Mario Kart
Best Party Games to Play With Friends & Family
It doesn’t really matter who you’re partying with, everyone loves a good bit of Mario Kart. Bring out your old Nintendo Wii or Wii U and throw down in the chaotic kart racer. Whether you just play it for a few of the four race cups or set up your own custom rules cup, which has you racing on every track in the game, you and your guests will be laughing and shouting your way through the night.
What makes Mario Kart so great for parties is that the chaotic nature of the items means that quite literally anyone could win with the help of a well-timed blue shell. You’ll even be able to get mom, dad, and grandma in on the action.
If you’re all up for getting quite tipsy too, how about you turn it into a bit of a drinking game? The person who finishes last out of you all has to drink. Every time a blue shell is fired, you guessed it. Drink! You may not be able to stand up by the end but at least you’ll be quite merry by the time the party draws to a close.
Wii Sports
Best Party Games to Play With Friends & Family
Alternatively, while you’ve got your little white Nintendo box out, you could always throw in the very game that kicked off the Wii hype. Wii Sports has a ton of different sporting modes for you all to play again and again, from tennis to boxing.
This is a great game to play regardless of who you’ve got round because it mimics the real life actions. No complicated button combinations or explaining the controls to your relatives, they just need to swing, throw and punch their way to victory.
Singstar
It’s late into the night. You’re all so drunk and stuffed with pizza and cheese puffs that the thought of waving a Wii-mote around your living rooms is far too much. Fear not, singing awfully to your favorite songs is always a great form of entertainment.
We suggest heading onto the Singstar store before your party starts and downloading some of your favorite or the most popular songs that your PlayStation wallet can buy. There’s no easier way to bring the mood of a party down than with a poor rendition of Fix You by Coldplay.
Just Dance
Best Party Games to Play With Friends & Family
At every party, there is always going to be someone who fancies themselves as a bit of a dancer. Well now with the help of Ubisoft’s seasoned dancing game Just Dance, they can put their dance moves where their mouth is.
Jiving your way through Firework by Katy Perry in the middle of your living room may seem a little odd to people walking past your window, but it’s a good way to burn off those pizza calories. It’s also another game that’s fun for all the family and doesn’t put winning in the hands of the veteran gamer. Whoever can shake ‘dem hips, wins!
Mario Party
Board games can be great fun but are pretty messy with all of those pesky pieces. Especially Monopoly, but we’re not gonna go down that rabbit hole. So what better video game to start up than Mario Party? Offering players a variety of different board game layouts, players compete over a huge series of mini-games to make their way to the end of the board or complete a certain objective.
While any Mario Party game will be great fun for your family or friends to laugh and mock each other over, we do suggest steering clear of the latest iteration in the series as it wasn’t all that good.
Rocket League
Up until this point our list had been quite casual and family friendly. That trend stops with Rocket League. The rocket-powered soccer cars gave us one of the most compelling and enjoyable multiplayer experiences of the year, and we can’t think of a much better game to put on at a party than Rocket League.
Get some of your gaming friends round, do the appropriate warm-ups and prepare to spend a good few hours scoring goals, blowing each other up and making goal-line saves. Just don’t forget to eat every once in a while.
If you’re feeling really daring, try out our own completely unofficial and not medically recommended Rocket League drinking game.
Rock Band
Best Party Games to Play With Friends & Family
So Singstar isn’t for you. Well, how about you get the whole band together and literally jam out. Much like many of the other games on this list, any iteration of Rock Band is completely fine to bust out at a party so you can pretend you’re the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
There is a bit of a learning curve with Rock Band but with all of the different difficulty levels catering to the complete spectrum of players probably at your party, we think you’ll be able to get a family band together in no time at all.
Super Smash Bros.
It wouldn’t be a list of party games without Nintendo’s classic beat ’em up multiplayer brawler. Whatever game of the series you have, Super Smash Bros. brings a huge selection of Nintendo characters together and lets you beat the crap out of each other until the time runs out or there is only one person left standing.
While this isn’t necessarily a game you’re going to be wanting to play with your grandma (unless she’s a pro) anytime soon, getting a group of gamers together and sitting them in front of Super Smash Bros. is quite possibly one of, if not the best party experience . If you’ve got an old copy lying around somewhere, dig it out, get the beers on ice and prepare for a lot of shouting and laughter.
Towerfall Ascension
Towerfall: Ascension continues our trend of party games for your more experienced group of friends. If you were lucky enough to grab the game for free on PlayStation Plus for your PlayStation 4 earlier this year, this is a hidden gem, perfect for a quick hour or so of gameplay.
Make sure you get your friends to bring any PlayStation 4 controllers they may have so you can get all of you playing at the same time. Towerfall shines its brightest when four of you are all baying for one another’s blood, leaping around the map until someone gets nailed in the head with an arrow.
The Jackbox Party Pack
Best Party Games to Play With Friends & Family
The Jackbox Party Pack is pretty perfect for any party situation, as the name suggests. Straight away Jackbox is a winner because instead of needing a ton of controllers, everyone can just use their phones or tablets to play the game. You’ll be using your device to draw stupid drawings in Drawful, or selecting the correct answer in the humorous version of Trivial Pursuit, You Don’t Know Jack 2015.
It’s also 50% off on Steam right now through till Jan. 4, so grab it while it’s cheap. Connect your PC up to a large screen in your main room and enjoy some good ol’ fashioned fun!
Did we miss your favorite party game off our list? Let us know in the comments below.
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