Best Party Board Games in 2022

Are you trying to figure out which are the best party board games to buy in 2022? If so, you’ve come to the right place, as today we’ll examine 25 best party board games in order to help you find the perfect one for you and your playgroup.

In the article, you’ll find party board games for all types of players. We mostly aimed for the games that are fun to play, and fast to learn, as this combination is key to having a great game night with friends.

If you’re in a hurry, and just want to get some quick recommendations, here are our top three choices for best party board games. With these three, you can’t really go wrong with.

	Game	Quality
	Dixit	Unique and fun, rewards imagination.
	Exploding Kittens	Easy to learn, fun to play.
	Sushi Go Party!	Lots of different strategies viable.

However, if you do want to explore more in-depth information about these and 22 other games, let’s get right to it:

1. Dixit

• Players: 3-6
• Playing time: 30 minutes
• Key feature: unique and fun, rewards imagination

Dixit is a board game like no other. If we had to pick one game for the title of the best party board game, we’d go with Dixit.

It’s a laid-back, fun board game, which still has a clear goal in focus, and although winning as always nice, the game is by no means so cutthroat as most others. When playing Dixit, everyone will have a good time. The only limit to how fun this game will be is the imagination of your play group.

You can learn more about this game and best Dixit expansions here, but let’s try and quickly recap how the game plays out.

Game Play

The biggest eye-catchers are the big cards with breathtakingly detailed illustrations. In the box, you’ll get multiple cards, and there won’t be any duplicates. These cards are dealt among the players at the beginning of the game. Then players take turns.

When it’s your turn, you choose one of the cards in your hand, and choose a phrase that could describe it. It could be anything from “happiness” to “forgetting something on the first day of school”. Now, the goal here is that your description is just somewhat obvious, because every player will select the card in their hand that best matches your description. The cards are randomized, and then other players try to guess which card is yours.

If everybody guesses right, or if everybody guesses wrong, that’s bad for you. In those scenarios, everyone will move up on the board, except for you. The game ends when a player reaches the end of the board.

All in all, the game is incredibly fun, and even if the rules might seem a bit complicated, they become very simple once you play a couple of turns.

2. Exploding Kittens

• Players: 2-5
• Playing time: 15 minutes
• Key feature: easy to learn, fun to play

When talking about the best party board games, one certainly shouldn’t miss Exploding Kittens. It’s one of those special games that are easy to learn, but there’s still a lot of depth to it, and your decisions do matter.

Let’s take a look at the game play. Players take turns. On your turn you can play any number of action cards (or none), and you end your turn by drawing a card. If you draw the Bomb a.k.a. the Exploding Kitten, you lose. The last player standing is the winner.

The action cards mostly help you avoid drawing the Cat-Bomb. Furthermore, you can also defuse it by distracting it with lasers. Some cards also allow you to unleash various attacks on your opponents. All of this is tied up together with hilarious illustrations, which shows why this game was one of the most backed Kickstarter projects of all time.

3. Sushi Go Party!

• Players: 2-8
• Playing time: 20 minutes
• Key feature: lots of different strategies possible

Sushi Go Party! is probably the best party board game, when we’re talking about the games that include drafting. (Picking the cards as the game progresses.)

The flavor of the game is that you’re eating in a sushi restaurant, and you’re trying to select the best combination of sushi dishes as they go by. Of course, not everything combines well with everything. You’ll have to make good choices about which sushi to pick in order to unlock various bonuses. Of course, you can also play it dirty, and pick the dishes that your opponents might need to beat you.

There are many strategies available and, you’ll unlock more of them the more you’ll play. The Sushi Go Party! is actually an extension of the base game Sushi Go. However, we’d recommend getting the party version, as it offers everything the base game does, plus additional content, which will make the game more fun for a longer time.

4. Decrypto

• Players: 3-8
• Playing time: 15-45 minutes
• Key feature: team vs team

We’re continuing with another banger – Decrypto is certainly one of the best party board games. At the beginning of the game, players get divided into two groups. These two teams try to correctly interpret a coded message that their teammates present to them.

