Actually Fun Game Night Ideas:

We will NOT be playing Catan or Paranoia or BS.

Sweep! Pic via Jordan

Some Tried and True Favorites:

“SWEEP!” (3-6 people):

You will need:

• 2-3 decks of cards (2 for 3 people, 3 for 4, 4 for 6, etc.) (tip: it’s easier to organize the decks after playing if they all look different)

• Scratch paper to keep score

• A pen to write on the scoresheet

• Patience (if it’s your first time playing)

The Set-Up:

• Take the Jokers out of each of the decks

• Dump the decks of cards into a pile in the middle of the table (ideally with all the cards facing down)

• Mix ‘em up! (as pictured above) (sometimes Jordan picks up a handful and “sprinkles” them around the pile to make sure all the different decks mingle with each other)

• Grab four cards, keep them facing down, then place four more cards facing up on top of them

• Grab ten cards in your hand

• Someone goes first (we normally either go by oldest/youngest/who has the most left in their drink/who wants to go first)

The Rules:

• You must play something lower than the player before you (Ace is low, King is high)

• If you don’t have anything lower to play, you have to take the whole existing stack and add it to your hand (which sucks)

• If you take the stack, you get to start the new one (and hopefully unload any high cards in your possession)

• You can play multiple of the same card in a given turn (four max)

• When you play four of the same card or four of the same card are in the stack (one person plays one King, the next plays three Kings), you “sweep” the stack*

*Optional: Say “Sweep!” or “Shweep!” when you sweep the stack*

• Whoever sweeps the stack gets to play another turn/start the new stack

• If you play a 10 (!), you automatically sweep the stack 

• You can play from the ten cards in your hand and the four cards facing-up in the same turn if they’re all the same card

• The four face-down cards have to be played blindly after the ones on top of them have been used (pray they’re low or 10’s)

• Whoever gets rid of all of their cards first wins that round!

• If you didn’t win, tally up your leftover cards at the end of each round. All cards are face value (Jacks, Kings, and Queens are all worth 10 points) EXCEPT 10’s are worth 25…

• Play until you get bored (this may end up being three hours later), and the person with the lowest score wins (like golf!)

(Hopefully that made sense/wasn’t too boring or tedious to read, I promise the rest of this is more fun) (This game is awesome though)

Additional notes: I have no idea if this is the actual name of this game, that’s just what Macy’s “guncles” (gay uncles), Mike and Jeff, called it and none of us ever questioned it. Apparently this game is big in retirement homes because most other card games require shuffling, which is difficult/impossible for residents with bad arthritis. Part of the fun is honestly just scooching them around the middle of the table. I cannot tell you how many hours Macy, Taylor, Lucy, Jordan, Emily, and I have spent playing this game. It never gets boring. 

Egyptian Ratscrew/Slaps (2-4 people):

You will need:

• 2 decks of cards

Instructions:

• You or someone you know probably has their own name for this game/their own version of the rules. Like Sweep, I have no idea why it’s called Egyptian Ratscrew, but that’s the name I originally learned from my friend Jane and I never gave it a thought. I kind of hate playing this game with people who learned it differently than I did because we tend to argue despite all of us technically being right. So, if you don’t know how to play, learn from a friend who does and bring their version to game night. It’s yours now!

Additional notes: If you’re wearing rings, you may want to consider taking them off while playing (unless you want to bruise your friends’ fingers/potentially win?)

Draw Your Childhood Home From Memory (2-6 people):

You will need:

• Paper (construction, printer, notebook, whatever you have at your disposal)

• Writing utensils (ballpoint pen, Sharpie, Crayola markers, Prismacolor pencils, pencils, etc.)

• A drink (ideally something with a low ABV: drunk enough to be in what my Opa refers to as a “storytelling mood,” but coherent enough to actually remember things and tell a good story or two)

• Good (subjective) background music (or else you’ll be sitting in silence for 20-ish minutes… unless you prefer that…)

Instructions:

• It’s the name of the game (or activity?)

