothing better than hosting your very own grown-up game night. After all, everyone loves to engage in a bit of healthy competition!

It’s a great idea at all times of the year, but especially during the winter months. When the weather is chilly, spending a Friday evening in a warm and cozy home playing games with your friends is about as good as it gets. Of course, the gang will also love playing games in your yard on a balmy summer’s evening, too.

If you have grand ambitions to host a game night at home, then you’re in the right place. We’ll outline some of the best friend-group-friendly games on the market, as well as run through some handy planning tips that’ll ensure the evening runs smoothly from beginning to end.

Kickoff with Classic Card Games

As we’ll see later, there are plenty of excellent modern board games to choose from. Still, you can’t beat the classics. If a game is still going strong after hundreds of years, then you can be reasonably confident that it’s a fun and engaging way to spend an evening!

Even if you decide to play board games during your game night, starting the evening with a classic card game is a good way to get everyone warmed up and ready for action. Most classic card games can be played with a range of players, which makes playing them a good option while you’re waiting for late-arriving guests to show up. Also, you can play all of them relatively quickly — a board game might, in some cases, take hours to complete, whereas you can play games like blackjack even if you only have twenty minutes.

So, what classic card games make the most sense for a night at home with your friends and family? Let’s take a look at some of the most popular options.

Poker

Poker is the ultimate ‘card game to play at home with friends.’ In truth, poker’s legendary spirit means it deserves more than to be a warm-up game — it could be the focal point of the evening in its own right. After all, there are few things better than settling into a few hours of Texas Hold’em with your friends.

But if you only have an hour or so, then that’s fine too. Poker is slightly more complicated than other card games (for instance, blackjack), so it’ll be best if you have a solid understanding of the rules and how to play before you all get together. You can play for free at 247freepoker.com, so try to spend a little time brushing up on your skills before your friends arrive.

Spades

As with poker, spades isn’t really a warm-up game — millions of Americans base a whole evening around the game, especially since it’ll take around 60 - 90 minutes to complete. So this one’s best if you’re planning to play games all night, and you’re meeting early.

The number of people you invite to your games night will influence whether you can play spades. It’s most commonly played with four people (four players divided into two teams of two), though it’s also possible to play with two, three, five, or six players.

Don’t be put off by the perceived complexity of spades. It’s easier to play than you might think. You’ll find detailed instructions on how to play at 247spades.com, where you can also play for free. As with poker, we’d recommend playing a few games before your friends arrive. Not only will you know how to play, but you’ll also be more likely to end the game victorious!

Blackjack

People have been playing blackjack since around 1700, only back then it was known as vingt-et-un, which means 21 in French. Today, blackjack is arguably the most popular casino game in the world, and there’s a good reason for that — the game is oh-so simple to learn! You can pick up the basics of blackjack in a matter of minutes, making it the perfect game to play with friends before you dive into whatever board games you have planned for the evening.

Of course, while blackjack is relatively simple, there are still some rules that you’ll need to know, especially if you’re planning on being the dealer. Head over to 247blackjack.com and play a few games — you’ll have the hang of things in no time at all.

Rummy

Rummy is a bonafide classic that requires both skill and luck. While the origins of the game are unknown, it’s believed to date back to around the 1890s, either in the United States or Mexico (or maybe both!).

There are a million different ways to play rummy since there are so many variants. Classic rummy involves building melds until you reach a winning number of points (usually 100). If you and your partner are waiting for your friends to arrive, then you can always play gin rummy, which is a two-player version of the game.

Bridge

As with poker and spades, it’s unlikely that you’ll play bridge solely as a warm-up game. You’ll need to allocate between one and three hours to complete the game, which means it might not be appropriate to play if you’re planning to play other games throughout the night (unless you’re willing to play games for many hours, that is!).

With that being said, bridge is a pretty awesome game, so if you want to make bridge the focus of your game night, then we say go ahead.

You’ll need to set aside some time to learn how to play this game, which is more complex than your average card game. But once you’ve gotten the hang of things, it’ll be a game that you return to again and again — it’s a game for life! You can learn the rules and play bridge for free at 247bridge.com.

Exciting Board Games for Adults

First of all, if you’re planning to invite your friends around to play Monopoly, then think again. That game wasn’t fun when you were young, and it doesn’t suddenly become exciting once you’re an adult. In fact, the game might even have been designed to be boring — the original creator, Elizabeth Magie, invented the game as a way to turn people away from the brutality of capitalism!

