The Games

Everybody draws, passes and guesses at the same time. Your word goes around the table as a sketch, then a guess, then a sketch of that guess. What comes back is never what you started with.

♠ Blend In House game ♠

Everybody at the table knows the secret word except one person. Each of you says one word about it. Too obvious and you hand it to the faker. Too vague and everyone decides the faker is you.

Flip cards one at a time and stop whenever you want. Flip a number you already have and you bust. Land seven different numbers and you cash a bonus. Everybody thinks they will stop in time.

♠ Cup Pong House game ♠

One table, a rack of cups at each end, a couple of ping pong balls. Your team against theirs. Sink every cup first. Easy to learn, impossible to stop watching.

Hundreds of colors on one board. The cue giver picks one and describes it in a single word, then two. Everybody else drops a marker where they think it is. Nobody agrees on what teal means.

♠ The Act House game ♠

Every table sends up one actor and they all get the same word. Sixty seconds, no talking, no sounds. Your table is not racing a clock. It is racing the whole room.

A card gives you half a phrase. You write the word that finishes it and try to match exactly one other person. Match everybody and you were too obvious. Match nobody and you are on your own.

A card goes on your forehead. Everybody can read it except you. Ask yes or no questions until you figure out what you are, while the table tries very hard not to laugh.

Draw a category, hit the timer, say a word that starts with a letter on the wheel and lock that letter out. Next person. The letters run out fast, and so does your brain.

♠ The Paper Airplane Open House game ♠

Ten minutes to build a plane that passes this week's build rules. The stranger behind you in line inspects it. Then everybody throws, and the farthest flight wins.

Every prompt has two answers, one red and one yellow. Pick yours in secret, then guess how the rest of the table went. Points for reading the room, and points for being the only one.

A topic comes up, like TV shows with doctors. Teams bid on how many they can name. The highest bid flips the timer and has to deliver every single one. Bid big at your own risk.

♠ Blend In: Whiteboard Edition House game ♠

Same idea, with a marker. Everybody adds one line to a shared drawing of the secret word. One person does not know the word and has to fake their line. Then the table votes.

Build the best meal you can, one food card at a time, and use the rest of your hand to wreck everyone else's. Learn it in a minute. It gets surprisingly petty.

Roll a pile of letter dice and race the clock to build one crossword out of all of them. Every word has to connect. Easy until the timer starts.