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Nigerian house parties aren’t just about dancing in someone’s living room, making out in dark rooms, and loud music. The real ginger starts when the fun games kick off, but if you’re a host, the stress of picking the right game will have you frantically googling, “fun games to play when hosting an event”!
Well, we’ve got you covered with games that will have you racing with balloons between your thighs, screaming over who cheated during charades, and watching your crush try their best to earn their team points. Whether you’re looking for fun games to play when hosting an event or planning a chaotic game night with friends, these fifty fun games will turn your party from a snooze fest to a fun time indoors.
And yes, we included everything — how to play, what you need to play. So if you’re ever stuck searching for fun games to play when hosting an event, look no further. Never throw a dead party again; you can thank us later.
Fun Games to Play with Friends
Nothing beats the kind of laughter that comes from playing ridiculous games with your closest friends. These games are perfect for house hangouts, game nights, or chill weekends when everyone wants to let loose and make memories.
Charades
Let’s start with the OG of house party games: charades!
In this fun game, players are to act out a word, song or any other direction given by a game master without using any words. Their team has to guess the word correctly in thirty seconds or less to get a point.
You can play this game with multiple teams. Each team can have as few as two people and as many as eight people. This game can be a great icebreaker when the party starts because the team antics will make people relax and loosen up.
How to Play: Players act out songs, movies, celebrities, or slang without speaking. Their team mates try to guess the answer to win the point.
Props: Slips of paper with prompts, a timer.
Example prompts: A referee, food delivery rider, eating noodles, a rave DJ, taking a shower, a vampire
Who’s Most Likely To
This is a fun game where players guess who in the group is most likely to carry out an action or be found in certain situations.
How to Play: Here, the game master reads out a list of questions asking “Who is most likely to …. “ and the entire group will point to the person who they think is most likely to do the thing mentioned or be found in that scenario. The person voted most likely can be asked to drink or dance as their reward.
Props: List of prompts or questions, drinks.
Example prompts: Who’s most likely to get stopped by the police on the road?, Who’s most likely to become a politician? Who’s most likely to start a podcast?, Who’s most likely to get into a fight with a conductor?
Never Have I Ever
This is another fun game that can work as a great icebreaker and help your party guests get to know each other better.
How to Play: Each player takes turns saying something they’ve never done. Anyone who has done it must take a sip of their drink or put a finger down.
Props: Drinks or fingers.
Example prompts: Never have I ever made out with a stranger at a house party, Never have I ever gotten into an argument with the police, Never have I ever stolen freshly fried dodo from the kitchen.
Two Truths and a Lie
Who’s the master of subterfuge at your party? Who is the best bluffer? Play this game to find out.
How to Play: Each player says two truths and one lie. The rest of the players have to guess the lie.
Props: None.
Out Of The Loop
This fun game will expose the master of subterfuge at your party. It’s a clue-based interactive game that encourages players to ask each other questions.
How to Play: The game master gives every player but one a secret word. The player who doesn’t get the word is “out of the loop” and they must hide this fact from the other players. The objective of the players in the loop is to find the player who is out of the loop while the player with the different word must try to pretend they are in the loop and last till the end of the game to win.
Each player is asked a question about the word and they must say an answer that clearly shows they know the word without giving the word itself away. For example if the secret word is ‘cake”, a player can be asked, “Where can I find an example of the word?” and answer can be, “At a birthday party.”
After each player has been asked a question, the group votes on who they think is out of the loop. If the highest voted person knows the word, the group loses and the out of the loop player wins. And if the highest voted person is out of the loop, the group wins and the out of the loop player loses.
Props: None.
Biscuit Challenge
Let your guests snack in the most challenging — and fun — way possible with this biscuit challenge game.
How to Play: Players place a biscuit or cookie on their forehead. The goal of the game is to move the biscuit to your mouth and eat it using only your face— no hands!
Props: Biscuits.
Medusa
Don’t make eye contact with your fellow players!
How to Play: All players stand in a circle and look down. At the game master’s signal, everyone looks up at the same time at a player of their choice. If any players make eye contact, they both say, “Medusa” and take a sip of their drinks.
