Drinking party crowd-pleasers: party and banquet games
A lot of people are probably thinking about simple games to play at banquets, right?
Whether it’s a wedding after-party, a New Year’s party, a year-end party, or a welcome/farewell party, having a game that helps everyone bond and adds a touch of flair to the event makes it more fun.
That said, it can be hard to choose a game for a banquet with multiple participants, since there are so many considerations, don’t you think?
So in this article, we’ll introduce banquet games you can enjoy in a variety of situations!
We’ve picked out a wide range—from timeless classics to slightly unique games—so please use this as a reference.
- Party games collection that get everyone excited in a big group
- Simple mini-games that liven up a party
- Party Games That Will Liven Up Your Workplace [2026]
- A fun, everyone-joins-in game that gets everyone excited!
- Party games for women that are guaranteed to be a hit
- Office party games that get everyone excited
- Party Games That Spice Up Your House Drinks Night
- Simple yet exciting! Recommended games and activities for year-end parties
- [Easy] Punishments that will get middle schoolers excited
- Games for two people to enjoy. A roundup of party games that liven up drinking gatherings.
- Punishment games that liven up company drinking parties and banquets
- Party-Pumping Games and Party Games for Banquets [2026]
- Roundup of easy party tricks. A collection of ideas that require no preparation.
Drinking-Party Hits: Banquet and Party Games (31–40)
Enjoy instantly! “Shingenchi Game”
Choose one person from the players to be the guesser.
The remaining members decide who will be the “epicenter,” then either stand in front of the guesser or form a circle with the guesser at the center.
At the start signal, the epicenter naturally strikes a pose—anything is fine, such as folding their arms, switching their pivot foot, or scratching their head.
The other members, with a slight delay, imitate the epicenter’s pose.
The guesser must observe who started the pose and identify the epicenter.
YES/NO Quiz
A key point of “Yes/No Quiz,” where you work toward finding the answer, is that it’s a game enjoyed by splitting into a question master and questioners.
The question master chooses a topic and answers the questioners’ questions with only “Yes” or “No.” The questioners listen to the answers and try to figure out what the topic is.
To narrow down the answer, it’s important for the questioners to think carefully as they ask their questions.
It’s also a great game for team competitions, so let’s all have fun together.
Improv Acting Showdown
Decide on three elements—the setup, the punchline, and the constraint rules—tell the performers, and start the game! Since it’s all improvised, you can’t practice beforehand or agree on the flow with the group.
In other words, it’s a pretty challenging game where you have to reach the punchline while sticking to the setup and constraints, all without knowing how the others will play it.
Even the person who came up with the setup and punchline doesn’t know how things will unfold, so it’s a thrilling, exciting experience! Who knows—an unexpected masterpiece might be born!
Lyrics Shiritori Game
A fun game where you play shiritori using song lyrics.
Sing a line from a song, then continue with lyrics from another song that start with the last character of the previous line.
It’s great for everyone from kids to adults—you’ll recall familiar tunes and discover new ones.
Not only for people who love singing, it’s also a chance to encounter songs you don’t know.
Perfect for karaoke, parties, and school activities.
Even those who aren’t confident singers will naturally smile—simple yet surprisingly deep.
Put your musical knowledge and creativity to use and have fun playing!
Stopwatch Game
A game where you set a number of seconds—like 10 or 20—and try to stop without looking at the stopwatch.
Whether you stop early or late, the person closest to the target time wins.
Even if you go by feel, it’s surprisingly hard, and I don’t think anyone can stop it exactly on the dot.
The longer the target time, the harder it gets.
Dosukoi Game
@chiguhagu_staff Dosukoi game ☝️#Dosukoi Game#Yubi-SumaPlay
♪ Original Song – A Day in the Life of a Mismatched Employee – A Day in the Life of a Mismatched Employee
Think up words quickly! Here’s an idea for the “Dosukoi” game.
In the Dosukoi game, participants sit in a circle and raise their thumbs.
Players then race to call out “___ dosukoi” with a word that has the same number of letters as the number of raised thumbs and starts with the letter one designated person chose first.
It’s simple, but when you’re a little tipsy, words don’t come easily, which can be frustrating—in a fun way.
You can also add variations, like giving a penalty to the last person remaining.
Do-Re-Mi Song Game
Do-Re-Mi, the song for learning musical scales from the musical The Sound of Music.
I bet most of you can sing it by heart.
Let’s turn that Do-Re-Mi song into a game and enjoy it at a party! For example, the first person sings one phrase, then points to someone else and says, “Ti!” The person who’s pointed at sings the “Ti” phrase, and if they do it well, they pass it on to another person.
The fun is how something you know suddenly won’t come to you in the moment!
Team Competition Bingo
How about turning the classic bingo game into a team competition? As usual, you mark off numbers on your card, and you get bingo when you complete a line vertically, horizontally, or diagonally… but you don’t win just by being the first to finish.
For example, you can set a rule like “the round ends when three people at the table get bingo,” which removes the “it’s over as soon as I win” scenario and keeps everyone on the edge of their seat until the end.
Whether you snag a lavish prize comes down to luck—let’s all cheer and groan together with every number that’s called!
Quiz using puzzles
How about a groundbreaking game that combines puzzles and quizzes? All you need is a store-bought blank jigsaw puzzle and a permanent marker.
For preparation, assemble the puzzle in advance and write a quiz question on it with the marker.
On the day, proceed as follows: first, distribute the disassembled puzzle to each table and have the guests at the same table complete it.
The team that answers the quiz written on the completed puzzle the fastest wins.
Since too many pieces will take too long, the key is to choose a puzzle with a number of pieces that can be completed in just a few minutes.
UNO
UNO is the gold standard of party games—a card game that could be said to be found in almost every household.
You can play with as few as two people, but the more players, the livelier it gets.
Deal 7 cards to each player, and place the remaining cards face down in a draw pile in the center.
Flip over the top card to start a discard pile.
Players take turns placing a card that matches the top card by number, color, or symbol.
When you have only one card left, call “UNO.” The first person to play all their cards wins.