Games for game night? All adults, no kids

[Yooper]

Our little group of 7 great friends started a game night. We’ll meet twice a month at 5 PM for food and fun (cocktail type food and drink. Plenty of drink).

One week we played Wizard. It was fun, but the host gets to pick the game. I have NO idea what to pick or buy for my turn.
All adults, one is widowed, rest are couples. All fun loving people but not overtly show-off-ish.

I looked at all the games on Amazon, which was probably a mistake because there are about a thousand! Dominoes is kinda boring, and one of the players doesn’t like ‘card games’.

I’d love some suggestions on easy to learn (NOT Bridge! ), fun, friendly games that you’ve played and enjoyed.

 

[Jonakr]

Most are going to require once or twice through to learn to play, and then more than that to get good at. What sorts of games do most of you enjoy?

There's the classics: Monopoly, Sorry, etc.
Strategy: RISK, Catan, Fortress America
Cooperative: Pandemic, Mysterium
Naughty: Joking Hazard, "New Phone, who dis"
Munchkin, Obscurio, etc, etc.

We've done Gin Rummy and a "group solitaire", but you said no card games.

 

[Broken Crow]

I'm probably the wrong demographic to answer this but; If you're very comfortable with one another, clothing-optional vegetable-oil twister was quite a hit with my crowd.

 

[fluketamer]

potentially a good thread
good of you to find several people with enough time and interest to avoid social media/ phones.

we like ticket to ride a lot.
as said above the first play through can be tough . ticket to ride is an easy first time game. with a high level a replayability .

risk and even monopoly take too long

amazonas is good and also replayable.

scrabble always a winner but also falls into the too long category.

over 50 trivial pursuit still works.

pictionary never fails

and that phone game who am I is great where you hold the phone over your head with differnet catagories and the crowd tries to get you to say it wothout giving away too much ( sort of like modern charades)

 

[BongoYodeler]

I can recommend the game "What Do You Meme?" It's a fun game, that takes all of about 30 seconds to learn. It's played with game cards (not playing cards), and there is an adult card section that can be removed so that it can also be kid-friendly. Every time we've played it, both with and without kids, it's generated tons of laughs.

https://www.amazon.com/WHAT-DO-YOU-MEME-Core/dp/B01MRG7T0D

 

[day_trippr]

"Cards Against Humanity" https://www.cardsagainsthumanity.com/

 

[Coastalbrew]

We've recently discovered "sheriff of Nottingham". It's fun, quick game where you try to bluff the other players at the table. Good for up to 6 players. A lot of fun especially if everyone knows each other pretty well.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Dominoes, wife, friends and me. £1 per head per game.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

"Cards Against Humanity" https://www.cardsagainsthumanity.com/

Yep. I was going to suggest that.

Warning: if anyone in the group is prudish, it might not be a good idea lol...

 

[Knightshade]

Board games...this can be a deep hole that you only dive deeper and deeper into. A friend of ours hosts a game night every first Friday of the month. His game library is over 300, all "modern" board game type.

A game for all 7 might be kinda tough..and I'm going to assume card game = regular 52 card deck type of games so some of what I include below will certainly have cards. This are all fairly light, easy to learn.

Azul (Up to 4, this was my first modern board game)
Splendor (Up to 4)
Flamecraft (Plays up to 5)
Mission Red Planet (Can play up to 6)
Cascadia

Wingspan (This one might melt your brain a little bit to begin with, but easy enough after a play through)

And finally, some resources, suggestions.

You might..have a Board Game Cafe or something in your area. Look around, you can go in, "check out" a game and play with some people.

and..be forewarned. This place can be a blackhole, but outstanding info.

https://boardgamegeek.com

 

[stamandster]

We've enjoyed "Exploding Kittens" with the expansion. As well as the "King of Tokyo" (and other versions). "Scythe" is another one, but has a fairly steep learning curve. And "Forbidden Island" can be fun.

