Games for Adults

AddieCake

No, not THOSE games, you pervs.

We are thinking of having some friends over to play games one night, and I haven't done that in forever and don't really know what's current. Any suggestions for some games for adults?  We have Cards Against Humanity already. 

nerdwife

Well cards against humanity is my go to. I've also played games like charades and pictionary at friends' parties. But really CAH is the best game ever and I'm actually having people come over to play it for my birthday in a few weeks. Which is what I did last year. Because I love CAH.

I'm sure that was immensely helpful.

kaos16

On Thanksgiving we were playing a game through an app on the phone called "Heads Up."  It's really similar to charades or something I guess.  The guesser starts the app and holds the phone or Iphone at their forehead displaying the clue to everyone else.  Every else has to give clues until they guess correctly, or act it out.  Some categories you can play make you remain silent, or require you to use one person as a human prop.  There are lots of categories like the 90s, guess the song title, adult humor, etc.

We played forever and it was a lot of fun.

madamerwin

BIL bought us Exploding Kittens for Christmas. We have not played it yet, but I have heard it's fun.

Also, Sequence. It's not necessarily an "adult" game, but it's a go-to in my family. H and I play it when it's just us, and we also play with other couples in teams. It's a super easy game to learn, and it moves pretty quickly.

thefanciestbeckler

My favorite game to play is Quelf.  Its got a little bit of everything. It is absolutely hilarious if you play it with a group of people who don't mind embarrassing themselves.

holyguacamole79

Agreed regarding "Heads Up". We played it last year at DH's family reunion and everyone loved it. Taboo is also good. Marry, Date, or Dump. We just got 5 Second Rule for Christmas and it sounds like fun

huskypuppy14

My sister and her husband love games, and they just got this game called Telestrations. It's like a cross between telephone and pictionary. Everyone has their own book and word and they draw the picture of the word. Then you pass around your book and the next person has to guess the word from the picture. Then pass and the next person has to draw the word the previous person wrote. You can only go back one page to see the previous person's word or pic. At the end when you get your book back you see what everyone else thought. there is no "winner" it's just a fun game. It's funnier with a lot of people. We had 8 and it was hilarious. 

littlemushroom

On our game nights, the party games we play are Werewolf, Wits and Wagers, Dixit, Zero, Crazy Pictionary, and Cranium.

Werewolf is a bluffing game. Wits and Wagers is a betting game. Dixit is like Apples to Apples except there is original artwork on the cards instead of words. Zero is like opposite Family Feud where you get a category and try to give the LEAST popular answer that still made the board. Let me know if you want more info about any of them.

JediElizabeth

huskypuppy14 said:

My sister and her husband love games, and they just got this game called Telestrations. It's like a cross between telephone and pictionary. Everyone has their own book and word and they draw the picture of the word. Then you pass around your book and the next person has to guess the word from the picture. Then pass and the next person has to draw the word the previous person wrote. You can only go back one page to see the previous person's word or pic. At the end when you get your book back you see what everyone else thought. there is no "winner" it's just a fun game. It's funnier with a lot of people. We had 8 and it was hilarious. 

If it's an adult-rated party, try Tellestrations Against Humanity. Use CAH cards to dictate what you're drawing for tellestrations. It can get really raunchy & politically incorrect, but that's kinda the point.

For more lighthearted fun, we just got into a game called "Codenames" this month. You play in two teams, red & blue, with one person per team as a Spymaster, and the rest of the team as Spies, and you have a 5x5 spread of words in front of you. Some words belong to the red team and some belong to the blue team. The Spymasters take turns using 1-word clues to get their team to guess which words are theirs. (For example, we had "Square" and "China," so FI gave "Tiananmen" as a clue.) Highly recommended. 

ashtsb

We play tons of games with friends, one of the top games we play is Coup. It's a quick easy bluffing game. Resistance is a little harder to get, but it's another bluffing game but you need at least 5 for that. Word Whimsy is a ton of fun and can get pretty adult. It's sort of like CAH/Apples to Apples but you make multiple word answers instead. Snake Oil is good too, where you pitch an item to the judge who plays a character, like a clown or pop star.

