It is the ceiling for the small decks. Paperback and Monopoly Deal both stop at five and both are at their nastiest there — five players buying out of the same offer, or four rivals who can each take a completed street off your table.
Fake Artist arrives at four and is right at five: four honest artists, one faker, two lines each, then everybody points at once. Skull is the reverse of its three-player self, with up to twenty discs down and a bid nobody can check.
Just One is close to its best here too. Four clue givers means a duplicate costs you one clue rather than the round, and there are still two or three left standing to push the guesser somewhere — which is the difference between a co-op and a coin toss.
Twelve at their best around five
Only One3–7 players · 10–15 min
Bad Drawings3–8 players · 10–20 min
Skull3–6 players · 10–15 min
Picture Stories3–8 players · 15–20 min
Clover2–6 players · 15–20 min
Wits & Bets3–10 players · 10–15 min
Paper Novel2–5 players · 15–25 min
Property Deal2–5 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
Fake Artist4–10 players · 5–10 minQuestions about Games for 5 players
Is five enough for Avalon or Secret Hitler?
Exactly enough — both start at five. Avalon at five deals three good against two evil, and the Assassin can still take the whole game back at the end by naming Merlin correctly.
Which five-player game runs shortest?
Fake Artist, One Night Werewolf and Boggle, all five to ten minutes. Short enough that whoever lost gets a rematch before the room has moved on to something else.
Does anything get worse at five?
Scrabble is out, since it caps at four. So Clover! and Skull both still seat six, but at five a Skull bid already covers more discs than anyone can honestly account for.
Is an odd number a problem for teams?
Nothing on this list uses teams, so no. If you do want two sides, Wavelength, Decrypto, Taboo, Charades and Bowl of Nouns all run three against two without complaint.