22 Fun Games to Play With Friends

If you're looking for some fun games to play with your friends, here's an interesting list. With these games, you can have a fun time and, if you're the host, you can surprise your guests.

It’s normal to want to add a little excitement to parties and gatherings of friends. Therefore, you may be wondering what fun games you can play at your next get-together.

The playing of games is a lifelong activity, they’re not just for childhood. In fact, they provide laughter, strengthen bonds and stimulate your mind, so why should you abandon them just because you’re now grown up? If you’re looking for some fun activities for you and your group of friends, here are 22 examples to make your evenings unforgettable.

Fun games to play with friends

Ranging from classic dominoes to the most philosophical dilemmas, in this list, you’ll find fun games for all types of groups. They’re intended for adults, but many of them are also suitable for adolescents and children.

1. Fun card games

It’s not just about Top Trumps or Snap. In fact, with just one deck of cards, you can spend entire afternoons being entertained, as the games you can play are practically endless. You can use the traditional decks or the more contemporary ones like UNO. They’ll provide you with much laughter and fun with your family and friends.

2. Board games

The world of board games is wide and varied in every respect. If you want to get out of your comfort zone of games like Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly it’s best to go to a specialized store and let yourself be advised by the experts.

3. Escape games

Nowadays you can play escape rooms both indoors and outdoors, so they’re fun activities for groups of friends. Furthermore, challenges to be solved as a team are a good way of bonding and keeping your mind active.

4. Karaoke

You don’t even need a microphone, there’s a karaoke version of almost every song on the internet. There are also video games, such as Singstar, that move the karaoke room to your living room if you don’t feel like going out.

5. Videogames

Video games, whether online or in social game format, are another really versatile way of spending time with your friends. There are also online versions of many board games if you don’t fancy playing with a crowd.

6. Charades

This is a classic. One person in the group has to act out the title of a movie – with certain rules, such as not speaking or not drawing letters in the air – and the rest have to guess it. The first one who guesses it is the next one to perform.

7. Who am I?

This is a good game for children, but adults also enjoy it. It consists of writing down a character on a piece of paper and acting them out without speaking for the rest to guess. You can make your own rules – like using famous phrases or objects, for example – to make it more fun.

8. Treasure hunt

This game consists of hiding objects with a special meaning around the house. Then, when the players find them, they have to guess the meaning.

9. The laughing game

Another classic that never gets old. Two players go head to head and try to make each other laugh. It can lead to some fun moments.

10. Chinese whispers

Also suitable for children. The first person whispers a phrase in the ear of the next and they repeat it to the next and so on. The last person repeats the phrase aloud which, by then, doesn’t usually resemble what it started as.

11. Role-playing games

Like video games and board games, role-playing games have evolved a great deal in recent years. They’re an incredible exercise in imagination and range from the more traditional stories to the most original and imaginative invented narratives.

12. The Unusual Uses game

This game consists of gathering a series of objects and then giving one at random to each of the participants. With the assigned object, the person has to give a certain number of uses for that object. As you might expect, the greater the number of uses given, the more bizarre the responses will become.

13. Would you rather?

This is a game that’s simple but thought-provoking. It can be the starting point for some really interesting conversations. It involves posing a dichotomy in the form of a question and the person choosing one of the possibilities. For example, “Would you rather have a world without hunger or pollution?” You can find many lists of suggested questions for the game online.

14. 20 questions

Similar to Who am I, it involves assigning a character -human or animal, to a player. They have to guess who they are by asking a  series of questions (up to 20) which can only be answered yes or no. It’s rather like the well-known board game, Guess who?

15. Rock, paper, scissors

Although it might seem like an old-fashioned and rather cliched game, it can be really competitive. If you find the three options aren’t enough you can always add the lizard Spock expansion.

16. Red hands or slapsies

A game of reflexes for all ages. One person should place their hands on the other’s palms, and the other will try to slap them. If the slapping player misses, they swap roles. Be careful you don’t hurt each other though.

17. Three-word story

Another fun game with great results that can also be played online. All the members of the group build a story together but they can each only contribute three words. The story is written down and read out at the end of the game.

18. Minefield

Perfect for the outdoors, this is one of the most fun bonding games. Objects are scattered on the ground and players form pairs. One has to cover their eyes and the other has to guide them through the obstacles and get them to a certain point without stumbling.

19. Draw on my back game

Among the fun games to do at a party, this is often the one that produces the most laughs. The players form pairs, and one of them tries to reproduce on a piece of paper what the other draws on their back with a finger. The results are often surprising.

20. Stop!

This game consists of making a list of words that begin with the same letter, from a series of specific categories such as proper names, names of cities or countries, animals, colors, etc. The player who gets the most words in the allotted time wins.

21. Guess the song

A fun game that has music as the main character. Each person chooses a song and plays the first few seconds of it. The person who can correctly identify the song from those first few chords will be the winner.

22. Online games

Finally, there are many different online games that can be fun, whether you’re with your friends in the same space or miles apart. Games like Among us and Parchisi STAR are excellent options for sharing and having fun.