By Roy de Bie · Updated 10 October 2026 · 9 min read
At a glance
- Pick by group size
- No props needed
- Pen and paper
- On the TV with your phone
- Play a test round
- Card and board games
- Making a night of it
- FAQ
Pick by group size
The best game depends less on taste than on the number of people on the sofa. A game for four becomes a queue with twelve, and a game for twelve falls flat with four. Quick pick:
- Four or five of you: Heckmeck, toepen, Just One or Codenames.
- Six to ten people: charades in two teams, the hat game, Gartic Phone or Pictionary on Netflix.
- Ten or more: werewolf, 30 Seconds in teams, or a quiz on the TV where everyone plays along on their own phone.
- Nothing in the house: psychiatrist, two truths and a lie, would you rather, or five in ten.
- Not everyone drinks: everything below works without alcohol. If you do play a drinking game, here are thirty dares to replace a sip.
Games with no props
No box, no pen, just people. Ideal when the evening is spontaneous or when you are still at the table after dinner.
1. Werewolf
The best group game there is, from about eight people. Everyone closes their eyes and the game master silently taps two or three werewolves. Every "night" the werewolves pick a victim with gestures, every "day" the village argues about who is suspicious and votes someone out. The boxed version, The Werewolves of Millers Hollow (8 to 18 players), adds roles like the witch and the seer, but it works just as well without cards. Rotate the game master: the storytelling is half the fun.
2. Charades
Two teams, words you make up for the other team, and acting them out without a sound. A one-minute timer per turn on your phone keeps the pace up. Works with any crowd, from in-laws to a student house.
3. Psychiatrist
One person, the psychiatrist, leaves the room. The rest agree on a rule, for example: everyone answers as if they were the person to their left. The psychiatrist comes back, asks questions and has to diagnose the group's "condition". The more absurd the rule, the better.
4. Two truths and a lie
Take turns telling three things about yourself; the rest guesses which one is the lie. Perfect when not everyone knows each other, and afterwards you know more about your friends than after ten years of birthday parties.
5. Would you rather
Someone poses an impossible choice ("would you rather never eat cheese again or never go on holiday again?") and everyone has to pick a side and defend it. No winners, just the best arguments of the night. A good warm-up while people are still arriving.
6. Five in ten
Whoever's turn it is gets a category from their neighbour ("five Dutch singers", "five things in a fridge") and has ten seconds. Sounds easy, until everyone counts down out loud and your mind goes blank. Whoever fails makes up the next category.
Pen and paper
A stack of paper and some pens or a pad of sticky notes: that is all you need.
7. Name, place, animal, thing
The childhood classic works surprisingly well with adults, especially when you add your own columns: artist, brand, bad excuse for being late. Someone calls a letter, everyone fills in their sheet, and the first to finish shouts stop. A unique answer is 10 points, an answer someone else also has is 5.
8. Who am I?
Everyone writes a famous person on a sticky note and sticks it on their neighbour's forehead. Take turns asking yes-or-no questions until you know who you are. Pick people the whole group knows, or it will be a long night for that one cousin.
9. Telephone Pictionary
Everyone writes a sentence at the top of a sheet and passes it on. The next person draws that sentence, folds the sentence away and passes it on; the next describes the drawing, and so on. At the end you unfold everything and read out how "grandma goes bungee jumping" turned into "a horse on a trampoline". In the shops it is called Telestrations, online it is Gartic Phone (see below).
10. The hat game
Everyone writes five names on slips of paper (famous people, characters or people from the friend group) and they go into a bowl. Two teams, three rounds with the same slips: first describe, then one word, then act it out only. By the third round you know the slips, and that is exactly where the fun is. One of the best games for six to twelve people.
On the TV with your phone
Everyone has a phone in their hand anyway. With these games the game is on the TV and everyone plays along on their own phone, without a box you have to figure out first.
11. A quiz on the TV
We are not neutral here, because this is what we build ourselves. With Kwishetwel the questions are big on the TV or laptop, everyone scans a QR code and plays along on their own phone. No app and no account for players, the scoreboard keeps itself and whoever gets it wrong spins the penalty wheel. With a free account you play unlimited quiz nights with multiple choice, open questions and word association from the ready-made catalog, up to 25 phones per game, and as the host you simply play along. No TV at hand? The online pub quiz page has a free mini quiz of 20 questions to read out.
12. Party games on Netflix
Since late 2025 Netflix has party games on the TV where your phone is the controller: you scan a QR code on the screen and join in. They include Pictionary: Game Night (up to 10 players), Boggle Party (up to 8) and Party Crashers (up to 6). They are part of your plan, but do not work on every TV yet: if you see a row of games in the Netflix app, you can play. Netflix explains it on its help page about games on TV.
13. Gartic Phone
The telephone Pictionary from above, but in the browser: everyone draws and guesses on their own phone or laptop, and at the end the whole chain plays out on the screen. Free, no account, for 2 to 30 players, so it also works when part of the group is not in the room. Hook the host's laptop up to the TV for the reveal. Find it at garticphone.com.