However, there’s a catch. The teams are also trying to crack each other’s messages, which makes the game play much trickier. The easiest way to learn the rules and the game play is simply to play the game out. At first, it’ll be a bit weird, but once you play a game or two, it’ll all start to make sense, and both teams will try to employ new tactics to confuse the opposition.

If you haven’t tried Decrypto before, we’d really recommend you to give it a go, especially if you like games with more depth to them. Nevertheless, it has to be said that if you’re planning a party for a group of more casual players, there are better options to go with.

5. Secret Hitler

• Players: 5-10
• Playing time: 45 minutes
• Key feature: secret team vs team

Secret Hitler is a social deduction game of politics and hidden identities. The players are divided into two groups. The first group are liberals, and they have the majority. The second group are the fascists, and they’re hidden to everyone but each other. In this group, one of the players is… you guessed it, the Secret Hitler.

The liberals win by enacting five liberal policies or by assassinating Hitler. The opposing team wins by enacting six fascist policies, or by enacting three and electing Secret Hitler as chancellor.

That’s just the flavor part of it, and the game play is even better. Your decision actually matter, and players will have a fun time guessing and bluffing who is who. Secret Hitler has all the elements that a good secret-persona board game should have, plus it promotes team play, which is also great for a party board game.

Another amazing this is the fact that you can play it many times, and it’ll still feel different every time you play it. Once a playgroup gets used to a certain type of game play, a player can try to change their tactics, in order to get an advantage. The possibilities are endless!

6. One Night Ultimate Werewolf

• Players: 3-10
• Playing time: 10 minutes
• Key feature: quick to play guessing game

This is yet another social deduction game, similar to Secret Hitler. Here, the two main groups are villagers (some with special roles) and werewolves. Villagers are trying to figure out who is the werewolf and eliminate it, and the werewolf is trying to stay alive.

The main advantage this has over other find-the-bad-guy games is that it’s simple and quick to play. The game only takes about 10 minutes. So if your idea of the best party board game is something that you can finish relatively quickly, then you certainly give One Night Ultimate Werewolf a try.

7. Funemployed

• Players: 3-20
• Playing time: 30 minutes
• Key feature: fun story-telling

Next up on our list of the best party board games, is yet another game with cards. However, it couldn’t be more different from the previous ones. Where Sushi Go was all about tactics and strategies, Funemployed is all about role-playing and making your made-up story believable, or at least fun.

In the game, you’re trying to apply for real jobs, like astronaut or priest. However, your qualifications aren’t that great. You might have the ability to speak with pandas, or you’re deaf on one ear. One of the qualifications is simply “nothing left to lose”.

You have the option two switch some traits, and try to get a better combination for a specific job, but you probably won’t get something perfect. That’s when your ability to perform well in a job interview comes in. You’ll have to convince the employer, that your unique abilities are actually beneficial for the job.

While the game can be very fun, it probably isn’t right for every play group. If the players don’t like to talk a lot, or if the play group is very competitive, it’s probably better to pick up something else.

8. Pictomania

• Players: 3-6
• Playing time: 25 minutes
• Key feature: quick-paced draw & guess game

You have probably played a game where you have to draw something and the other players have to guess what you’re drawing. There are many versions of it, and it’s known by many names. While it can be fun, there is a lot of downtime to it, especially, if you’re playing in teams.

Thankfully, Pictomania is here to save the day (or should we say game night). The premise of the game is that all players are drawing and guessing at the same time. Your goal is to draw well quickly, while guessing what your opponents are drawing.

The game has some rules that make sure that good drawing and good guessing is rewarding. But you do need to be quick about it. There’s also some decision-making, as you have to decide whether to prioritize drawing or guessing. Even if you’re not the best artist, you can still make up for it by figuring out what your more-artistic friends are doing.

