Games to play at a Christmas Party

December 18, 2007 5:32 PM

What are some good games to play at a christmas party?

Remember that party I mentioned for Christmas back in the What are some good Christmas movies thread I made. Well I got to thinking, what if after a few movies the party starts to die down? What fun games could we play to keep the night fun and festive? I am thinking any type of game really (word, party, video game, whatever) Keep in mind there are only going to be 5 of us including myself and that we are all in the 15-16 age range.

It would be best if the games are related to christmas, like, Wii sports, but all the Miis look like santa, or something silly like that.

Additional info:

Multiplayer Wii games I own: Wario Ware Smooth Moves and Wii Sports

Multiplayer Xbox 360 games I own: Halo 3 and Star Trek Legacy

I own a Karaoke machine, any CDs with chrismas music that would be... interesting to have people sing too?

The room we will be partying in is relatively small

posted by Nick Fisher to sports, hobbies, & recreation (19 comments total)

Mafia isn't Christmas-oriented, but it's damn fun in a decent-sized group. (We always play it at Thanksgiving, and it's pretty much the best part of the night, besides the pie.)
posted by scody at 5:46 PM on December 18, 2007 [1 favorite]

damn, sorry, didn't see till the second I posted that there's only 5 of you. That's too small for a good game. Sorry.
posted by scody at 5:47 PM on December 18, 2007

I think I gather from the question that you aren't looking to spend more than maybe 5 bucks (like for a new pack of cards or something).
But, maybe you are interested in buying some good games that will provide entertainment for years n' years.

At thanksgiving I had a blast playing "Catch-phrase", with 4 adults, a couple 15 year olds, and a couple 21 year olds. Its a very simple game but it was lots of fun, and our family is sending copies of the game to relatives for X-mas. It's about $30.
posted by gavtaylor at 5:51 PM on December 18, 2007

What about doing a Cut-throat Pollyanna? The name might be dorky, but it can really be fun. Very detailed drawings and explanation here. I did a cut-throat once where there were only 6 participants, but it took over an hour to play, since we all kept stealing each others loot!
posted by iconomy at 5:51 PM on December 18, 2007 [1 favorite]

The Minister's Cat game from the movie Scrooge is so lame it's awesome. Also maybe Jenga.
posted by misha at 5:51 PM on December 18, 2007

umm if I spend money I will probably try to stay in the 10 dollar or less area. Also just a note, I don't know any games really so I am going to have to require an explanation or link to rules on any suggestions. laugh out loud.
posted by Nick Fisher at 5:57 PM on December 18, 2007

To the Cut-Throat Pollyanna idea

Thats that game that they played on that christmas episode of The Office right? Much like in that episode, the gifts we got each other are all specifically for the person so although thats a good suggestion, I would like to steer clear of games involving exchanging our gifts.
posted by Nick Fisher at 6:01 PM on December 18, 2007

Scattergories (you can make your own!)
Charades
posted by availablelight at 6:11 PM on December 18, 2007

What about the 1000 blank cards game mentioned somewhere here recently (I can't find where.....) with a Santa/Christmas theme?

Trivia pursuit.
Balderdash (you can do this yourself and use christmas theme)
posted by dpx.mfx at 6:58 PM on December 18, 2007

For boardgames, I suggest Apples to Apples and You Must Be an Idiot.

Apples to Apples is easy to find and well worth it for about $20. You Must Be an Idiot is a good party game too, but harder to find, so if your party is soon, Apples to Apples could be an better option.
posted by demiurge at 7:23 PM on December 18, 2007

There are so many! Search "parlor games" or "party games". Here are a few:
1000 Blank White Cards - fun if you are creative types, requires index cards and pens/markers.
Apples to Apples - great party game, you can make your own set. Again you would want index cards and pens.
Celebrity
Couch game if you have an even number
fictionary aka balderdash is very fun with the right group.
things in a box is similar except: a player draws a category from a hat, like "things you never want to see on a bus", "things a stranger would say if they saw my bedroom", "most memorable thing that ever happened to me at school" or whatever. Each person writes their answer on a separate slip of paper, all the slips get mixed together and read out, and then you go around the circle trying to guess who gave which answer. (more complete rules at that website) [also like loaded questions]
25 words or less

depending on the group zendo might work - it's like a complex version of the kids' game Mastermind. You would need to get together sets of matching objects (cups, matches, coins etc would work).

