Party Games

Party games have one job. Get eight people laughing within five minutes of opening the box, including the two who wandered in from the kitchen and have never heard of the game. If a party game needs a rules explanation longer than a paragraph, it has already failed. We score every game here on that standard first and everything else second.

Codenames is the best party game we own, full stop, and it is the one we recommend to every group that asks. How many players you need for Codenames answers the question we get most, and our spymaster tips will make you the person everyone wants on their team. If you mostly play with your partner, Codenames vs Codenames Duet tells you which box to buy.

Sea Salt & Paper is the smaller, calmer pick, a card game that fits in a jacket pocket and still gets loud by the third hand. Both games are cheap, both take two minutes to teach, and both have earned a permanent spot in our closet.