The classic party at a friend's house. A heterogeneous group of guests who barely know each other, each different from the other and each with different passions and play preferences.
Moments of embarrassment, chairs in a circle against the walls and vacant gazes that try desperately not to cross, faces with printed cordial smiles. How to animate a situation that, let's face it, tragically sends us back to the times of middle school?
We cannot bring out our nerd games collection, some of the guests would not appreciate an old glory like Talisman and neither the finesse of a deckbuilding like El Dorado, although it was named Game of the Year 2019 at Lucca Comics & Games.
Before letting ourselves panic and worsen the situation with the tragic decision to dim the lights and put on Discomegamix '90, why not try to propose a board game that does not require boards or dice and that can easily help break the ice. ?
We propose some, from the most classic to the less known.
This article is part of a series of specials dedicated to analog games that do not require purchases but only a lot of imagination.
- Games to play on the go
- Pencil and paper games
Pictionary
Pictionary is a great classic of party games and there are many variations. In 1985 the publishing house Parker Brothers has released a boxed version of which we definitely recommend purchasing. Alternatively, you can easily organize a game of Pictionary using those few materials we already have at home.
Necessary
A surface for disegnare that it is large and clearly visible. The ideal is one blackboard of those with felt-tip pen or classic, with chalks. Alternatively, a block of sheets A3 and a pen, the larger the sheets the better.
How to play
The players are divided into two teams. In the turn of the game, one of the two teams chooses one of its members who, for this round, will have the role of "painter". At each subsequent round, the role of the "painter" will switch to another player on the same team.
The opposing team if you consult in secret and decides what the "painter" will have to draw. He will then have to communicate it to him ear and must inform the team of which the "painter" is part of category to which the newly chosen thing belongs.
The categories can be the most diverse, from the simplest such as: animal, object, vehicle, celebrity or more complex, such as: film, romance, proverb, geographical location. It would be good to agree on the difficulty level that you want to tackle before you start playing.
The team that has chosen the object to draw starts il tempo and the "painter" will have to make his team guess what the opponents have communicated in his ear. Obviously, he will have to do it drawing.
Fundamental rules:
- the "painter" can only disegnare, can not do gestures nor verses. It must remain absolutely silence.
- è forbidden to write USEFULL, letters e passwords. Arrows yes, those can be drawn.
- Yes they can circle convulsively details of the drawing just made, to give relevance to an element, but it is forbidden to hit the blackboard or hysterically indicate and point the finger.
See you time runs out (agreed previously, I recommend 5 minutes for those who have never played e 2 minutes for professionals) if the "painter" team did not guess, can retaliate against him with insults and insults e will lose a point.
If the players guess before time runs out, the team earn a point.
You can go to whoever gets to ten points first, for example, or play to the end of your strength (or until the beer runs out) and count the points at the end to see who won.
I have never…
The first time I got to know this game was watching an episode of Lost. Kate and Sawyer, at one point, around a bonfire they start playing a game called "I never ...". Only much later did I discover that it is a very famous “drinking game” overseas.
Translated into español, "I have never…" is a game in which you are drunk and they discover themselves altars. Suitable in situations where people come together who they do not know each other, because they turn out to be i personal facts of each, this game can generate surprising moments even in groups of longtime friends who come to discover those secrets more intimate than they ever dared to imagine.
Necessary
Alcoholic beverages of any kind. In abundance.
How to play
The players stand in a circle and make sure everyone has the glass well full of alcoholic beverage chosen.
It is decided who goes first, the player in question loudly reveals something that he has NEVER done, starting the sentence with the phrase: "I never have ...". For example, you may say: "I've never done hair dye" or "I've never flown on a plane".
At the end of the sentence, ALL the other players who, on the other hand, they did in the past the thing described by the player, they must beer a sip (or swallow the whole glass and have it filled immediately afterwards, if you want to play a more intense variant).
Gradually, thanks to the help of alcohol, you will see that players will feel more and more at ease and will move on to increasingly evil and intriguing phrases, in order to bring out the darkest secrets of the other players. After a while we will move on to phrases such as: "I have never done a threesome" or "I have never looked at Men and Women" to find out, by looking at who is drinking, which of our friends have filled similar wickedness.
In this game there is no duration, ends based on how long it lasts the alcohol present in the house or the resistance to it on the part of the participants. There is not even a winner, each will return home bringing their own personal victories and defeats with them.