9. Love Letter

• Players: 2-6
• Playing time: 20 minutes
• Key feature: easily portable party board game

While Love Letter isn’t the most mainstream party board game, it’s certainly a well-designed one. It has just a few components, and rules, but the game play doesn’t take a hit because of that. In total there are just 16 game cards, 4 reference cards and few tokens. That makes it very portable, easy to learn and quick to play party board game.

Even though, the game is simple to learn, it doesn’t have too big of a randomness factor. Instead, you’ll be making meaningful decisions. The key features o the game are deduction and bluffing. If that’s something you like in a game, you should definitely try Love Letter.

The deduction element really ramps up the tension. The longer you’re playing, the more cards are face-up on the table. This means that players have more information, and can make better decisions. Naturally, the players can also bluff that they have a specific card in their hand.

As far as the flavor goes, the goal of the game is to deliver your love letter to the princess, while trying to destroy tho ones from opposing suitors. Even if you perhaps don’t like the flavor that much, you should still try the game, as it’s certainly one of the best fast-paced party board games.

10. Cards Against Humanity

• Players: 4-30
• Playing time: 30 minutes
• Key feature: extremely fun party board game

Cards Against Humanity is advertised as a party game for horrible people. Well, you don’t necessarily need to be horrible, but you do need to be able to laugh at some adult, and possibly dark humor.

The gameplay itself is pretty simple. Each round, one player (the Card Czar, which is swapped each round) asks a question from a black card and everyone else answers with their funniest white card. The Card Czar picks their favorite, and that player gets a point. The player with the most points wins the game.

Cards Against Humanity can certainly be considered one of the best party board games, as it’s really fun to play with the right group of people. You can also change it by adding various house rules.

The one problem that the game has is that for it to have a lot of replay value, you’ll either have to get an expansion, or play it with a new playgroup.

11. The Mind

• Players: 2-4
• Playing time: 20 minutes
• Key feature: players working together

The Mind is a very unique cooperative party board game. This means that there is either no winner, or the whole play group wins.

The main goal is simple enough. Players have to beat a set number of levels. In the first level, all players get one card with number from 1-100. If they play them in the middle in the correct order (from the lowest to highest), they complete the level and move to the next one. In the second level each player get two cards, in the third three, and so on…

So where’s the catch? Players don’t know which cards other players have in their hands. They also must not communicate with one another in any way. While it sounds very hard, you do have some help cards that’ll help you along the way. Furthermore, when you play multiple games with the same group, you’ll get better and better at knowing how other players approach the game.

All in all, if you’re looking for something different, The Mind is certainly one of the best party board games to buy.

12. Unstable Unicorns

• Players: 2-8
• Playing time: 30-45 minutes
• Key feature: card game with fun game play and illustrations

If you’re looking for a party board game with a fun flavor, you might very well enjoy Unstable Unicorns. The goal is pretty straightforward – the first player who collects 7 Unicorns wins. (The number changes depending on how many players are playing.)

You start with a single Baby Unicorn, but there are over 20 Magical Unicorns, each with their own special power. This powers – in combination with various effect cards – will help you progress your game plan, or hinder your opponent’s. Of course, all the cards will have amazingly cute illustrations. What else could you expect from Unicorns!

If you ever played Magic the Gathering, you’ll notice some similarities between the games, albeit this is naturally a much more watered-down version. Nevertheless, there will be a lot of reading required with Unstable Unicorns cards. If that’s not your thing, we’d recommend you pick another game.

One final tip – even though, the recommended number of players is 2-8, the best experience is with up to four players. When playing with more players, the playing time can often be over an hour, so if you’re looking for something faster, this isn’t the best party board game for you.

13. The Voting Game

• Players: 5-10
• Playing time: 30 minutes
• Key feature: knowing other players rewards you

The Voting Game is one of the best party board games for adults, if you’re looking to learn more about your friends – new or old. It’s a great party board game to use as an icebreaker.

