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.
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Drinking-Party Hits: Banquet and Party Games (31–40)
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.
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.
Quiz: Let’s Aim for the Sweet Spot!
Challenge the popular board game “Quiz Ii-Sen Ikimashow!” Answer numbers for prompts like “What’s the probability you’ll confess to your crush?” or “How long do you simmer a slow-cooked curry?” The game’s key twist: the winner is the one closest to the middle—the average.
That means it turns into a mind game, reading what numbers others will put down.
Since it’s a table-vs-table match, you start by finding the middle number within your own group.
You’ll get a sense of the other team’s personalities, and it might spark conversation afterward!
Drinking Party Icebreakers and Party Games (41–50)
Birthday line
It’s a game where players use gestures to express their birthdays and then line up in order of their birth dates.
By setting a time limit or having teams compete to form their lines the fastest, you can encourage smooth communication.
Once everyone gets used to expressing things with gestures, you can switch the prompt to something like “height” or “the most expensive recent purchase” to adjust the difficulty and keep the game lively.
Majority Game
It’s a game where you choose whether to press a button that causes something pleasant and something unpleasant to happen at the same time.
The idea is to spark discussion by seeing whether your decision aligns with the majority among the participants.
You draw a card with a prompt and simply decide what choice you would make for that scenario.
If a prompt doesn’t quite click, try tweaking the wording to turn it into a true “ultimate choice.”