Additional notes: This could be a fun challenge to your young adult/adult self, or just a pleasant walk down memory lane, especially playing with friends you didn’t grow up with. You may be surprised by what you remember and what you’ve forgotten (think about what Joan Didion said!¹) (yes I’m bringing up that line again). This activity could result in sharing cute stories or, inversely, prompt an existential discussion of the passage of time/fallibility of human memory. Good bonding regardless! 

“Salad Bowl” (3-12 people) (it’s more fun if you know them well) (but can also be a good icebreaker):

You will need:

• A relatively large container of some kind (traditionally played using a salad bowl, but a hat/box/purse/normal bowl also work)

• Scratch paper

• The ability to fold a piece of paper in half

• Something to keep track of the time

• Enough writing utensils for everyone playing (or else the first steps take foreverrrr)

Easy Instructions:

• Distribute paper and pens to all players

• Rip up the paper into slips

• Write down basically anything, depending on the crowd: inside jokes (“Berlin Janey Purse Night,” “I’ll admit it–”), a friend/character/celebrity’s name (Dash Breaux), a celebrity scandal (the first that popped into my head was Tanacon for some reason?), a historical event (“the assassination of Julius Caesar,” “The Pimps and Hoes Party”), an object in the room (“Ella’s Juul”), something you’re thinking about (global warming), etc.

• Depending on the number of players, write 3-10 things down, one per slip of paper

• Fold the papers up and put them into the salad bowl

• Once everyone has their papers in the bowl, set a timer for one minute

• If it’s your turn, give hints as to what’s on the slip of paper without saying what’s on the slip of paper

• All players participate in guessing

• Try to go through as many slips in a minute as possible (the closer you are with the people playing, the easier it is)

• After the time’s up, keep the papers that people successfully guessed from your hints and pass the salad bowl to the next player

• Play until the salad bowl is empty

• Whoever has the most slips of paper wins!

Extreme/Party Edition:

• Break up into teams of two (more than two is impossible, I’ve tried)

• Set a timer for two minutes

• Same rules as the Easy Version, except you pass the salad bowl to your teammate after your team guesses correctly (and also you can only guess when it’s your team’s turn)

• After the time’s up, tally up all your team’s papers, write down the score, put all of the slips back in the bowl, and pass it over to the other team (each round is more difficult, but you’re also more familiar with the contents of the bowl)

• Round One: You can say anything except what is written on the piece of paper (example: when playing with my friends, “Trader Joe’s” comes up a lot, to which people just say “Ella works here!”) (ugh)

• Round Two: You can only say one word as a hint (obviously nothing on the slip of paper)

• Round Three: No speaking, only charades/miming (this can be hilarious when done well)

• Once the salad bowl is empty after Round Three, the team with the most points wins! Huzzah!

Essence (2-12 people you know well):

You will need:

• A good imagination

• A good sense of humor

• An open mind

• Good friends

Instructions:

• One person will choose a person that everyone knows/is aware of (someone’s ex you all hate now, an actual celebrity or “campus celebrity” for better or for worse, a beloved friend, etc.) for everyone to guess

• Everyone else asks random questions and receives deeply subjective answers until they guess the person correctly (this game can go on until you run out of people to guess about, get bored, or until you all get too drunk to pay attention anymore)

  Example questions:

- “What over-the-counter-medicine would this person be?”

- “What mountain range would they be?”

- “Out of the stages of a butterfly, which would this person be?

- “What kitchen appliance would they be?”

- “What Burt’s Bees flavor would they be?”

- “What type of shoe would they be?” (important note: questions like these do not refer to a type of shoe/clothing the person in question often wears, but the kind they evoke)

Additional Notes: One of the dumbest quotes on my 2022 Quotes List, “Lucy lowkey gives fedora,” was a result of playing this game. It still makes me laugh because you know what? She kind of does.

1. “We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were.” (“On Keeping a Notebook” Slouching Towards Bethlehem 139)