 

[shoengine]

Freedom of speech is pretty fun. Can assign teams with odd numbers.
https://freedomofspeechgame.com/pages/how-to-play

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Given that this thread is going to attract a bunch of board game geeks, I'm going to throw out one that might be of interest to anyone that is also a college football fan:

https://whoanelliecollegefootball.com/

I "know" the guy who created it from a college football forum that I've been on well over a decade at this point...

He can customize teams as well, so if you have some team/years that you're interested in that's not already available, he can make it...

 

[Bramling Cross]

Gloom is lots of mordant fun and quite funny. In short, you're trying to make yourself as miserable as possible while everyone else tries to cheer you up. It creates fun group dynamics and goofy game play. It's a card game with plenty of expansion packs to keep it fun for several years.

It's easy to pickup and it reverses the "I want to beat you" dynamic of most games. It takes the fangs out of hyper competitive individuals in a funny way.

https://www.atlas-games.com/gloom/

 

[Jonakr]

7 together is also going to be a bit difficult. You might also look at 3-4 player games, and split things up. We would also pick longer games like Monopoly, but decide on a time limit, and then figure out how to determine who won. When we've finished Monopoly, usually someone has clearly lost and is super-angry, so stopping early and counting money or property keeps it from getting out of hand.

 

[Yooper]

I'm probably the wrong demographic to answer this but; If you're very comfortable with one another, clothing-optional vegetable-oil twister was quite a hit with my crowd.

Well, not to gross you out…..but I did joke with them about it last week. Average age of our group is probably about 75. One of the ladies is pushing 80, but looks 60. Still. I’m the youngest. So, pretty gross.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Warning: if anyone in the group is prudish, it might not be a good idea lol...

Prudish? Has a moral compass that points north 2/5 times.

It's gobs of fun but crass as @#$*

 

[Agent]

To mirror many posts, Ticket to Ride is solid, though usually better with 4+/- players, as with Azul.
Exploding kittens and Cards Against Humanity is entertaining as all get out for an hour or two. Nefarious is also quick to pick up, but can stand for a treasurer-type if everyone isn't good at money changing. Redshirts is great for mindless Trekkies (though SWMBO is less amused). Dominion, Tiny Epic Galaxies, and Unfair are some solid strategy games that need focus to play through expediently.

 

[Broken Crow]

Well, not to gross you out…..but I did joke with them about it last week. Average age of our group is probably about 75. One of the ladies is pushing 80, but looks 60. Still. I’m the youngest. So, pretty gross.

'gross'?..heck, I'm not an ageist.. Besides; streching and agility exercises are more important when you start getting on in years..just swap out the vegetable oil for Bengay.

 

[Deadalus]

Ticket to ride is a good one and then move on to Rail Baron which ups the complexity. Not sure how available it is these days.

Maybe a backgammon tournament?9

Too bad on the cards, so many opportunities-Hold 'em, Cribbage, Pinochle, Bridge, Spades, Hearts, ...

Or specialized cards like Uno, Set, or Mill Bornes?

Scattergories; Pictionary; Win, Lose, or Draw.

I've never played Mah Jongg.

 

[Yooper]

We've enjoyed "Exploding Kittens" with the expansion. As well as the "King of Tokyo" (and other versions). "Scythe" is another one, but has a fairly steep learning curve. And "Forbidden Island" can be fun.

I ordered Exploding Kittens and Scattergories (no learning curve there), added a few other items to my 'wish list' and happened to find "Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" at a thrift store yesterday for $2.

We'll see how this goes. I really like a couple of the card games that the group plays, but there are a couple of people who are competitive but not wanting to concentrate so I need easy but fun games. It's also an odd group (numbers wise- not personality wise, haha) so we need something that 7 people can play. The Smarter than a Fifth Grader game is designed for 2-4, but we can make it work for 7 by one being the emcee, and adding an extra token, etc. No thinking on that game, so should work. It'll be even more fun after a couple of beers.

Some of the people in the group are 'fancy' cocktail people with gourmet nibbles so it's a lot of eating and drinking and laughing and I love the relaxed feeling too so don't want anything difficult.