14. Jackbox
The best-known party games with phones: Quiplash, Drawful, Trivia Murder Party. One person buys a Party Pack (Party Pack 11 is $29.99 in the Jackbox store) and runs it on a PC or console; the rest join via jackbox.tv in the browser. Most games are for 3 to 8 players. What comes close for free is in Jackbox alternatives.
15. Karaoke battle on YouTube
Put YouTube on the TV, search for a song title with "karaoke" after it, and you have a karaoke bar. Make it a contest: two teams, one song per turn, and the rest holds up fingers for a score. No talent required, rather the opposite.
Play a test round
Curious what a quiz on your phone feels like? Five questions about games, ten seconds each. Fast and right scores the most points.
Card and board games for a group
Monopoly and Risk are fine for a rainy Sunday, but not for a night with friends: too long, too much explaining, and whoever goes bankrupt first watches for two hours. These five are quick to explain and work in a group.
16. Toepen
The Dutch pub classic, played with an ordinary deck of cards. Everyone gets four cards, you play tricks, and whoever thinks they will win "toeps" to raise the stakes. Bluffing is part of it. Playable with up to about eight people, and after two rounds everyone knows the rules.
17. Heckmeck
A dice game for 2 to 7 players, known in Dutch as Regenwormen: you roll eight dice, set one kind aside each time and try to collect enough points for a tile with worms. Roll nothing useful and you lose your top tile. Fits in your coat pocket and takes five minutes to explain.
18. Codenames
Two teams, a grid of 25 words, and one spymaster per team who uses one word and a number to get their team to guess as many of their own words as possible. The box says 2 to 8 players, but it works with bigger teams too. Winner of the Spiel des Jahres 2016. No box at home? The makers have a free browser version at codenames.game that you can put on the TV.
19. Just One
A cooperative game for 3 to 7 players: one person has to guess a word, the rest each secretly write down a clue. Duplicate clues are removed, so whoever writes the obvious one sabotages the team. Winner of the Spiel des Jahres 2019, and ideal for a group that is not big on winning and losing.
20. 30 Seconds
The classic Dutch party game: in teams, you describe as many of the five terms on your card as you can within thirty seconds. From three players, but at its best with two or more teams. A game takes about half an hour, and with a big group you simply make the teams bigger.
Making a night of it
A good game helps, but the order makes the night. What works for us:
- Start small. While people are arriving: would you rather or two truths and a lie. Anyone can join in at any moment.
- Pick one main game. Once everyone is there: werewolf, the hat game or a quiz. Something the whole group plays at once, not a game where half the room waits for their turn.
- Mix up the teams. Split couples and best friends, so people talk who otherwise would not.
- Keep the explanation under two minutes. Explain any longer and you lose the group. Play a practice round instead.
- Put something at stake. A bag of sweets for the winner or a forfeit for the loser works better than you think. Ideas are in 35 fun penalties for the penalty wheel.
- Stop at the peak. Switch games as soon as the energy drops, not once everyone is scrolling on their phone.
A bigger crowd or a party with drinks? Then a drinking game for big groups fits better. Want to write your own questions for a quiz night? The step-by-step plan for your own pub quiz helps.
Need more round types? A new account plays everything in Plus for the first 7 days, without payment details. See the plans.
Frequently asked questions
What can you do with friends at home in the evening?
Games are the easiest choice, because they need little preparation. Without props: werewolf, charades or psychiatrist. With pen and paper: the hat game or name, place, animal, thing. With a TV and phones: a quiz, Gartic Phone or the party games on Netflix. Pick by group size: what works with four people often falls flat with twelve.
Which games can you play with friends without any props?
Werewolf (the game master taps the werewolves while everyone has their eyes closed), charades, psychiatrist, two truths and a lie, would you rather, and five in ten. All six work with just people, so you can start right away.
Which games are fun with a big group?
From about ten people, pick games where everyone plays at once: werewolf (The Werewolves of Millers Hollow is for 8 to 18 players), 30 Seconds or charades in teams, the hat game, and a quiz on the TV where everyone plays along on their own phone. Avoid turn-based games: with twenty people you mostly wait.
Which games can you play with your phone on the TV?
A quiz like Kwishetwel (free to start, up to 25 phones per game), Netflix's party games such as Pictionary: Game Night (included in your plan, not on every TV yet), Gartic Phone (free in the browser) and Jackbox (sold per pack). With all four, the game is on the big screen and everyone plays along on their own phone.
What are fun party games for adults?
Games with a bit of bluffing or revealing: werewolf, psychiatrist, two truths and a lie, the hat game and Codenames. At a party with drinks, a quiz with a penalty wheel works well, because everyone plays every round and the loser spins.
Which games work when not everyone drinks?
All twenty games in this article work without alcohol. If you do play a drinking game, swap the sip for a dare, so nobody feels left out.
Further reading: 105 pub quiz questions with answers, drinking games without alcohol and Jackbox alternatives.
