Christmas Party Pack - Adults

Party games are always a great option for those times when the energy has gotten a bit low and people need a pick me up. Today I’m going to look at three games that are guaranteed to do just that, with or without alcohol, and get that party started again. Although you may want to avoid playing these with your parents.



Bucket Of Doom

In Bucket Of Doom players are tasked with coming up with a story, sounds pretty easy right? That may not be the case. Each player is dealt eight cards that each have an object or thing on them and there is a communal card dealt out. This communal card will dictate a scenario for example: “You’re the only lobster left in the tank. Some bastard in the restaurant has just ordered lobster.”
Players have to use one of the eight cards they have been dealt to create a story where they escape from the scenario and live, the story can be as silly or rude as people want it to be but what matters is that it catches the attention of other players when the voting happens. After each player has told their story of escape, all players then vote on which story they think is the best, obviously you can’t vote for yourself, and whoever has the most votes gets the scenario card, then players draw a card to replenish their hand. There are other variants of Bucket Of Doom in which you can use any number of cards in your hand to create a story and one where you can’t draw other cards until you have used all of the initial cards you were dealt and to get even more playability out of it the object cards are double sided so you can use the white side for one game and then the black side for another, but what makes Bucket Of Doom a great party game is the random factor of cards you could be holding. From a KFC bargain Bucket to a Darth Vader Dildo there are a lot of wacky combinations for you to wrap your rad around while thinking of an absurd story to involve them in, this game is definitely suited to the quick witted but if you wanted to even things out a tad you could get very drunk and see what people’s weird, twisted minds can conjure up. Who knows, you might find yourself escaping Freddie Krueger by using an amalgamation of a ventriloquist doll, princess Elsa costume, bright red lipstick, Santa’s sack, a Cliff Richard calendar and alphabetti spaghetti by luring him in with a dolled up...doll then scaring him half to death with a Cliff Richard calendar (the only thing known to scare Freddie) before bundling him into Santa’s sack full of alphabetti spaghetti (one of the few ways to kill Mr Kruger). You can probably come up with something better though.

Obama llama

Do you like rhyming? Do you like weird cryptic clues? Obama Llama couples both of these things together nicely by giving players the challenge of figuring out a rhyming version of the clues on a card they’ve been given. For example “Morning TV presenter making a wobbly pudding” is “Lorain Kelly making a jelly”. An alternative way of playing involves the card only having the rhyme and the player with the card has to come up with their own clue. So if I have the clue as “Ex Prime Minister eating fruit” the rhyme would be “Tony Blair eating a pear”. Players try to e the fastest to come up with a rhyme and whoever is fastest gets the card, the player with the most cards at the end of the game wins. Obama Llama is a very easy to understand game that has a good amount of replayability thanks to the rhymes being up to the players and as long as all players agree to a rhyme then it can stand, you don’t have to just adhere to what’s on the card. It works really well for parties and when drinking is involved but also for holidays when the family’s around and everyone is looking for something to challenge them and have fun with.

Cash ‘n’ guns

Lastly is a game that I absolutely love, one that involves skill, forethought and a damn good poker face. In Cash ‘n’ Guns you and your fellow players are bank robbers that have just pulled off your biggest heist ever, now the problem is splitting the money. Obviously it should be split evenly but some people have different ideas and you all find yourself in a stand off with each other. Each player starts with a gun, don’t worry it’s just a foam gun, and a set of cards consisting of Clicks and Bangs. In each round players take a card of their choice from the Clicks and Bangs they have and on the count of 3 aims their gun at another player. At this point players have the option to stand down or continue aiming at their chosen bullet recipient, if they stand down then they won’t fire and any people aiming at them won’t have a target anymore. If you choose not to stand down however you are now in a tricky position, this is were that poker face comes in. Anyone aiming at you may have chosen a Bang card in which case you’re taking a hit, or they may have picked a Click card which would mean they have to be fairly confident you have too if they want to continue aiming at you. There’s a fair bit of politics when playing Cash ‘n’ Guns, this means a lot of talking which could dissuade someone from shooting you but can also result in players forgetting what card they have chosen and having to really bluff any potential assassins. All that talking and forgetting is exacerbated with the addition of more players or something like alcohol and result in some odd situations that consist of you begging an opponent to stand down because you don’t know what you chose. The aim is to have the most money at the end of the game, and ideally not get shot but that’s part of the job. Cash ‘n’ Guns can get an evening of gaming off to a great start as well as providing a good laugh, it’s punchy and fun with a lot of intricate mechanics and I would very much recommend it as a good gift or just addition to your game library.

I hope you guys have enjoyed this look at a few party games for the older gamer, maybe its given you a few ideas for the upcoming holiday and if so head down to your local games store for more information. In the mean time though, keep checking back to Game Changers for more gaming news and updates.