The game of mimes
Here's another great one classic party games, a very simple game that lends itself to many variants and that always offers great moments of fun and deep embarrassment. But after all, the reason why you have decided to have a party in your home is precisely this, to cause embarrassment and to give fun to your dear friends.
Necessary
Plenty of space. Move the sofa, push the table to the back of the room and get the chairs out of the way.
How to play
The players are divided into two teams. The team that starts the game is drawn by lot, this team will choose the player who, for that round, will have to try his hand at the art of mime.
The other team decides what to guess and communicates it ear of the mime player of the opposing team. In a loud voice, he then informs his opponents of the category to which the thing to guess belongs. A great classic of the mime game is making people guess movie titles, but the categories can be of the most disparate: proverbs, common saying, book titles, celebrities, cartoons e comics and so on.
He lets himself go il tempo (usually decided in advance from 5 to 3 minutes) and the mime player will have to make his team guess the thing chosen by the opponents.
Fundamental rules:
- The mime must, precisely, mimic. She cannot speak or make any sound.
- Mime can indicate numbers with your hands, for example to indicate of how many words is composed the title of the film that must make you guess. He cannot use his hands to point to gods letters (using sign language, for example).
- Mime can indicate a player if he pronounces one of the words that make up the sentence to guess, in order to signal that it is that right. However, it cannot indicate objects in the room nor colors, shapes or writings as suggestions.
If the team gets it right, they make money a point. If the time runs out sooner, he earns nothing. At the end of the game the team with the most points wins.
Cards and chairs
Here is a little known game, quick to explain, of short duration but which is able to give moments of pure madness.
Necessary
One chair for each player. A deck of cards (Neapolitan, French, Piacentine is indifferent).
How to play
The chairs are arranged In circle and all sit with their faces facing the center. One of the players, who will act as dealer, stay center of the circle.
The dealer melee the cards and deals one to each player. They look at the card in secret and they memorize the seed. Just the seed, they don't need to remember the number as well. It should be feasible even at a late stage of the party, when the fumes of alcohol cloud the minds. In short, one should have no problem remembering a suit of the cards, then it always depends on what kind of parties are organized.
After everyone has memorized their suit, the dealer withdraw the cards e melee again. The game begins.
The dealer extracts a card and enunciates loudly the seed. All players who were assigned that suit stand up and they sit on the knees of the player who is on theirs right. The dealer draws a second card, states the suit and repeats the previous action. Each turn, the dealer draws a card and the people who are assigned the suit move to the right, unless they have someone sitting on their lap.
- If a player has someone sitting on your knees, does not get up but it stays where it is.
- If a player has to move but to his right it's already there a player who sits on another's lap sits on the one above, thus forming an embarrassing one pila of people.
- If a player has to move but to his right there are already two or more players sitting on top of another, he sits on top of the last one and the pila of people thus becomes even taller and even more embarrassing.
- In a pila of people, only the player who is on the top it can move when its seed comes out.
The game always proceeds in the same way, the dealer continues to draw cards until one of the players does makes in the same chair from which he had started. At that point, the game ends and we finally have a winner.
Heads up!
Literally translates to "In the head!" but better to leave it in the original language, or nobody would play with it because the name is bad. "Heads up!" it's a classic game that has been proposed in many variations in different situations, from TV quizzes to mobile apps. We offer you a basic version, simple but effective to liven up a party with friends.
Necessary
A block of post-it notes or similar. Alternatively, notepads and a little patafix or double-sided tape are fine.
How to play
The game is all against all. In turn, each player will have to to guess un celebrity chosen by the other players within a set time (5 minutes It is ideal). If he can guess, he earns a point and another player will take his place, until they have all tried the same number of times.
The player who guesses correctly has to sit down in front of to all the others, a little isolated. The other players secretly agree and write the name of a famous person on the post-it. Then the post-it is stuck on the forehead of the player and the time starts.
The player can do all questions what he wants to his opponents, who must answer with sincerity. The only limitation is that the answer to the questions can only be YUP o DO NOT. So we'll start with questions like "is he male?" or "is he a singer?" and so on.
If the player guess what within the time limit, you can keep the post-it as a reminder for the point earned.
At the end of the game, when all players have made the same number of attempts, the points are counted and the winner is celebrated.
