Kill time while waiting or stuck in traffic! A roundup of games four people can play
Want to make the most of your waiting time or downtime? That’s the perfect moment to start a party game that four people can enjoy together! You don’t need any special equipment, and you can jump right in—these games are more thrilling and suspenseful than you’d expect, and they’re sure to bring out smiles.
The ways to have fun are endless, and with a bit of creativity, every game becomes exciting.
Spend a joy-filled time with family and friends!
- Games you can play in the car! Fun activities to liven up drives and traffic jams
- Games and activities everyone can enjoy together. A collection of fun play ideas.
- Brain-teasing game roundup
- [Simple Games] Recommended Indoor Recreational Activities for Adults
- Perfect for killing time! A roundup of games for three people to enjoy
- [For University Students] A Roundup of Fun Games and Recreational Activities
- Exciting! Multiplayer games everyone can play. Time-killing app games
- [Play Right Away!] Exciting Recreation Games Recommended for Elementary School Students
- [For Adults] Fun recreational games. Perfect for short breaks too!
- Fun activities for junior high school students. Recreation games.
- Recommended games and activities for five people
- Recommended for upper elementary grades! Exciting indoor recreation and games
- A collection of personality quizzes perfect for killing time
Card and Board Games (1–10)
I dedicate these proposal words I just came up with to you.
A little embarrassing, but a proposal that fills you with happiness.
“I Offer You the Words of a Proposal I Just Thought Up” is a game where you can make or receive such proposals.
First, choose one person from the participants to be the lead player.
Deal cards to the remaining participants, and combine the words written on the cards to create what you think is the best possible proposal.
Once you’ve made yours, tell it to the lead player one by one.
To win, the words matter—but so do your tone of voice and facial expressions!
Card and Board Games (11–20)
Azure
I think everyone knows Othello, but it’s a little-known fact that it actually originated in Japan.
And surprisingly, this Japanese-born board game is quite popular overseas too.
Here, I’d like to introduce Azul, a visually striking board game that won Germany’s Game of the Year in 2018.
It’s great fun for 2 to 4 players.
You can learn the rules after a single play—it’s simple—and the game is full of excitement as you collect and place tiles.
Of course, there’s also a Japanese edition available, so if you’re interested, definitely check it out! It’s an absolutely beautiful game that I highly recommend.
ito
Mitsuru Nakamura, formerly of the popular duo 19, is now active as an illustrator and character designer.
We’re introducing the card game “ito,” which also features illustrations by Nakamura.
It’s a game that tests whether the group is using words in a way that everyone can relate to.
To explain simply, for example, you see if everyone can arrange four sports—baseball, tennis, soccer, badminton—in the same order of popularity.
It’s an absolute blast with four or five like-minded friends!
Cockroach Poker
A slightly unusual game where you don’t decide the winner—you decide the last-place player.
It’s called “poker,” but despite the name, it’s a completely different, fresh style of card game.
Players pass cards around while doing a bit of acting—saying things like “This is a stink bug” or “This is a bat”—so those with a flair for performance might have an advantage.
You lose if you run out of cards or if you end up collecting four of the same card.
Enjoy the bluffing and mind games as you play.
TOKYO HIGHWAY
When you think of Tokyo’s expressways, you probably picture them running between buildings, right? There are also sections designed to pass over or under other roads.
How about diving into that very Tokyo expressway vibe with the game TOKYO HIGHWAY? You’ll construct pillars to connect roads, lay down roadways, and send cars along them.
There are rules, such as properly placing the road pieces on the pillars and not laying road pieces so that they straddle over the tops of pillars.
These detailed rules make the game even more enjoyable.
Use your head to build roads efficiently and get all your cars on the move.
Monopoly
Born as a board game, Monopoly is a strategy-based intellectual game where you use your wits to plan your moves.
Players buy, sell, and build on land and properties to grow their assets.
In the end, the goal is to bankrupt your rivals—a game that would be scary if it existed in real life.
Besides the board game, Monopoly can also be played as a card game.
The card game uses three types of cards: Bank cards, Title Deed cards, and Money cards.
The objective here is also to drive your opponents into bankruptcy.
Since the card game reaches a conclusion faster than the board game, it seems perfect for playing when you only have a little time.
Dixit
Dixit is a card game that tests your imagination and sense of nuance.
Players take turns as the storyteller, choosing one card from their hand and giving it a fitting title or phrase.
The other players then each submit a card from their hands that matches the clue, and once all the cards are gathered, everyone votes on which one they think belongs to the storyteller.
If everyone guesses the storyteller’s card or if no one does, the storyteller gains no points, so having a knack for clues that are just the right level of obviousness is key.
The cards feature mysterious, art-like illustrations that spark conversation, making it an enjoyable game for keeping the mood relaxed during wait times or traffic jams.
