21 games

Games for large groups

Past eight people the problem is never the rules, it is the waiting — so a big group wants games where everybody moves at once, or where half the room is a team.

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FAKE ANSWERSPLUMWho here would lastlongest in a zombie film?Dave — he owns the vanSam, purely by hidingMe. Obviously me.Vote

The all-at-once ones scale without noticing. Psych, Quiplash, Herd Mentality, Boggle, Scattergories and Mastermind deal the same thing to twelve phones and let everybody answer, so more people makes the voting funnier rather than the waiting longer.

Herd Mentality actively wants the crowd. You are writing what most of the room will write, and twelve people have opinions four do not — the biggest matching group scores, and the one person who went their own way is handed the Pink Cow.

Then the team games, which turn a queue into an audience. Bowl of Nouns takes forty-eight nouns off a table of twelve before it starts, Charades and Taboo put one person on stage at a time, and Decrypto splits twelve into two sides of six.

Twelve that seat twelve

Fake Answers3–12 players · 5–10 min Boggle2–12 players · 5–10 min Quip Battle3–12 players · 10–15 min Spectrum2–12 players · 10–15 min Crack the Code2–12 players · 10–15 min Decrypt4–12 players · 15–25 min Herd Think3–12 players · 10–15 min Imposter3–12 players · 5–10 min Forbidden Words2–12 players · 10–15 min Bowl of Nouns4–12 players · 15–20 min Charades4–12 players · 10–15 min Category Rush2–12 players · 10–15 min

Questions about Games for large groups

What is the real maximum?

Twelve for everything on this list. Fake Artist, Wits & Wagers, Hues and Cues, Avalon, Secret Hitler and One Night Werewolf stop at ten, and Drawful and Dixit at eight.

Won’t twelve people take forever to get through a round?

Not in the simultaneous ones — everybody types at once and the round ends when the last person is in. Chameleon is the exception here: one word each around twelve players is twelve words before anyone votes.

Which is best for a group that will not stop talking?

Charades and Bowl of Nouns. One person performs while everybody else shouts, which is the only shape of game that improves the noisier the room gets.

How do we split twelve into teams?

Six a side for Decrypto, Taboo, Charades and Bowl of Nouns. Decrypto is the one to watch at that size: everything your Encryptor says is heard by the other six and stays on the board all game.

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