Props: Drinks.
Guess The Slang
Everyone uses some kind of slang in everyday speech. This game is going to put your understanding of those slangs to the test.
How to Play: Split your guests into two teams. The game master says a Nigerian slang and the team must correctly explain what it means to win points. The team with the highest points at the end of the game wins.
Props: List of slang terms.
Example prompts: Mezebu. Manchi. Ogbeni. Trabaye. Shenk. Lem.
Emoji Song Game
Players need to be fluent in emoji-speak to ace this guessing game.
How to Play: Split the players into two teams. Show emojis that represent a Nigerian song, and players have to guess the song. The team with the highest number of correct guesses wins.
Props: List of emoji representations of songs.
Name, Name
Your party guests will need their wits and a sharp emmory for this game.
How to Play: The game master starts by asking for the names of a certain example. Each player has to say an example one after the other as quickly as possible.
If there’s a pause for too long, or doesn’t know an example. the player is out or has to take a penalty.
Props: None.
Example prompts: Names of cars, names of football players, names of presidents etc.
Sing The Next Line
This game is perfect for music lovers who love to party.
How to Play: The players are split into two teams. In each round, one player from each team has to guess the next line of a song that the game master chooses.
If they guess correctly, their team earns a point. If not, no point is awarded or they have to take a penalty.
Props: Music.
Whot
This is a card game that requires a pack of Whot cards. It’s a fun game that can be played by 2-6 people at a time.
How to Play: The cards are shuffled and each player gets four or five cards. A general card is placed in the middle of the players. The goeal of the game is to be the fastest platyer to get rid of all their cards. Players do this by matching the shape or numbers of the card in the middle pile and using their attack cards to add more cards to their opponents’ hands.
Here is a key for all the attack cards:
1: Hold on. This card forces the next player to skip their turn.
2: Pick two. The next player picks two cards and skips their turn.
5: Pick three. The next player picks three cards and skips their turn.
8: Skip. The next player skips their turn.
14: General market. Every other player picks one new card from the stack.
Props: Whot card deck.
Wink Murder
There’s a killer among your party guests, Play this game to fish them out.
How to Play: The game master secretly dubs one of the players as the killer, who can “kill” one player per round by winking at them. Each round, players are to guess who the killer is and vote them out. If they can’t, the killer “kills” a player off until no players are left. The group wins if they can catch the killer in the act or vote him out.
Props: None.
Pass the Parcel
Only one person can take the prize home in this fun game that’s a throw back to childhood birthday parties.
How to Play: A gift wrapped in several layers of wrapping paper is passed around a circle of players while music plays. When the music stops, the holder unwraps as many layers as they can before the music starts again. The person who gets the prize before the music starts up again wins.
Props: Parcel with multiple layers, music.
Fun Games to Play When Hosting an Event
Fun games to play when hosting an event can make all the difference between guests leaving early or staying till the very end. These games are perfect for birthdays, game nights, house parties, or any gathering where you want to create a lively, relaxed vibe.
Musical Chairs
You can break the ice and get your guests to let loose a little with musical chairs.
How to Play: Set up a circle of chairs with one chair fewer than the number of players in the game. Music plays, and the players dance around the circle of chairs. When the music stops, everyone scrambles for a seat. Whoever is left standing has to leave the game. One chair is removed, and the game repeats itself until there is only one winner.
Props: Chairs, music.
Flip Cup
Need an easy game that’ll have your party guests scrambling to win? Flip cup will bring an amazing energy to your party.
How to Play: Split players into two teams. Each player drinks from a cup, places it upside down on the edge of the table, then flips it with one hand to land upright. The first team to successfully flip all their cups before the other team wins.
Props: Plastic cups, table, drinks.
Egg & Spoon Race
Want to test your balance with your friends? This is the game you need to play, and all you need are some eggs.
How to Play: Split your guests into two teams and give every player a spoon. Each team will form a line with the leader of the line holding an egg in their spoon. Then each player must pass the egg to their teammate’s spoon without dropping it. The first team to pass their egg to the end of the line wins.