OK, that’s our tip on the board game that you shouldn’t play, so what about the games that you should play? We’ll run through some of the most exciting options below. All of these games offer high levels of fun and excitement. We’d recommend picking up a few of them, so you always have the perfect game to pull out when your friends unexpectedly stop by.

Catan

Catan is a classic board game, but it’s actually not as old as you might expect. It was only released back in 1995. Happily, some games require no time to hit legendary status. Catan was an instant success, and that hasn’t changed over the past few decades.

Otherwise known as Settlers of Catan, this game is slightly more complex than your average board game, but it’s still suitable for newcomers (they’ll need to listen carefully to the rules/instructions, though!). Victory depends on critical thinking, great strategic planning, and a willingness to do trades/deals.

Once you and your friends have played Catan, you’ll be sure to return to it again and again. Note, however, that you can only play with up to four players unless you buy an expansion pack. That won’t matter if you’re hosting an intimate game night but will matter if you’re a larger group.

Articulate!

We’ll warn you now: Articulate! is not for the faint of heart. This is a tense, fast game that takes you on a pretty fascinating journey — you’ll learn a lot about yourself and your teammates!

The game is also amazing for large groups since there’s no upper limit to how many people can play. You’ll have just as much fun with twenty or more people as you would with four players.

It’s complex enough to be challenging, straightforward enough to be accessible. You won’t have to spend hours explaining the rules, either, making it a great option if you’re hosting a game night that includes relative newcomers to the world of gaming. Though, of course, Articulate! is a classic, so, chances are, your friends will have played it before.

Cosmic Encounter

What could be more exciting than going on an interplanetary conquest? You might be physically at home when you’re playing Cosmic Encounter, but mentally you’ll be in far-off lands that would take our most advanced rocket ship thousands of years to reach.

The downside of Cosmic Encounter is that you can only play with a maximum of five players, which means it’s not suitable for larger gatherings. But if you do have the right number of players, then you’re in for a treat.

A player wins once they’ve managed to build five colonies on planets outside of their own (that is to say, on other players’ planets). Unlike most other games, more than one player can win, too. Make an alliance on your path towards victory, and the players you made a deal with will also receive a metaphorical winner's medal.

Clue

What could be more exciting than a classic whodunit mystery game? Clue is a game that everyone feels like they know, but which is very often overlooked when it comes to choosing a game to play.

Though it might have that classic, traditional feel, the fact of the matter is that Clue has more than stood the test of time. And if you don’t believe us, we’d encourage you to give it a try! You can play it with up to six players, and games only take around 45 minutes to complete, which means it’s not a massive commitment. We’d wager that you’ll have so much fun that you’re more than happy to play two or three times in a single night.

To win, you’ll need to answer these three key questions about a murder: who did it, with what, and where?

If you and your friends really love the game, then round off the evening by watching the 1985 movie adaptation or the 2011 mini-series based on the game.

The Mind

You’ll find The Mind under the games section of online stores, but it’s really much more than that. It’s an experiment, upon which success depends on the players’ ability to work together as a team.

The goal is to have everyone play their cards in ascending order. That would be easy enough if you could communicate with one another or look at each other’s cards, but you can’t. It’s a mind-bending game that can take a little getting used to, but we promise that you’ll have grown closer as a friend group once it’s all over!

Online Slot Games for Casino Fun

Looking to host a game night with a bit of a twist? Then take a look at online slot games, like the ones we have available here at 247slots.org. Provided everyone has a device (and in this day and age, who doesn’t have a smartphone), it couldn’t be easier to host your own Las Vegas-style evening. You could even combine online slots with other classic casino games, such as poker, blackjack, and roulette, to create a games evening that the Bellagio Casino would be proud of.

Why Play Online Slot Games?

When people think of casino games, they usually imagine roulette, blackjack, or poker. But actually, slots make up the majority of games that you’ll find in a real-world casino. Take a walk through a big-name Las Vegas casino, and you’ll see plenty of floor space dedicated to slot machines!

People like playing slot games because they have two characteristics that everyone enjoys: they’re easy to play, and they’re fun. There’s nothing really to learn, per se, since the players’ only role is to hit the spin button. After that, it’s in the hands of lady luck.

That makes it a great choice for friends looking to host their own games night. Even if one of your invited guests has never played online slot games before, they’ll be sure to pick it up in no time.

