25 Fun Games to Play With Friends (At Home, Online or Anywhere)

You don’t need a cupboard full of board games to have a great night with friends. Most of the best games need nothing but the people in the room, and maybe a phone or a scrap of paper.

Here are 25 games to play with friends, organized by where you are and what you’ve got.

Games with nothing but your friends

1. Two Truths and a Lie

Everyone takes a turn sharing three facts about themselves: two true, one invented. The others guess the lie. It’s best with friends who think they know each other well.

2. Would You Rather

Offer two options (“Would you rather have a rewind button or a pause button for your life?”) and make everyone pick and defend a side. No round ends without an argument.

3. Twenty Questions

One person thinks of something; everyone else gets twenty yes-or-no questions to figure it out. It works for two players or twenty.

4. Contact

The word-keeper reveals the first letter of a secret word. Everyone else tries to reveal more letters by “making contact”: giving a clue and shouting the same word as another player before the keeper can block it.

5. Most Likely To

Someone reads a prompt like “Who’s most likely to forget their own birthday?” and everyone points at once. It’s quick, chaotic and good for any group size.

6. The Alphabet Game

Pick a category, like animals, foods or movies, and go around the circle naming one for each letter of the alphabet. Hesitate for more than five seconds and you’re out.

7. Questions Only

Two players hold a conversation using only questions. The first person to make a statement, repeat a question or pause too long swaps out for the next player.

Games with a phone

8. Fact Or Else

A pass-the-phone game about how well you know your friends. The phone picks whose turn it is and serves a question about someone else in the group, such as Would Sam survive a week without their phone?. Everyone debates, the guesser makes the call, and the app keeps score. It’s free on iPhone and Android, and you can add your own questions. Learn more.

9. Heads-Up-style guessing

One player holds a phone to their forehead showing a word; the others describe it without saying it. Plenty of free apps do this, or just type words into your notes app.

10. Song Snippets

Take turns playing the first three seconds of a song. The first person to name it gets a point. Use your friends’ own playlists for maximum embarrassment.

11. Photo Roulette

Each person picks a random photo from their camera roll (scroll fast and stop without looking) and shares it with the story behind it. It’s always more revealing than anyone expects.

Games with pen and paper

12. Picture Telephone

Write a sentence, pass it on to be drawn, pass it on to be described, and keep going. Reveal the whole chain at the end.

13. Categories

Pick a letter and five categories (a food, a city, a band, an animal, a brand). Everyone has 60 seconds to write one answer for each. You only score for answers nobody else wrote.

14. Celebrity (Salad Bowl)

Everyone writes famous names on slips. Teams describe them in round one, use a single word in round two and act them out in round three.

15. Consequences

Each player writes the first line of a story, folds the paper to hide it and passes it on. Follow a template (who met who, where, what they said, what happened next) and read the absurd results aloud.

Games for video calls

16. Virtual Charades

Message each actor their prompt privately, then have them act it out on camera. Spotlight the actor so everyone can see.

17. Shared-Whiteboard Pictionary

Use any free online whiteboard. One person draws, everyone else races to guess in the chat.

18. Scavenger Hunt

Call out an item (“something older than you”, “the weirdest thing in your fridge”) and the first person to show it on camera wins the round.

19. Friend Trivia

Before the call, each person sends the host three questions about themselves. The host quizzes the group, and nobody can google their way out of it.

20. Two Truths and a Lie (video edition)

Works exactly like the in-person version, and it’s a perfect icebreaker when some people on the call haven’t met.

Games for on the go

21. Car Karaoke Roulette

Shuffle a shared playlist; whoever’s turn it is has to sing whatever comes on, no skips.

22. Fortunately, Unfortunately

Build a story one sentence at a time, alternating “Fortunately…” and “Unfortunately…”. It’s perfect for road trips and waiting in queues.

23. Would They?

Pick a friend who isn’t there and take turns asking “Would they…?” questions. Would they eat a bug for $100? Would they win a reality show? Message them the results later.

24. I Spy (the grown-up version)

I Spy, but with a theme: only things that could be a band name, only things that would survive a zombie apocalypse. It’s silly, and it lasts for miles.

25. Rate It

Someone names anything (a movie, a snack, a holiday destination) and everyone rates it out of ten at once. Big disagreements need defending.

How to choose a game for your group

• Just two of you? Twenty Questions, Questions Only or a head-to-head know-your-friends quiz.
• Friends who’ve known each other for years? Fact Or Else, Two Truths and a Lie, or Friend Trivia. Put that history to the test.
• A mix of new and old friends? Would You Rather, Categories or Celebrity, where nobody’s at an advantage.
• Low energy, sofa night? Photo Roulette and Rate It. Easy conversation with zero effort.
• High energy? Contact, Picture Telephone or Charades.

Tips for a better games night with friends

1. Start simple. Open with a no-rules game like Would You Rather before anything with scoring.
2. Keep turns short. If someone’s waiting longer than a couple of minutes, swap to a game where everyone plays at once.
3. Let the losers pick the next game. It keeps everyone invested.
4. Write your own prompts. Inside jokes beat any pre-written question, which is why games that let you add your own content (like custom questions in Fact Or Else) stay fun for longer.

Hosting a bigger crowd? Our list of party games for groups has games for up to twenty people.