Props: Eggs, spoons.
Karaoke Showdown
Give Tiwa Savage a run for her money with this party game!
How to Play: Each player sings their heart out on a song. The audience votes for the best performance.
Props: Mic (optional), lyrics, speaker.
Guess the Food
This game separates the real foodies from the casual snackers!
How to Play: Players are blindfolded, given food samples, and asked to guess them. Every correct answer gets a point.
Props: Blindfolds, food samples.
Bottle Flip
An easy game that can still be a lot of fun if you increase the stakes.
How to Play: Split your guests into two teams. Each member flips a half-full bottle to land upright. The first team whose members flip the bottle successfully wins.
Props: Plastic water bottles.
Dance Freeze
How to Play: Players dance until the music stops. When the music stops, everyone freezes in whatever position they were. Anyone who moves and is caught by the referee is out.
Props: Music.
Lemon 1, Lemon 2
This is a super fun, fast-paced concentration game that will delight your party guests.
How to Play: Each player gets a number: Lemon 1, Lemon 2 and so on. At the start of the game, a player calls out their number and another person’s number, e.g Lemon 1, Lemon 20. That person has three seconds to say their number and another person’s number to keep the call going. If they take too long, forget their number or mix up their number, they have to take a shot and start the call all over again.
*To play without drinks, anyone who loses the game by taking too long, forgetting their number or mixing up their number is out.
Props: Drinks.
Chop The Chin Chin
Make party snacking interesting with this game!
How to Play: Contestants must race to eat a serving of chin chin using only a toothpick or chopsticks. The fastest chn chin eater wins.
Props: Chin chin, toothpicks or chopsticks.
Photo Scavenger Hunt
This game is a fun game that will run for the entire length of the party. It’ll help break the ice and create memories your guests can keep and look back on
How to Play: Create a list of pictures related to your party that guests must take. For example,”Take a photo with a Ludo board.” The first person to take every photo on the scavenger’s list wins.
Props: Phones, list.
Red Cup Stack
This is also an old school game, but it hasn’t lost its fun. Get stacking!
How to Play: Players have to stack red cups into a pyramid shape and unstack them as fast as possible. The fastest player wins.
Props: Plastic cups.
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Blow Ping Pong into Cups
No hands here, just lung power!
How to Play: plastic cups filled almost to the brim and arranged in a pattern on a table. Players have to blow ping pong balls across a table into cups. The player who finishes this the fastest wins.
Props: Cups, ping pong balls, table, timer.
Cups and Water Relay
This game can get wet very quickly!
How to Play: Split players into two teams and have each team form a straight line in front of four plastic cups. Fill two plastic cups to the brim and leave the others empty. Each player from a team must move a spoonful of water from one full cup to the empty cup and head to the back of their line as squickly as possible. The fastest team to move the full cup of water to the empty one using their spoons wins.
Props: Cups, water, spoons.
Jenga
This is a fun party game that’ll entertain your guests.
How to Play: Get a pack of Jenga blocks or wooden blocks and arrange them in a tower. Each player slides a block from anywhere other than the top and places it on top of the tower. The game continues until one player makes the tower tumble.
Props: Jenga/wooden blocks.
Taboo
You can’t say that word, and that’s what makes this game so fun
How to Play: Players are split into two or three teams of four or more people. One player draws a card and tries to get their teammates to guess the target word without saying any of the “taboo” words listed on the card. Meanwhile, the opposing team watches closely and tells the game master if a forbidden word slips out. The round ends when the team guesses the word correctly or the timer runs out, then the teams switch roles.
Props: Taboo cards or prompts online.
Jackpot
This card game is fantastic for making guests interact.
How to Play: The game requires teams of 2 players each. Teammates must not sit next to each other.
Before the game starts, each team secretly agrees on a subtle “signal” — a small gesture or action — that one player will use to alert their teammate without drawing attention from other teams.
Every player is dealt four cards. A single card is passed around in a circle, and players can choose to swap it with one from their hand. The goal is to collect four cards of the same suit (e.g., all hearts). Once a player has achieved this, they must discreetly signal their teammate. If the teammate notices the signal and shouts “Jackpot!”, the team earns a point represented by the letter J. The first team to collect all the letters to spell “JACKPOT” wins.