When I was on the ship last year, one of the sailors had Betrayal at House on the Hill and we played during a down time. It was fun, and I really enjoyed it but it has a pretty steep learning curve as well as an imagination so I know that wouldn't work for this group.

Thanks so much!

 

[Brew_Dude41]

Late to the party but Cranium is fun and trivial pursuit are 2 of our favorites.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

Underlying untold plot "when I was on the ship last year" Pictures or it didn't happen.

 

[Yooper]

Underlying untold plot "when I was on the ship last year" Pictures or it didn't happen

Ok, you asked for it!

 

[Yesfan]

My wife, me, and another couple of friends or ours used to play these murder mystery in a box games. They are pretty cool with clues, links, phone numbers, etc to use in trying to solve a murder. The only two negatives I have are they are a bit pricey and it's pretty much one and done as far as that same case goes. You already know who done it. Still safer than Vegetable Oil Twister.....

This is the one we went with. There's different themes too. I'm sure there's other cheaper companies out there if that type of game still interests you.

Murder Mystery In A Box

 

[shoengine]

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Ok, you asked for it!
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Ah, a pleasure cruise. Nice!

 

[mikeasu]

7 Wonders is something our family enjoyed - and out of the box, handles from 3-7 people - and simultaneous turns. Some time needed to learn the symbols on the cards, but might fit your needs.

 

[khannon]

https://www.looneylabs.com/fluxx is a great game, card type but simple and fun.
Apples to Apples is another good one, similar to Cards against humanity and joking hazard, but PG.
Cash N Guns is really fun with 6-8 people.

All fun, very little set up, simple rules.

 

[Yooper]

Ah, a pleasure cruise. Nice!

Well, it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience, watching my son launch F18s off of an aircraft carrier. For 6 days, 5 nights, from Pearl Harbor to San Diego.

It's definitely something that I enjoyed, although getting up at 4 AM to go to work with him was hard, as the time zone changed most of those nights so by the end we were at midnight was 4 AM Hawaii time. Food was beyond terrible (raw brats, burnt pizza, moldy lettuce) but I don't eat much anyway. No alcohol.

so I was a bit of a zombie but watching him shoot jets was really great (you can't really see faces with his unit, but he's the tallest one). His favorite pilot blew a sonic boom after he launched her, when she did a touch and go first. Pretty awesome. No sleep, no real food, no real coffee but it was so worth it and the time spent with my son was the best. Hawaii didn't suck.

 

[shoengine]

Well, it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience, watching my son launch F18s off of an aircraft carrier. For 6 days, 5 nights, from Pearl Harbor to San Diego.

It's definitely something that I enjoyed, although getting up at 4 AM to go to work with him was hard, as the time zone changed most of those nights so by the end we were at midnight was 4 AM Hawaii time. Food was beyond terrible (raw brats, burnt pizza, moldy lettuce) but I don't eat much anyway. No alcohol.

so I was a bit of a zombie but watching him shoot jets was really great (you can't really see faces with his unit, but he's the tallest one). His favorite pilot blew a sonic boom after he launched her, when she did a touch and go first. Pretty awesome. No sleep, no real food, no real coffee but it was so worth it and the time spent with my son was the best. Hawaii didn't suck.

That is amazing. Congrats!

 

[Leezer]

Left Right Center is fun, esp when eating and drinking. Doesn’t require a lot of concentration, no big learning curve. Can accommodate various amounts of players.

 

[Dland]

Some low tech suggestions for after the grid goes down, or if one was at my low tech abode;

A pack or two of cards, and some gin, or similar, the game that is.

Perhaps some chess/checkers boards, and with a run off or elimination. There's always some who would rather enjoy watching and drinking than playing, at least after loosing a round or two.

Scrabble can be fun if crew is semi literate, would probably have to have a couple of games going.

Of course there is always poker. Playing for coins and keeping the stakes kinda low helps people stay relaxed and friendly.