Sorry for rambling, we play tons of games. I get excited when other people have game nights too!

jenna8984

I like Apples to Apples and Taboo.

JediElizabeth

ashtsb said:

We play tons of games with friends, one of the top games we play is Coup. It's a quick easy bluffing game. Resistance is a little harder to get, but it's another bluffing game but you need at least 5 for that. Word Whimsy is a ton of fun and can get pretty adult. It's sort of like CAH/Apples to Apples but you make multiple word answers instead. Snake Oil is good too, where you pitch an item to the judge who plays a character, like a clown or pop star.

Sorry for rambling, we play tons of games. I get excited when other people have game nights too!

Same here! We usually play more fantasy games (Lords of Waterdeep, Boss Monster, Ascension), but I feel like those are really niche, and don't recommend them unless I know the people.  We play Snake Oil & Resistance, too!

Now that I think of it, Castle Panic, Forbidden Island, and Forbidden Desert are also good co-op ones, which we don't see a lot of around here. Those are the group against the game, instead of players vs. players. 

labro

Ohhh definitely love Telestrations!! We don't even use the cards. People just come up with their own ideas because it usually leads to more ridiculous guesses. However, I definitely want to try mashing up CAH with Telestrations next time!

For board games we love Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride. They can both be fast-paced strategy games (I can't stand games that take forever to play a round).

I definitely want to second playing Heads Up!

littlemushroom

@JediElizabeth My H and I love Castle Panic (especially with the Wizard's Tower expansion) and Forbidden Island/Desert. They are great co-op games, but only if you have around 4 people. Our game nights are closer to 8-10 people so we don't get to play those as often with others.

We have one couple who likes the more niche games like we do, so when it is just the four of us we play Boss Monster, Tsuro of the Seas, Qwirkle, and Betrayal at House on the Hill (my personal favorite: like Clue on steroids), Trailer Park Wars, Red November, etc. We have TONS of board games for adults. So much fun!

PamBeesly524

Agree with pp's who mentioned telestrations, sequence, etc. Funny that @JediElizabeth mentioned Forbidden Desert - My brother got it for Xmas and we played a few rounds. I'll also toss in Farkle - there's no limit on the amount of players and it's really fun. You don't even need to buy it, you just need dice and you can look up the rules online.

AddieCake

@kaos16 I've played HeadsUp with my classes before. It's always fun.

I will have to check some of these out that I haven't heard of!  Thanks for the help, everyone!

thespeshulestsnowflake

Balderdash is our family's go to game.

arrippa

huskypuppy14 said:

My sister and her husband love games, and they just got this game called Telestrations. It's like a cross between telephone and pictionary. Everyone has their own book and word and they draw the picture of the word. Then you pass around your book and the next person has to guess the word from the picture. Then pass and the next person has to draw the word the previous person wrote. You can only go back one page to see the previous person's word or pic. At the end when you get your book back you see what everyone else thought. there is no "winner" it's just a fun game. It's funnier with a lot of people. We had 8 and it was hilarious. 

Telephone pictionary. I love that game.

AddieCake

I love Balderdash! @thespeshulestsnowflake

justsie

If you have a bunch of couples battle of the sexes is pretty fun, although it is pretty sexist but I love kicking ass at the questions over things that are supposed to be "male" interests. 

lovesclimbing

We usually play five crowns or sequence when we're together with friends. We've even played dominoes! Also settlers of Cataan and other games like mafia. I think any game can be fun.

holyguacamole79

justsie said:

If you have a bunch of couples battle of the sexes is pretty fun, although it is pretty sexist but I love kicking ass at the questions over things that are supposed to be "male" interests. 

I remember one time when we played Battle of the Sexes, the question to the guys was "OPI is a popular brand of what?" The guys were arguing over whether it was tampons or pregnancy tests.

JediElizabeth

holyguacamole79 said:

If you have a bunch of couples battle of the sexes is pretty fun, although it is pretty sexist but I love kicking ass at the questions over things that are supposed to be "male" interests. 

I remember one time when we played Battle of the Sexes, the question to the guys was "OPI is a popular brand of what?" The guys were arguing over whether it was tampons or pregnancy tests.