Each round, you draw a black question card, and you read it out loud. The players then anonymously vote for the player that they feel is best described by the current question. The votes are then revealed, and players can try to guess who voted for them. If a player receives at least the half of the votes, they get to keep the black card. The game is over, when a player receives six black cards, and therefore wins.

While, the game can be quite fun, you should probably do some modifications to the scoring system, as it isn’t that great. You can do that everyone who voted for the person with most votes, receives a point. On the other hand, you can also not keep score, and play just for fun – whichever you prefer.

14. Coup

• Players: 2-6 players
• Playing time: 15 minutes
• Key feature: bluffing

The Coup is one of those great party board games that are extremely easy to learn, but still engaging to play. Both casual and hardcore gamers enjoy it, so it’s a great choice for any kind of playgroup.

The game’s flavor is centered around the concept of a Dystopian futuristic universe. The theme is a mix of the current political concepts with a futuristic setting and art style. The game mechanics follow the theme of political intrigue and deception.

The goal of the game is simple – you have to eliminate all other players and be the last one standing. Of course, the road there isn’t easy, as each player will be making various actions in this turn-based game.

Coup also has a big bluffing component, so be prepared to read your opponents, and try to mask your actions and motives. If this seems like the type of game that your playgroup would enjoy, you can read more about Coup and its expansions here.

15. Wits & Wagers (Party Edition)

• Players: 3-7
• Playing time: 25 minutes
• Key feature: upgraded trivia game

Wits & Wagers is one of the best party board games, if you like trivia. In fact, it’s actually an upgrade of a regular trivia game. Instead of just guessing the answer, you’re also guessing which player made the correct guess. This levels up the playing field – even if some players aren’t the biggest trivia buffs, they can make up for it by betting on others.

The rules can be thought in two minutes, as the main gist is basically:

1. Someone reads a question.
2. Everyone makes a guess and secretly writes it down.
3. Players place their guess on the table face up.
4. Players bet on whom they think is closest to the right answer.

Players get one poker chip for either getting the closest answer or for betting on it. There are seven total questions. On the final question, players can increase their bets with the chips they’ve won so far.

As you can see, Wits & Wagers is certainly a fun party board game that everyone will enjoy, if the folks who don’t usually like trivia games that much. That’s especially true for the Party version, which we recommended above, since the questions are lighter and more fun.

16. The Resistance: Avalon

• Players: 5-10
• Playing time: 30 minutes
• Key feature: deception

At the start of the game, each player receives a secret hidden role card. Based on those, they are divided into two teams. One are the good guys (Arthur, which represents the future of Britain, with his wizard Merlin and others), and the other are the bad ones (Mordred and his companions).

Different roles have different powers. For instance, only Merlin know the agents of evil, but can only speak of this in riddles. Because if his true identity is discovered, all will be lost for his team!

This can certainly be a fun game of deception, and unlike some other games on this list, this is also a family friendly one. So if you’re looking for a party board game, that’s also suitable for kids, this is a great pickup. But that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a kids game – players of all ages will enjoy this game, albeit it’s not for the ones that can’t take a bit of deception and betrayal.

17. Incan Gold

• Players: 3-8
• Playing time: 30 minutes
• Key feature: risk assessment

Incan Gold is an award-winning board game, which can be great for your next game night. It’s a fun and tense game, with great flavor.

You and other adventurers explore an old Incan temple, where you’ll try to find gold and treasures. There are five rounds to be played, and in each one you’ll have to decide if you want to retreat to safety. On the other hand, you could also risk it by exploring the temple further in search for more treasure.

There are many dangers that await you in the deeper levels, so you have to be careful with your risk assessment. Your decisions should also be dependent on what your opponents are doing, which makes it even more interesting.

Incan Gold is certainly a great push-your-luck kinda game, and it has another great feature – it doesn’t become worse when you have the maximum number of players (that’s 8), which is amazing if you have a larger number of guests.

