Party games without props
Friends are over, but nobody brought a board game and the console is busy. Good news: everything you need is already in your pockets.
Classic games with no props at all
- Charades — show a word without talking. Works for any group size.
- Twenty questions — one thinks of something, the others ask yes-or-no questions.
- Mafia (Werewolf) — the classic for 6+ players; phones can deal the roles.
Games on your phones
Browser party games let everyone play on their own phone, with no app to install: one person creates a room, the others scan a QR code. Tolpa mini-games take one or two minutes each — Reaction for reflexes, Remember the colours for memory, Blind shot for cunning.
How to make it a real game night
- Put a shared screen up. A TV or a laptop in the middle turns phones into controllers and gets everyone looking at the same thing.
- Keep rounds short. Five rounds of a couple of minutes beats one long game where half the room is waiting.
- Mix game types — reflexes, memory and bluffing, so everyone has a chance to win something.