Plot Twist – “Suspect!” Rule:
If a member of another team suspects someone has a full matching hand, they can call out “Suspect!”. If the accused player has four cards of the same suit and their teammate hasn’t yet called “Jackpot,” the player must swap two cards as a penalty.
If the accused player does not have four matching cards, the accusing team loses a point.
Props: Playing cards.
Don’t Look!
This game is entertaining and interactive, and will excite your guests in no time.
How to Play: Split the players into two teams. One player steps forward from each team, facing each other, and takes turns pointing at different directions while music plays. Each player can point in four directions: up, down, left, and right. The game’s goal is to get the player opposite you to look in the direction you’re pointing.
For example, if you point up and the player looks down, they’re safe. But if you point to the left and the player looks to the left, they’re out, and another player from their team has to step forward. The game continues until all the players on he opposing team are out.
Props: Music.
Straw Race
Test your guests’ patience and agility with this game of straws and transfers.
How to Play: Use two straws to pick up small objects in a tray and race to move them to another container. The fastest player to complete this wins.
Props: Straws, small items, bowls, trays, a timer.
Wrap Me Up
Wanna make your party guests loosen up with a silly game? This is the one you’re looking for.
How to Play: Split the layers into teams. One player wraps their team mate in tissue paper. The fastest player wins.
Props: Toilet paper, a timer.
Tissue Box Shake
Warning, this game is known to trigger a dance extravaganza.
How to Play: Tie an empty tissue box filled with ping pong balls to the lower back of two players. The goal is to dance and shake it until it’s empty. The fastest to empty their box wins. No hands allowed!
Props: Tissue box, ping pong balls, string, music.
Sam Says
In a world of short attention spans, this game requires rapt attention. Your guests are going to have a blast trying to hang on to Sam’s every word.
How to Play: The game master will be “Sam”. They will give instructions that players must follow. For example, “Sam says, touch your toes.” Any players who fail to follow those instructions are out.
If the game master says an instruction without starting with “Sam says…”, every player who follows it will be out of the game. If the game master says, “Touch your toes”, any player who does so is out.
The game continues until there’s only one player left standing.
Props: none.
Passing Card Game
This game forces all the players to find creative ways to pass the card to their team members on the spot.
How to Play: Two teams are given a card each. Each team has to pass the card to their team member without using their hands. The same method can’t be used by team members two passes in a row. First team to successfully pass a card around wins. If it drops, that team member is out and the game continues.
Props: Paper cards.
Dance Battle
Get the party pumping with a dance battle between your party guests. You can judge the winner by electing a panel of judges, or you can let the audience decide.
How to Play: 1v1 or team vs team battle with only one rule: dance until you drop!
Props: Music.
Drag the cup
Here’s a silly game that requires rapt attention!
How to Play: Divide players into two teams.
A plastic cup is filled to the brim and is placed on the edge of a table with a roll of tissue unravelled beneath it.
Each player must drag the cup to the other side of the table by re-wrapping the roll of tissue paper under the cup. Be careful; if the water spills, the tissue “rope” breaks, and the player is out.
Props: Cups, tissue paper.
Draw On My Back
Combine both art and fun with this guessing game.
How to Play: Divide players into two teams. In each round, one player from each team stands facing a wall — they’ll be the guessers.
Meanwhile, a teammate (the drawer) is shown a secret word by the game master. Using a sheet of paper placed on the guesser’s back, the drawer must attempt to draw the word.
Once the drawing is complete, the guesser turns around and tries to guess what the word was, based solely on how it felt being drawn.
If they guess correctly, their team earns a point. If not, no point is awarded.
Props: Paper, pens
Mimic Game
Who’s the best actor/actress at your party? Give them a stage with this game.
How to Play: The game master goes around asking each player questions. They have to answer in a way that imitates a Nigerian celebrity. The rest of the players have to guess who they’re mimicking.
Props: None.
Memory Tray
Put your guests’ memories to the ultimate party test.