Setting the Scene

Playing casino games at home provides an opportunity for you and your friends to go all out and really lean into the classiness associated with casinos.

For instance, if you’ll be playing online slots and other games, then you could all get dressed up in formal dress wear. After all, how many opportunities do you get to wear a tuxedo or cocktail dress while you’re at home?!

You can also set the scene by utilizing dynamic, atmospheric lighting — think low lamps with warm light bulbs — and playing light jazz music. Basically, the elements you’d find in a classy casino.

Choose a Reliable Website

Real-world casinos rarely run into technical difficulties, and neither should your homemade casino! To get the most from your collective online slots experience, make sure you’re playing at a website that offers high degrees of reliability and functionality. Here at 247slots.org, we offer visitors a flawless online slots experience, completely free of charge, every single time.

Determining the Winner

Everyone will start with the same amount of virtual money, but how will you decide who is the eventual winner? There are two ways to do this.

• Play for a set amount of time (say, one hour), and see who has the most virtual currency.
• Set a winning limit (say, the first person to reach $20,000 is the winner).

As to what prize the winner gets, well, that’s up to you!

Team Building with Party Games

Looking to build some camaraderie with your friends, or perhaps you’re hosting a grown-up game night for your employees, and you’re looking for games that will build some team spirit? Then consider the following options!

Codenames

Teams can’t succeed in Codenames without working together. Through the course of playing, teams will improve their communication skills, build trust, and enhance their collaboration capabilities. They’ll draw on those skills to identify spies; if they can’t, and they accidentally identify the assassin, then they’ll have lost the game.

Escape Room: The Game

Escape rooms in general provide a great way to build team spirit. Escape Room: The Game allows you to do it from the comfort of your own home. Released in 2016, this game depends on up to 5 players working together to solve puzzles, identify clues, and ultimately escape the room.

There are four escape room puzzles included in the package, allowing you to host multiple game nights.

Dead of Winter

How would you and your friends fare in a post-apocalyptic world? Don’t wait until society breaks down to find out; instead, spend an evening playing Dead of Winter. This highly-rated game requires team members to cooperate to stay alive, though there are also individual elements, too.

This game won a bunch of awards, and if you and your friends love complex, deeply engaging games, then it’ll surely be a hit!

Spyfall

One of you is the spy. The question is, who is it? Spyfall encourages players to work together to figure out who the spy is, helping to encourage a sense of teamwork.

New Hits: Trending Games for Adults

There’s definitely room in the cupboard for those classic board games that we mentioned above, but don’t discount more recent games. Some outstanding games have been released in the past few years! If you’re looking for contemporary games that are destined to become all-time classics, then try the following.

Just One

Just One won rave reviews from both critics and customers alike, and it won’t take you long to figure out why. The goal is to get as many of the mystery words as you can, using, as the name suggests, just one word. No duplicates allowed! It sounds simple, but we promise that you’ll have bags of fun with this one.

Monikers

Monikers is fun, fun, fun. This game asks players to describe a person, place, or object to their partner using, first, unlimited words, then one word, then no words. You can play it with up to twenty people (or perhaps even more), making it suitable for large get-togethers.

Telestrations

Telestrations is a drawing-based game that is arguably more fun if players don’t know how to draw. It begins with a player completing a drawing based on a prompt, before passing it to the next player, who must draw what they think the original prompt was. And so on. By the time it reaches the last player — you can play with up to 8 people — who knows what will be drawn?

Pandemic

Pandemic, which actually came out before the coronavirus pandemic, sees all players working together to stop a deadly virus from taking over the world. If every player fulfills their role well, then you’ll all win; if someone falls short, then you’ll all lose. It’s a tense game that might have you turning on each other from time to time, but hey, at least this time the pandemic is just a game!

Planning the Perfect Game Night

Part of the fun of hosting a game night is that they're relatively easy to organize. If you want to take an international trip to a world-class city with your friends then, yep, that’ll require some time, effort, and money. But getting people to come play games at your house? That should be a comparative walk in the park.

It will, however, require some planning. As with all things, you can’t just expect that your game night will be perfect from beginning to end. You’ll need to make it happen.

Don’t know where to start? We’ve got you covered. At 247games.com, we’d like to think we know a thing or two about creating great game experiences, and we’re more than happy to share our expert knowledge with our visitors. Take the tips we’ve outlined below, and we’re sure you and your friends will have an evening that’s memorable for all the right reasons!