Oh hell is a fantastic card game, lots of fun, easy to learn, lots of chance to "stick it" to your friends. (Don't play with people who are easily frustrated, the whole game is about frustration.) Hearts and Spades are two other good similar card games with rules on wikipedia; I like Oh Hell better, though.

word games, also conversation games.

If you were going to buy a commercial board/card game, other than the party games listed above, you could think about Carcassonne or Bohnanza, or Settlers of Catan (Settlers would be my top recommendation but it only takes 3 or 4 players. If two of you played on a team, or if you sprung for the 5-6 player expansion, I would say this is the game for you.)
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:12 PM on December 18, 2007 [1 favorite]

Forgot:
Liar's Dice. That link has the rules. If you have cups and a bunch of dice (5 for each player?) you're good to go. You can bet money, or bet M&Ms or whatever. Lots of fun. If you saw the final Pirates of the Caribbean movie, this is the game Orlando Bloom plays against Davy Jones on the ship.

Other commercial games that might be good for your group -
Bang! - fast silly wild west shoot-em-up card game. Easy to pick up, great for just about any group.
Wings of War - a World War I flying aces game where you steer your plane through dogfights. Requires a big playing surface - big table, or even floor. A bit more cimplex to pick up, but a ton of fun.
No Thanks is supposed to be awesome, fast card game where by the end you're tearing out your hair and needing to play again. There are other card games like this listed on BGG: Category 6, Loco, Can't Stop, etc - if you're crafty, you can look up the rules and make your own set.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:31 PM on December 18, 2007 [2 favorites]

Catch Phrase (with no passes)



not "christmassy" but very fun
posted by project 2501 at 9:41 PM on December 18, 2007

Mario Party 8 is good, light fun.

If you guys happen to be familiar with role-playing games, so is Munchkin. (Munchkin is a card game that makes fun of the conventions in role-playing games. If you're already familiar with hobby card games, it's fairly simple.)
posted by ignignokt at 11:38 PM on December 18, 2007

The adverb game: the guesser leaves the room, remaining people come up with an adverb, guesser comes back and has others act out situations acting according to the adverb, or the opposite of the adverb. Guesser might give situations like: X and/or Y, you are playing tennis/at the beach/driving, and acting according to the adverb.
posted by yohko at 1:30 AM on December 19, 2007

Fluxx! Not the new Zombie Fluxx though unless you are all old hands at regular Fluxx.
posted by RobotHeart at 4:56 AM on December 19, 2007

Pit is the best party game ever devised by mankind (up to 7 people, but 5 works). Takes seconds to learn. Most game or toy stores will have set of new cards if yuo need them right away, but I recommend getting a set of vintage cards off of ebay. The versions from 1919 or the 40s/50s are the coolest.
posted by yeti at 7:49 AM on December 19, 2007

We play a 5-in-1 card game every year on Christmas Eve. Of course, I'm not remembering the details all that well, but you need a couple decks of cards and lots of pennies. The five games go like this:

1. During the deal, each person chooses red or black. If they choose red and have more red cards dealt, the dealer gives them a penny. If there are more black, they give the dealer a penny.

2. Next is whoever has the best poker hand. I can't remember if the dealer pays 5 or 10 pennies, or if each of the other players coughs up 1.

3. Bingo. Dealer goes through the deck and calls numbers. Players mark their cards with pennies. First person to get bingo gets all of the pennies players have been using the mark cards.

4. Put and Take - Dealer goes through deck and counts from one to ten for players to put in pennies - that is, 3 put 1, jack put 2, ace put 3, and so on up to 10. Then, go through again from one to ten, with players taking money from the pot. If it is short, dealer must pay out. If there are extra pennies, the dealer gets them.

5. Finally, the dealer's game. The dealer counts out cards from ace to king. If the card he or she flips matches the number he or she is on, that number of pennies can be collected from each of the players. If they get a hit on a low number, they can elect to pass in the hopes that they'll match on a better number later on.

Extremely unlucky to make shapes, esp. Christmas trees, with your pennies. Can go on for hours with any number of players rotating in and out.
posted by ferociouskitty at 7:55 AM on December 19, 2007

I can't believe that no one has mentioned Bunco. It's a dice game that's very easy to learn, fast-paced, accommodates a large group, some movement from group to group is involved, everyone plays with everyone else at some point in the game, so a good game to get acquainted - seems to be bigger in CA than anywhere else. Lots of fun!
posted by DandyRandy at 9:05 AM on December 19, 2007