18. Telestrations

• Players: 4-8 players
• Playing time: 30 minutes
• Key feature: draw-and-guess game for bad artists

This is another draw-and-guess party board game. If you didn’t quite like Pictomania because everyone has to draw and guess at the same time, but you do enjoy this genre, you might prefer Telestrations. It’s a great game, even, if you’re not that good of an artist.

The game uses some interesting components. Every player gets a laminated sketchbook and a dry-erase pen. These are reusable for multiple games. Players are drawing in their sketchbooks at the same time, and after a minute, they pass them to their neighbor. Then everyone secretly guesses what’s drawn in the book.

This process continues until everyone gets their book back, and players check the results together. Often there will be some hilarious takes. If you want an even funnier variation of the game, you can get Telestrations After Dark, which is more adult-themed.

You can decide whether the game is played just for fun, or if you’re keeping score. This way, it’s a great pickup for both casual and more competitive playgroups.

19. That’s What She Said Game

• Players: 4-10
• Playing time: 30-60 minutes
• Key feature: fun game with lots of innuendo and word play

That’s What She Said is a party board game, very similar to the Cards Against Humanity. So the stuff we said about it, is also applicable here. Of course, there are some differences, otherwise we wouldn’t be talking about both games.

The biggest difference is in the type of humor. Cards Against Humanity uses different types of humor, but this game is all about innuendo. So if that’s your thing, you’ll probably enjoy this game much more.

Another great thing is that there aren’t that many card pairs that don’t work with one another. Plus, a cool rule is introduced, which lets you discard one card per turn to replace it with a new one. This really comes in handy, when you have a card that you can’t find a good use for.

That’s What She Said is certainly one of the best party board games, as it’ll guarantee lots of funny moments, even though it’s not perhaps the most well-known one.

20. Monikers

• Players: 4-16
• Playing time: 30-60 minutes
• Key feature: next-level charades

Do you like charades? Monkiers takes them to the next level. The players get divided into two teams, and each team tries to guess as many words as they can in their allotted time. There are three rounds, and each round has different rules.

In the first round, you can do pretty much anything, except say the name on the card. If you want, you can also read from the card’s description, although that’ll probably be slower if you give some other type of clue.

Next round, you’ll be using the same cards that you used in the first round. However, the guessing process becomes a bit harder, as you can only say one word. Nothing else, no sounds, no gestures, just the one word.

In the last round, your one word is gone, but you can now do charades and make sound effects – no words, though. By now, you should probably know the cards that you used so far, and maybe your playgroup already made some internal jokes about them. This will make them easier to guess, and pretty fun for the whole party.

21. Just One

• Players: 3-7
• Playing time: 20 minutes
• Key feature: casual guess-the-word game

If you’re looking for a cooperative party board game, Just One is certainly a cool option. All players work together in order to discover as many mystery words as possible. If you enjoy Codenames, but dislike the competitive nature of it, this will be a great option for you.

Players will have to give clues about the words, they’re guessing. However, there’s a catch. The clues shouldn’t be too obvious – if multiple players write the same clues, they won’t count. All in all, it’s a really simple and fun game if you like board games in this genre.

22. What Do You Meme

• Players: 3-20
• Playing time: 30-90 minutes
• Key feature: memes & board game combo

Does your play group love board games and memes? If so, then this is one of the best party board games you could get.

The main mechanic is somewhat similar to the ones from Dixit and Cards Against Humanity, except that the starting card / phrase is a meme photo. Players have cards with captions, and they try to choose the best match for the current meme. The judge (a player which is not playing the current round) decides which caption is best, and the player whose card it was, gets a point.

The game is over when the playgroup gets hungry or bored. For the more competitive playgroups, we’d recommend a set number of points when the game ends. For example, you could say that the player who reaches 10 points first, wins. One another improvement is that the judge isn’t one of the players, but instead each player secretly votes for the phrase they find most funny (without voting for theirs). The ones with most points wins.

All in all, this can certainly be a great board game for a party, and we’d recommend it to anyone who’s looking forward to laughing with their game buddies. You don’t even have to worry about the game’s long-term replayability, as there are many expansion packs to choose from.

