21 games

Games for 3 players

Three is the size where a vote stops meaning much and a bid starts meaning everything, so the games that hold up are the ones with nowhere to hide in them.

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Skull at three is a knife fight. There are only two other piles on the table, every disc came from a hand of four you already know the shape of, and whoever bids has to clear their own stack before they may touch either of yours.

Watch the co-ops. Just One at three leaves two clue givers, and any two clues that match are thrown away before the guesser sees them — so the round where you both had the same good idea sends them in with nothing at all.

Dixit and Drawful are both at their floor here, usefully so: the Dixit storyteller is hiding one card among two, and the clue that would be perfect at six is far too easy. Wits & Wagers, Hues and Cues and Boggle do not care how many of you there are.

Twelve that hold up at three

Word Tiles2–4 players · 20–35 min Paper Novel2–5 players · 15–25 min Property Deal2–5 players · 10–15 min Clover2–6 players · 15–20 min Skull3–6 players · 10–15 min Only One3–7 players · 10–15 min Bad Drawings3–8 players · 10–20 min Picture Stories3–8 players · 15–20 min Wits & Bets3–10 players · 10–15 min Color Clues3–10 players · 10–15 min One Night Werewolf3–10 players · 5–10 min Boggle2–12 players · 5–10 min

Questions about Games for 3 players

Is One Night Werewolf any good at three?

It works and it is strange. Three cards still sit unclaimed in the middle, so both werewolves can be down there — and if all three of you point at different people, nobody hangs, which is how the village wins that round.

Which of these are properly competitive?

Skull, Monopoly Deal, Scrabble, Paperback and Boggle. The rest hand every player their own score off the same round, which at three is usually the fairer fight anyway.

What needs more than three?

Fake Artist starts at four, and Avalon and Secret Hitler at five. At three the hidden-role games become a conversation between the only two people who could possibly be lying.

Anything for three that is not a party game?

Scrabble seats two to four and Paperback two to five, and three is a comfortable count for either. Monopoly Deal at three means two rivals, both able to take what is sitting on your table.

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