I'm going to be honest....I just had to go look that up. I think I'd be terrible at that game!

badbnagdway

A couple of years ago at the sleepover component of my sister's bach party (we have little teenage sisters who could not go "out" with us so we did a sleepover night as well as a going out night) some of her friends introduced me to Celebrity. It requires only pen and scrap paper and at least four people but preferably six. We had a blast playing it and one night I introduced it to our friends here in town (who always want to play cards against humanity and it gets old). They also loved it and now it is the go-to party game in our circle. 

Here is wikihow's description of how to play it: http://www.wikihow.com/Play-the-Party-Game-"Celebrity"

PamBeesly524

@badbnagdway my family and I love this game! We play with all types of things though just like charades -- not specifically celebrities. It gets really funny in round 3 when you use inappropriate words or phrases

100yroldblinddog

I second Exploding Kittens! I've played and played often, and it's a lot of fun. It comes in a normal and a NSFW version, so I can vouch for the NSFW one.  And it can be played quickly, depending on the number of players.

But if we're going old-school, I'm with some PPs. Balderdash is what's up.

huskypuppy14

littlemushroom said:

@JediElizabeth My H and I love Castle Panic (especially with the Wizard's Tower expansion) and Forbidden Island/Desert. They are great co-op games, but only if you have around 4 people. Our game nights are closer to 8-10 people so we don't get to play those as often with others. We have one couple who likes the more niche games like we do, so when it is just the four of us we play Boss Monster, Tsuro of the Seas, Qwirkle, and Betrayal at House on the Hill (my personal favorite: like Clue on steroids), Trailer Park Wars, Red November, etc. We have TONS of board games for adults. So much fun!

My sister and BIL just got the betrayal at house on the hill and it took us over 2.5 hours to play. I know there is a learning curve with a new game, but it was a long time. I felt that that the "monsters" had the advantage and it wasn't really fair. Maybe we got to the haunting too early?

littlemushroom

@huskypuppy14 It really depends on the haunt you get as well. We haven't had one with a bunch of monsters yet and we have played maybe 15 different haunts. It is usually just the betrayer that we have to contend with, and often the betrayer has a different objective than just going after the other players. We haven't had to use the fight mechanic that much. The game typically takes us an hour to an hour and a half. Once you have played a few times and know the base game mechanics, the games move more quickly.

But you are right that if the haunt starts early then it is going to be MUCH harder for the "good" guys to win. The more rooms that are out, the better. Also, if you haven't found some of the really good items to have, it is much harder as well.

vikinganna87

I'm excited about this thread because H and I are going with another couple to a remote cabin for New Year's Eve and need some alternatives to cross-country skiing and drinking.

Not sure this constitutes an adult game since we starting playing it senior year in college, but for parties I host I usually make a drinking version of Jenga.  Buy the regular Jenga game and write on [one side of] every brick with a sharpie.  I usually do a combination of trivia, light physical challenges and silly not-really-sexual stuff.  Like, drink and name the president of Japan. Drink and do 5 push ups.  Drink and do a seductive dance in front of the person to your left.  Drink and name 10 countries in Africa.  Usually everyone playing will drink if the question applies to them, like drink if you have a hot boss.  Whoever makes the tower crash needs to chug the rest of their drink.  Put the bricks back with the writing face-down.  After a few times you'll have gone through most of the bricks.  I find it a fun way to break the ice, especially if you're having a party where the guests don't know each other well.  I think Jenga came out with a truth or dare version at some point but I believe it's pretty lame.

lembaslover

My husband and I like what we call nerdy board games, the ones that take a while to set up and have a lot of rules like Settlers of Catan, Small World, and Agricola. 

But for people who don't want to invest that much time we really like The Game of Things which asks a question and everyone writes an answer then 1 person tries to guess who said what. We prefer that to CAH because it tends to be cleaner though it can certainly be made dirty if the crowd makes it that way.

We also like introducing people who we think may someday like nerdy board games to some easier ones like Ticket to Ride. I just got my husband Pandemic for Christmas and he loves it! It's a co-op game so you play together against the game. It's fairly simple once you get the hang of it so we plan on introducing it to some friends/family soon. 

[Deleted User]

I love CAH and Heads Up. I also love ImagineIf... and In A Pickle.