23. Quickwits

• Players: 3-8 players
• Playing time: 20-30 minutes
• Key feature: fast-paced game for adults

Are you looking for a fast-paced and fun party board game, and you didn’t find it yet? If so, you’re in luck, as Quickwits might be just what you’re looking for.

In this game, each player gets cards with symbols and a phrase, such as:

• “Famous Model.”
• “Something Long”
• “Make an animal sound.”
• “Type of Candy.”

Some of them can be adult themed, so if you’re planning on playing this game with kids, there are probably better choices. However, if you’re playing with more adult friends, this game will surely provide lots of laughs.

Game Play

Here’s a quick gameplay overview. Players take turns flipping the aforementioned cards from their pile. If their symbol matches the symbol on the opponent’s card, both players try to quickly yell an example of the described phrase (on the opponent’s card). The one who does so faster, gets the point. The players with the most points wins.

Let’s say you’d flip a symbol that matches the opponent’s. The description on the opponent’s card is “something long”. You could scream giraffe, or something else. Since you’re trying to think fast, there can often be some weird and fun associations. With the right group of friends, the laughs are guaranteed with Quickwits.

24. Jenga

• Players: 1-8
• Playing time: 20 minutes
• Key feature: being dexterous really helps

On this list of best party board games, you’ve mostly found newer ones. However, before we wrap up, we must mention this classic, which certainly stood the test of time.

In case that you somehow don’t know Jenga, the goal is very simple. There’s a tower made out of wooden bricks. The players take turns. In each of the turns, you have to remove a brick from any level of the tower (except from the uppermost) and put it on top of the tower. Of course, you have to do so without the tower falling over. If that happens, you lose, and the game ends.

This is easy at first, but becomes increasingly harder the more bricks are missing from the lower levels, and the Jenga tower grows ever higher. So if you want to incorporate a bit of hand skills into your board game, Jenga is still the best at that.

25. Disney Villainous

• Players: 2-6
• Playing time: 50 minutes
• Key feature: Disney flavor

In this game, you’ll become one of the six Disney’s villains. Each one of them, naturally, has an individual objective (Evil Master Plan?). If you manage to complete it, you’ll win the game! You’ll try to do so by using various cards, such as Heroes, Allies, Conditions, and Power tokens.

Players take turns and play their action cards. These can either help you progress towards your goal, or you can obstruct an opponent who is doing too well for their own good. (Or perhaps, you could just wreck someone who is already doing badly. You are a villain, after all.)

The game is certainly very flavorful. If you enjoy such games, this is a great pickup. It’s also great for casual board game players, as while not completely simple, still isn’t too hard to grasp. However, if you’re a looking for a deeply strategic game, with lots of replayability, and you don’t care about the Disney flavor that much, we’d recommend you pick something else instead.

Best Party Board Games – FAQ

Before we wrap up, we’ll answer some of the most common questions that you might have when deciding which are the best party board games to buy. If you have a question that we didn’t answer, leave a comment below, and we’ll get back to you, as fast as we can.

Best Party Board Games – Conclusion

That’s it for the best party board games in 2022. We hope that you’ve found a game that your playgroup will enjoy. Furthermore, if your favorite party board game is missing from this list, you can share it with us and our readers in the comments below.

Before we wrap up, there’s one bonus suggestion, a board game that we didn’t mention, since it really isn’t a party board game. It takes a bit more time, than a board games for parties should. However, if you do have a smaller gathering, and you enjoy well-thought-out strategic board games, you should try Settlers of Catan. Even if you’ve already played it, you should, nevertheless, check everything about Catan and its best expansions.

Additionally, you might’ve noticed that lots of games on the list are party board games for adults. If you’re looking for something a bit more family friendly, you can read about the best card games for families.

Furthermore, if you want to buy a board game as a gift, you should give our Board Game Gift Guide a read, as it has plenty of great ideas.

Anyway, that’s all for today. Have fun with your new party board game!