The variations of this game are endless: you can switch between celebrities of the show to heroes of the comics or protagonists of cartoons, you can focus on narrower categories, like actors o singers and you can even space with objects, geographical locations, animals and so on.
Morra criminal
I have no idea of the origins of this game, a madman I met at Lucca Comics & Games explained to me one day, a stranger who will always have my gratitude.
Morra Criminale is a game fast e confusing, suitable for small groups of people (a maximum of ten) who, however, are equipped with sense of humor, a little bit of confidence e artistic verve.
Necessary
Nothing but your right hand and a lot of wit.
How to play
The players get on In circle, standing. They have to play the role of one gang of criminals from overstrain. One of the players, the first he has an inspiration, launches into a story which he invents at the moment and which he must narrate with tones excitement e angrily.
The characteristics of the story must be:
- inspiration: Gomorrah, 30s mafia, The Usual Suspects, Ocean's Eleven, La Banda del Buco, etc ...
- brief ed essential, few words without many frills.
- trouble happened and the fault is attributable to one of those present. The culprit must be found.
We pass therefore to the prosecution. At the same time, the players chant the phrase: “alla morra criminaaaaaa-le!”. At the final syllable "le" each tip my fingers like gun against another player.
The player who realizes he has the largest number of "guns" aimed at is the accused and must defend itself. Needs to resume history from where the previous player had left it, enriching it with details, For clear oneself in an imaginative but believable way.
We therefore pass to a another round of accusation, everyone chants the formula: "alla morra criminaaaaaa-le!" and point to the gun. If the defense of the player who just spoke is not convincing, it is possible to accuse again the same person. Therefore, two situations:
- A player different from the previous one it has the greatest number of "guns" facing towards itself. It will be up to him clear oneself always continuing the story where he left it from the former and enriching it with details.
- Lo same first player is accused for the second time. The defense did not hold up and the poor fellow is riddled with shots: the players mimic shooting him by making the classic noises of firearms with their mouths. The player is eliminated.
If the first case occurs, the game continues normally and the story will become more and more complex.
When a player comes eliminatedInstead, comes out of the circle and the remaining players start over with one new story.
At some point they will remain alone in two players, who can decide whether to share the glory of victory or shoot each other in the best tradition of Quentin Tarantino's films.
Game example:
- Player 1: “I would like to know who put Fuffy, the boss's poodle in the washing machine! A fituse is hiding between us! "
- All: “alla morra criminaaaaaa-le!”.
Player 2 is blamed.
- Player 2: “Me? But I don't even know how to turn a washing machine on! Besides, everyone knows that Fuffy is kept under lock and key and only one of us has access to his rooms… who knows who he is! "
- All: “alla morra criminaaaaaa-le!”.
Player 2's defense stands and Player 3 is blamed.
- Player 3: "I'm not the one who has the key to Fuffy's private rooms, I don't have the pockets to put them ... you see, I always walk around in my pajamas ...".
- All: “alla morra criminaaaaaa-le!”.
Player 3's defense doesn't hold, everyone blames him again. Players make firing noises and mimic magazine emptying on Player 3, who leaves the circle. It starts with a new story.
Pass the bomb
Pass the Bomb is a game published by Giochi Uniti and we definitely recommend purchasing it. While waiting for your dealer to receive your order, you can try one home version to be proposed at the next party at a friend's house.
Necessary
Any smartphone.
How to play
Arrange the chairs In circle and sit comfortably. One of the players sets up on the smartphone a timer random, around 3 minutes It is ideal. It starts the countdown, turn off the screen and the game begins.
The first player pronounces a word any and pass the phone to the player on his right. The next player must say a word different but that begins with the same two letters of the word just heard (for example, if the first player says: "home", the second player can say: "cabbage"). After saying the word, he in turn passes the smartphone to the next player who does the same: he pronounces a word, always different from the previous ones, and passes the phone.
The smartphone is there "bomb". In fact, when the countdown runs out and the alarm rings, the player who at that moment has the phone in his hand is eliminated.
The eliminated comes out of the circle, the remaining chairs are tightened and we leave again with a new word.
Variants:
- Instead of the first two letters, you can decide that the following words always start with the first ones three letters, to increase the difficulty.
- The first two letters of the word chosen by the first player can be found, always in pairs, too in the middle of the following words and not only at the beginning (for example: cayeah, itcahim, forcarro, etc ...).
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