Invite the Right Number of People

There’s no hard-and-fast rule about how many people you should invite to your game night. In some cases, it’ll be dictated by the game that you want to play — if there’s an upper limit of 4 players, then you’ll have to keep the invite list pretty tight. If you can play the game with ten or more players, then you’ll have more freedom to decide who makes the cut.

It’s also worth considering the space in which you’ll play. It’s less fun to settle into an evening of games if everyone’s cramped, or if some people can’t see the board as comfortably as they should. A good rule of thumb is to invite as many people as can comfortably sit around your dining table.

Start Early

Starting early offers a number of advantages. For one thing, it’ll give you a window of time to accommodate late arrivals. And if there’s one thing that you can be sure of, it’s that people will arrive late! Seasoned hosts will tell you it’s best to set a start time that’s thirty minutes before you actually want your guests to arrive.

Getting underway early in the evening will give you enough time to fully explain the rules. That’ll be less important if you’re playing with experienced gamers or a game that’s easy to understand, but if not, then you’ll need some time to bring people up to speed. How to play the game might be obvious to you, but don’t assume that your guests will pick it up just as quickly!

Finally, the earlier you start, the more games you can play! You might originally plan to play a single game but don’t discount the possibility that people will be eager to play more once the first one is done and dusted.

Commit to the Games Beforehand

You can — no, you will — lose a lot of time if you’re waiting for everyone to arrive before deciding what to play. While it can be nice to get everyone’s opinion about which game to choose, you should only do this before the day of the event. If WhatsApp groups were invented for anything, it’s for game night guests to discuss which games should be played.

If you wait until everyone arrives before having that conversation, you’ll likely find that you’re waiting an hour or more before you actually begin playing. Everyone will have an opinion, and it takes time to reach a conclusion. Plus, there’s a chance that people whose game suggestion was not selected end up in a bad mood — and that’s not the energy you’ll want your game night to have!

Not that you even need to ask for suggestions. If there’s a game that you want to play, then your invitation should read as follows: “Hey, I’m hosting a game night to play [game name], do you want to come?” If they don’t like the game you’ve chosen, well, too bad!

Create the Space

You don’t necessarily need to create a dedicated gaming space. If needs must, then your normal dining or living room table, or even your living room floor, will do the job.

However, there’s value in putting in a little bit of effort to get your home gaming-ready. This is especially true if you’re planning to play a classic card game, such as poker. You’ll find it’s much more fun to sink into a few hours of play if you have low-level lighting, there’s a gaming cloth on the table, and you have nice music in the background.

As with all things, a little bit of effort can go a long way! You don’t need to redesign your home, but just think about incorporating a few thoughtful touches — it’ll have an impact.

Provide Snacks and Drinks

You won’t be going through all the trouble of hosting a game night only to play for an hour. Ideally, you’ll be playing for many hours — if you start at 7 pm, don’t be surprised if the games finish around 11 - 12 pm, or perhaps even later.

You’ll want to play for as long as everyone is enjoying playing, and not a minute before. Alas, if you’re not providing your guests with food and drinks, then the fun could end sooner than planned. People don’t like to sit around when they’re hungry and thirsty, no matter how good the game is!

At the bare minimum, look at providing snacks (chips, nuts) and soft drinks. If you’re looking to push the boat out — and we recommend you do, because why not? — then consider providing a hot dish and delicious drinks (cocktails, nice wine). It’s easy enough to make a big batch of chili and rice, and we’re sure that your guests will appreciate it. And if they don’t want to eat? Well, you can simply enjoy whatever is left over yourself.

Don’t Take It Too Seriously!

Finally, try to create a competitive but jovial atmosphere. While everyone will want to win, there’s no reason for things to become too competitive. You’re hosting this game night for fun, not so everyone can fall out.

Some games are more competitive than others. Articulate!, for example, can be pretty stressful, and it’s not uncommon for that to translate into tension that can create a somewhat sour mood. You’ll probably have a good sense of how to manage your friend group so that no one ends up in a bad mood, but remember that the host is the main driver behind the atmosphere of the evening! If you’re in good spirits and not taking the game too seriously, then it’s more likely that your guests will be, too.

Have some doubts about the energy of your guests? Consider lighting some calming incense — Pine, Lemongrass, and Lavender are just three scents that can have a de-stressing effect.

And that’s all you need to know about hosting a grown-up game night. Enjoy!

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