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Party games are games that are played at social gatherings to facilitate interaction and provide entertainment and recreation. Categories include (explicit) icebreaker, parlour (indoor), picnic (outdoor), and large group games.[1][2] Other types include pairing off (partnered) games, and parlour races.[2] Different games will generate different atmospheres so the party game may merely be intended as an icebreakers, or the sole purpose for or structure of the party. As such, party games aim to include players of various skill levels and player-elimination is rare.[3] Party games are intended to be played socially, and are designed to be easy for new players to learn.[4]
The characteristics of party games tend to include:
Traditional children's party games include:
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Party video games are commonly designed as a collection of simple minigames, designed to be intuitive and easy to control, and allow for competition between many players. Some games are played on simulated game boards, like the Itadaki Street series, Mario Party series and Sonic Shuffle.
BYTE in 1981 called the Olympic sports game Olympic Decathlon (1980) "the first true party game for microcomputers".[5] Another early example is Starpath's Party Mix.
Modern examples include Tower Unite (2016), a virtual community party game played online, and The Jackbox Party Pack series which offers minigames that can be played both online and with people in the same room.
Large group games are played by many participants and are often used as planned activities in structured environments, especially as educational activities. They are similar to party games, except that large group games are typically planned for larger numbers (perhaps even hundreds) as part of an event.
Large group games can take a variety of forms and formats.
Some are physical games such as Buck buck.
Some are modeled on the TV game show format, offering points for teams who can answer questions the fastest. Trivia-type games might have questions posed from the stage and each tabletop writing their answers to be collected and scored. Others may take on some of the qualities of Open Space environments and allow participants to wander in a less structured way.
Some are modeled on TV reality shows such as The Amazing RaceorSurvivor. Participants compete as individuals or in teams to complete challenges that move them towards victory in a competition spanning the entire party. The TV shows on which such parties are based are normally competitions involving elimination, so such events require significant planning to avoid exclusion or boredom.
There is also now electronic party games such as Cards Against Humanity or Appyshot App, that can be played on the phone or computer.
Group board games can take on the design of small groups of players, seated at tables of 4 to 6 people, who work together on a problem. There can be large numbers of people (and thus many tables). If properly designed, these scalable exercises can be used for small groups (12 to 20 people) as well as very large events (600 people or 100 tables).
Generally, for these larger exercises, multimedia projectors, large screens and microphones are required for instructions and communications.
A search for team building events can turn up millions of links to exercises, companies, and various offerings ranging from paintball competitions to fire walks to outdoor climbing or whitewater adventures. The impact on actual team building can vary widely - a golf outing for corporate executives does not generally accomplish much in the way of organizational improvement while a business simulation might be directly focused on linking the play of the game to issues for corporate improvement.
Holiday groups use a gift exchange party game such as white elephant gift exchange for socializing and sharing gifts. New online party games, based on these holiday games, allow larger groups to gather on the internet to save travel expenses.