How to Play: Show a tray with 15 random items for 30 seconds. Players list as many as they can remember. No cheating! The player who remembers the most items wins.
Props: Tray, random items, pen & paper.
Balloon Pop
This game is a good way to unleash the playful side of your party guests. When you cross balloons and playful people, what do you get? FUN! Here’s how to play this game.
How to Play: Players are split into two teams. Players take turns to pop their balloons without using their hands. The first team to pop all their balloons wins.
Props: Balloons.
Cup pong
This game requires dexterity and a nice throwing arm.
How to Play: Red plastic cups are arranged in a pyramid shape on a table. Players are given three ping pong balls, and the goal is to throw them into the cups one at a time. If a player misses all three throws, they’re out. If a layer throws all three balls into cups, the cups are removed, and the balls are returned to the player to take another turn.
Props: Cups, ping pong balls, table.
Cute, Fun Games for Couples
Fun games for couples aren’t just about romance, they’re about connection, laughter, and learning more about each other in playful ways. These couple-friendly games are easy to set up and fun to play, no matter how long you’ve been together.
Spin The Bottle
Will it be a dare or a truth question? Spice up the party with spin the bottle to find out!
How to Play: Have all your guests sit in a circle. A bottle is spun in the centre of the circle and whoever it lands on answers a question or does a dare.
Props: Empty bottle.
Who Am I?
This game is very interactive and will encourage your party guests to mingle.
How to Play: Each player gets a sticky note on their with a famous person’s name written on it. Each player has to go around asking questions about them so they can get clues and guess whose name is written on their forehead. The fastest players to guess the names on their foreheads correctly wins.
Props: Sticky notes, pen.
Name That Tune
If you and your guests are music lovers, this game is perfect for you. Not only will you bond over your shared love for music, but you’ll also get to show off how well you know the music you love.
How to Play: Players can be split into teams or individual players trying for the highest scores. The game master plays 5-10 seconds of a song. The first person to name the artist and title correctly wins.
Props: Speaker, playlist.
Whisper Challenge
Remember that Chinese whisper game we’d play when you were younger? This is a fun twist to the game where lip reading and guesswork create an immersive experience for your guests.
How to Play: Split the players into two teams. One player wears headphones playing loud music while another from the opposing team whispers a phrase. The player with the headphones must guess the phrase to win a point.
Props: Headphones, music, phrase list.
READ NEXT: 16 Games for Couples Online That Are Sure to Keep Your Love Alive
Fun, Flirty Games to Play
Fun, flirty games to play can turn an ordinary hangout into something a little more exciting. These games are just the right mix of playful, bold, and lighthearted. Perfect for a night with close friends, a couples’ game night, or when there’s a little romantic tension in the air.
Truth or Dare
When you want to add some spice to a party, you can sprinkle in some Truth or Dare!
How to Play: Players take turns choosing between the options “truth” or “dare.” Truth involves answering questions that reveal personal info, while dares are tasks. If you want to up the ante, anyone who refuses to say the truth or do the dare can drink as a punishment. This is entirely optional.
Props: Drinks (optional)
Drink If…
Looking for a good old-fashioned drinking game? Drink If… is what you need for your party
How to Play: You go round the circle of players making “Drink if…” statements. If you have done or participated in the action before, you drink. If not, you don’t.
Props: Drinks.
Example prompts: Drink if you…
- Have a lighter in your pocket right now.
- Like pineapple on pizza.
- Ate a shawarma less than a week ago.
- Didn’t vote in the last elections.
Dice Dare
Let your luck choose your dare with this fun party game.
How to Play: Make a list of dares. Each number rolled on the dice comes with a dare the players have to do.
Props: Dice, dare list.
READ NEXT: 9 Ways To Know When A Games Night Is About To Become An Orgy
Wrapping Up
You’ve just found a goldmine of fun games to play when hosting an event. So, whenever you’re having a Nigerian house party, planning outings or just hanging out with your friends, you can always drop by this post to pick fun games (bookmark for later) and go have fun!
READ NEXT: 12 Fun Games to Play Over the Phone With a Friend
