TLDR; What are some good party games that encourage getting to know each other and are not centered around drinking?
A year ago I had a great party. I split all participants (maybe 16 people) into 4 teams and made a 3 game tournament which was very appreciated. This year I am hoping to replicate the good vibe we had, but I want new games.
I am now asking you; What are some good party games?
Criterias:
Low or no amount of randomness (to keep things competitive)
Reasonably easy to acquire the materials for
Possible to do as a team
Encourages interaction, either within the team, between teams or both
Needs at least 4 people, a pen and paper and a bowl/hat. And a stopwatch.
Tear the paper so you have about 25-35 pieces of similar size, then give these out to the players.
Everyone writes down a famou name on each of their pieces of paper. Shuffle them up in the bowl. Divide into teams. Set stopwatch for 1 minute.
Round 1: one member of the first team describes the name on the paper without using any of the words written on the paper. The team gets to keep the paper if it's correctly guessed. After a minute, play passes to the next team with a reduced number of papers in the bowl. This continues until all names have been guessed. Count the number of pieces of paper kept by each team and make a note. Return the papers to the bowl.
Round 2: same as round one, but the describer can now only use one word. No miming, no eye signals, one. Word.
Round 3: same as the previous rounds but the describer must stay absolutely silent and can only mime.
The team that scored the most over 3 rounds wins.
I've played this with strangers and with friends and family alike and it's always fun.
I googled your comment and found the game Monikers which I'd never heard of. I honestly think the DIY version must be better, since there's always someone who's responsible for the name. That makes it us so much better as a bonding experience! It's also good across cultures because the people from culture a will know the answers from culture a and the same for culture b, c etc. and it then becomes a natural exchange
I agree there are benefits to the diy version. Most published party games are based off some home version that's long existed already. And on that note, most party games can be recreated as home versions without buying the experience.