The Best Party Games for Every Group Size

A game that is brilliant with six people can fall flat with two, and the other way around. Here is how the games on PartyCade fit different group sizes, based on how each one is designed and how many players it needs.

Two players

Card games are the natural choice for a pair. Last Card and Rummy both work with two players, and Rummy is built for between two and six. Doodle Deck also works with two, with one drawing and one guessing, though it gets livelier with more guessers.

Vibe Dial, Bluffalo and Who Am I? also start at two players. They work best when you know each other well, because the fun comes from reading the other person.

Three to five players

This is the sweet spot for most party games. Impostor, Fake Artist, Punchline Duel and Split Decision all start at three players, and they are at their best here because every voice matters. Doodle Telephone also works well, giving you chains that are long enough to get strange.

Party Tycoon is a good choice for a small group with a free evening. Three or four players give you enough trading to make the game interesting without a long wait between turns.

Six to eight players

Social deduction games come into their own here. Mafia needs at least four players and becomes much better with six or more, because there is room for several roles and for real arguments. Code Words, with Red against Blue, is great with three or four people on each team.

Doodle Deck and Who Am I? both scale very well to this size. More guessers means a faster race, and more people asking questions means cards get solved quickly.

Large groups

There is no cap on the number of players in a room. Games where everybody acts at the same time, such as Doodle Telephone, Punchline Duel, Split Decision and Vibe Dial, keep a large group busy. In Mafia and Impostor larger groups get more Mafia members or impostors, so the balance holds.

For very large groups, Party Shuffle is a good way to keep things moving, as it picks a game that fits the current number of players.

A quick way to choose

If you want to compete: Last Card, Rummy, Party Tycoon. If you want to laugh: Punchline Duel, Doodle Telephone, Split Decision. If you want to lie to your friends: Mafia, Impostor, Fake Artist, Bluffalo. If you want to work as a team: Code Words and Vibe Dial.

Every game page on PartyCade has a short guide to the rules and some tips, so you can read up before you start.