If you have a big group of friends, then you know one of the best things for you all to do is get together. As adults, however, it’s not always easy to do that all the time. If you are living in different cities or different countries, coming together as one big group may only ever happen once every couple of years. Putting together a night of just your friends and having fun, laughing, and talking till the night wears out might be just what you need to de-stress and reconnect with each other.
Tips for an Epic Game Night
You want to make sure that everybody is involved, everybody’s having fun and everybody is fed. One of the best things that you can do is host a fun game night and take turns hosting that night. Even if what you do is host a game night once a year or a couple of times a year, you’re going to have a better time together than you are apart. Whether you are the type of friend who would buy Delta 9 Products and chill out together, or you are the type of friend to get together for an escape room experience, you can still have an amazing time regardless of what you do. So, with this in mind, here is how you can host an epic games night.
- Make sure that you invite the right people. You already have a big group of friends, so you already know the people that you are planning to invite. You should ensure that you are choosing the right games for your guests, and no game night is going to pop if you invite friends with attention spans shorter than those morning cartoons you all used to love. Gaming is a hugely inclusive community, and if all of you love to play games you’re already on the right track. Not only do you want to make sure that you have the right games, but you also have to ensure that the games that you choose suit your guests. Games night at home could be in front of the TV with a Super Mario Kart marathon, or you could head out to an escape room and try those kinds of games. While exploring different group activities that can truly engage and excite, it’s hard not to mention the unique thrill escape rooms offer. Among these, the Hell in a Cellar escape adventure in Bristol stands out for its unparalleled horror theme, providing an adrenaline rush unlike any other. The immersive experience is meticulously designed to test your problem-solving skills under pressure. It’s an exhilarating way to spend an hour, pushing the limits of your nerve and intellect. Inviting the right people is the first step, so make a list of all of your friends and write down something about their personalities next to each name.
- Don’t invite too many. Games night has to be fun, but if you are hosting it at your house and you have a relatively small amount of space, make sure that you have just enough people. It’s nice to consider the more the merrier but if you’re hosting this, you need to supply the drinks, food, and space for everybody. You want to make sure you have enough space to move or places to sit, and you also don’t want to have to wait half the night just to have a turn on any of the games. If you want to play more than one game on game night, eight people is pretty much the maximum. It’s perfect because you can pair off for certain games, but you’ll also make sure that you’ve got enough people to have some fun and mixed personalities together.
- Consider the games you’re going to play. What type of games is this going to be? Are you planning board games, old school, or are you planning video games? No matter what, you have to consider your game night in terms of working towards a peak. Like a gig, you’ll have your warm-up act and your headliner, so which games will be your headliner? Cards Against Humanity or Exploding Kittens have very good reputations for a good reason. consider the order of your games and how much it could impact the experience. You want the good games to be at the very end, but fun games to start with so everybody can warm up and get into the spirit of competition.
- Food is a game changer. Depending on your personalities as a group, food might be a contentious issue. Some people might expect catering whereas others would expect chips and dips. If your shopping list isn’t entirely pizza or chips, you should throw it away and write a new list that expects those things. You have to remember at game night, people expect food that’s easy to eat without cutlery. That means not laying on steaks! You could have a barbeque going on the back porch while games are going on, and a rotating schedule of who is playing and who is eating. Finger food is always king on game nights, so if you’re not laying on a full meal, don’t forget the bowls of peanuts, chips, and charcuterie. Consider meats and crackers, cheeses and wines. A super heavy homemade meal will just weigh people down, so keep it light and keep it fun.
- Drinks. Afterwards, you need to consider both alcohol and alcoholic drinks. If anybody has driven to you, collect their keys at the door and give them a number for a cab company. You don’t want anybody having any accidents just because they are having fun. Supply the arrangement of drinks and make sure that you have some drinking games to go with it for those who are choosing to drink alcohol. You can still supply shots of nonalcoholic drinks, two so beer pong can still be non-alcoholic beer pong!
- Games night doesn’t have to be at your house. A little secret about game night is that it doesn’t necessarily have to be at home. Games night is something that you can do by hiring out an arcade and going all out to have fun. People love to play games at games cafes, too such as Jenga or Twister. You want to make sure you have access to good games, and that means if you head out to an arcade, you could hire out a few machines just for your team to use exclusively. You could even bring games to a local park and set up an outside bench on a warm evening. Twister is so much more fun when the Suns are going down over the beach than when it is in the living room.
- Make arrangements for a sleepover. If you are planning to have people over at your house make sure that you have enough sleeping bags, an air mattress or pillows for those who just want to crash and not go home. Not every guest will choose to crash at your house, and that would be fine, but make sure that you do not for those who do. If you don’t have much space, make sure that you have a time limit for when game night should end and book some taxis to collect everybody at that time. You don’t want anybody driving home if they are impaired.
- Variety of games. A successful game night requires offering guests something for all tastes and skill levels, from classic board games like backgammon to more familiar party games like Twister. Tactically rich yet straightforward to learn, backgammon offers two-player gaming that effortlessly combines luck and strategy into an engaging two-player competition. It provides respite from more strenuous group activities while offering friendly one-on-one competition between players. Make sure that a backgammon set is available, or provide them with a step-by-step guide on their first playthrough!
Wrapping it up
No matter what you do with it, you’ve got to enjoy it. If you’re spending time planning this game’s night, it is to be fun, flexible, and packed with the people that you love the most. Don’t invite anybody you don’t want to hang out with, because this is supposed to be an evening that you all enjoy. Your friends will thank you for being an excellent host if you make sure that their food, drinks, and entertainment is all covered. Having a great time at game night is so much easier when you follow the steps above, so don’t miss out and make sure that your next game night hosted by you is the best night of the year.
Tell us what some of your tips are for a successful game night with friends. I know with my friends playing Super Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros was good enough for us. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.