Games nights can be one of the most fun ways to spend time with your friends. They can be a great way for people new to a friend group to be welcomed into the group, because they are the perfect middle-ground activity. Dinner parties require constant conversation, which can be awkward, and movie nights are the exact opposite, preventing people from getting to know one another. Game nights offer the best of both worlds.
What the perfect game night looks like depends on who you ask. The classic game night is usually a bunch of buddies playing multiplayer console games and eating pizza. Of course, that’s an awesome night – there’s a reason it’s a classic, after all, but you can also get a bit more creative with your plans.
Here are three alternative ways to host a great games night for you and your friends.
Casino night
Unless you live in a big gambling city like Las Vegas or Atlantic City, spending the day at the casino with your friends can be an incredibly expensive event since it requires travel, lodging and everything else involved. Hosting a casino games night is a modern alternative that lets you enjoy all of the classic casino games without going too far.
Hosting a casino night is really only possible thanks to online casinos like Chumba. Online casinos have hundreds of games – both slot machine games and table games – available to play. All you need is to create an account and make a deposit to start playing. When you’re hosting a casino night, you can have each friend set up a game on their phone or tablet.
Alongside the online casino games, you can also have a table set up to play poker. Poker is one of the best casino games to play with a group of friends because being able to read the other people at the table can be a big part of the game.
To add to the experience, you can encourage your friends to get all dressed up. You can also make canapés and cocktails to help capture the feel of a chic Vegas casino.
Board game night
Board games are enjoying a renaissance. They have gone from being the main activity of suburban family time or the inaccessible preserve of fantasy nerds to a more mainstream form of entertainment. As they’ve grown in popularity, more game developers have been able to create games. Now there is a huge variety of games for every skill level and in every genre and style.
The best board games for you and your friends will depend on your interests and how familiar you are with playing table top or card games. If you love the classics, you can’t go wrong with Settlers of Catan. For fans of zombie movies and games, Last Night on Earth is a collaborative survival game.
One of the most creative games on the market is the card game Gloom. The illustrations are inspired by the work of Edward Gorey, giving the game a cutesy-creepy vibe. The deck also has multiple extension packs so that a bigger group of people can play.
You could also host a nostalgic, pajama party-style game night. Order a few pizzas, pop some popcorn and get ready for a night of Twister, Clue, Candyland, Sorry! and Scrabble. We suggest avoiding Monopoly, as it takes too long to play and is renowned for ruining relationships.
Old school night
A basic video game night would feature some of the newest, most popular releases that you and your friends have been talking about. An old school game night is all about the retro classics. The original Super Mario games and the first few installments in the Final Fantasy series are always popular options.
You can also play retro console games. Using an emulator allows you to play retro console games on your computer. This is a great option, since there are some classics on NES, Sega Genesis and others that you may have a hard time playing otherwise. These games bring back great memories for older players and let younger players have a peek at how gaming used to be.
If you want to go truly old school, you can go all out and host a LAN party. Prior to recent tech developments, LAN parties were the main way in which friends could all game together. If you have an internet connection capable of handling multiple computers, hosting a LAN party can be a cool look back at a simpler time.
