Our 24-year-old ds will be with us for Christmas. Our good friends and neighbors who have three adult, married kids are without them this year as they are all with their spouse’s families. The five of us are going out to dinner on Christmas Eve and then coming back to our place for dessert. Are there any good games for five people? Where one of the people is in his 20s and the others are inching closer to 60 at an alarming rate of speed?
I don’t want playing a game to be forced or anything, but I thought it might be more fun for ds if we did something rather than just sitting around and chatting (which is all we would do if we were only with the friends).
We aren’t a big group, and we aren’t an even number - ideas?
Secret Hitler. This is a crowd funded game that’s popular with 20 and 30 somethings, but I’m a 60-something and I thought it was fun. You can download the cards, a paper copy of the board and the complete rules for free from the website or buy a fancy game set version.
Monopoly-the card game version. Quick play. A complete game only takes 10-15 minutes.
Pandemic– a cooperative board game that requires everyone to work together to prevent a worldwide pandemic. For up to 8 players, but can be played with as few as 3.
Except for Pandemic, all of these are fast to play. 10-20 minutes.
Ticket to Ride (US map); Pandemic (our current favorite, but does have a bit of a learning curve—more enjoyable the second etc time you play); FunEmployed might be your best bet. Azul is lovely.
Bananagrams is a favorite of ours. If you don’t know, it’s deconstructed scrabble where each player does their own grid. Good for all ages to play together (teenager and above to make it fair). Definitely can be played with five people.
Another game we really like is Anomia and it can be played with up to six people I think.
Both are fast-moving and everyone needs to pay attention.
This is my new favorite game - played it once and immediately came home and ordered it. I don’t like games that are too competitive or where your have to strategize too
Much. I just want to have fun!
We played this with a crowd 24 to 66 - everyone loved it and you can learn it quick!
7 Wonders or Sushi Go Party would be our go to choices - both easy to learn and play, plus fun for all ages. They work off cards specific to each game. There are 3 rounds in each game, so it goes quite quickly. Between the two, Sushi Go Party is a little easier to learn, but 7 Wonders is probably a little more loved. Still, we play each of them pending whims of the night.
A longer, far more engaging, and also loved 5 player game is Terraforming Mars. It’s something to consider for other times, but probably not for an evening with all new players.
We love Code Names too, but prefer at least 6 players for that.
SushiGo and Drawful both mentioned upthread get my vote. Also possible Ethnos (takes a long time to play) or Small World (a little bit like Risk but much more fun with fantasy characters).
A bit retro now, but we’ve had fun playing Cards Against Humanity and the G rated version Apples to Apples with a variety of ages and numbers of people.
