Welcome to our first Genre Deep Dive!
As our board game range has grown (and grown... and grown), I've realised just how many different genres, mechanics and styles of games there are. Even as someone who spends a lot of time looking at board games, there are always new terms to learn and games that don't fit neatly into just one category.
So, I thought it would be fun to start digging a little deeper into some of the different genres you'll find at Book Hero, what makes them different, and how to figure out which ones might be right for you.
And we're starting with one of the biggest, easiest to get to the table, and possibly most chaotic: party games!
So, What Actually Is a Party Game?
"Party game" is a pretty broad term.
Unlike something like a deck-building game or worker placement game, where the category describes a particular mechanic, party games are more about the experience they're designed to create.
They're generally easy to learn, relatively quick to play and focused heavily on interaction between players. Rather than spending ten minutes silently planning your perfect turn, you're probably talking, guessing, bluffing, drawing, shouting answers or trying desperately not to laugh while someone else does something ridiculous.
They're also often designed to accommodate bigger groups. While plenty can still be played with two or three people, party games are one of the best places to look when you've got a table full of people and need something everyone can join.
But that doesn't mean they're all the same.
For the Wordy Game People 🗣️
Some of the most recognisable party games are all about words and communication.
At pretty much every board game night, we start off with a round of Bananagrams to get everyone going. It's a great fast-paced game that can get surprisingly competitive when people claim to have won.
Another great game to start with is Codenames. Two teams are trying to identify their secret agents from a grid of words, with their spymasters only allowed to give a single-word clue and a number. The trick is finding one clue that somehow connects several completely unrelated words without accidentally sending your team towards the wrong ones.
Then there's Articulate!, where you have just 30 seconds to describe as many words as possible without actually saying the word itself.
These are the kinds of games where knowing how your friends and family think can either be a massive advantage... or somehow make things considerably worse.
They're also a great choice if you want a party game that's more about clever connections and communication than pure chaos.
For the Bluffers & Detectives 🕵️
Then we get to the games where you should probably stop trusting everyone at the table.
Social deduction and bluffing games give players hidden information, secret roles or reasons to lie to each other. Half the fun comes from trying to work out who's telling the truth, and the other half comes from attempting to look completely innocent when you're absolutely not.
The Chameleon is a great example of this style. Everyone knows the secret word except one player: the Chameleon. Each person gives a clue to prove they know what everyone is talking about, while the Chameleon desperately tries to blend in.
And if you have a particularly big group, there are games such as Blood on the Clocktower, which can accommodate a whole crowd and turns social deduction into a much bigger event.
These games can be brilliant for groups who love debating, accusing each other and analysing every slightly suspicious thing someone says.
Friendships may be tested.
For the People Who Want Chaos
Some party games aren't here to test your vocabulary or powers of deduction.
They're here to create chaos.
Dutch Blitz is a perfect example. Everyone is playing at the same time, racing to get rid of their cards as quickly as possible. It’s a game without any turns or time to carefully plan your next move. It's fast, frantic and the kind of game where the table can descend into chaos very quickly.
Then there are games like Poetry for Neanderthals, where you have to get your teammates to guess words and phrases while speaking only in single-syllable words. Accidentally use a bigger word and the other team gets to bop you with an inflatable club.
This is also where you'll find games involving ridiculous challenges, strange noises, frantic reactions and rules that would sound completely bizarre if you tried to explain them outside the context of a board game.
If your favourite game nights usually involve a lot of laughter, a little bit of competitiveness and everyone talking at once, this might be the party game category for you.
For the Trivia Fans 🧠
Party games and trivia have always gone hand in hand, but trivia games don't necessarily mean answering obscure general knowledge questions anymore.
There are games built around music, pop culture, specific fandoms and all sorts of niche knowledge, as well as games that take the basic idea of trivia and make it a little more chaotic.
Misheard Music, for example, gives you song titles and artist names written as lyrical nonsense and challenges you to work out what they're actually supposed to be.
And some games take music in a completely different direction. Add to Playlist has teams creating playlists from different prompts before trying to work out who chose each song and which prompt inspired it.
So even the person who says, "I'm terrible at trivia", doesn't necessarily have to sit this category out.
For the Creative Ones 🎨
This is where things can get particularly entertaining, because being good at drawing, storytelling or improvising isn't necessarily an advantage.
In fact, sometimes being terrible at it makes the game significantly better.
Creative party games can ask you to draw, act, tell stories, make noises or come up with the funniest response to a prompt. Rather than finding one objectively correct answer, a lot of the fun comes from seeing how differently everyone interprets the same thing.
Dixit sits at the gentler end of this category. Players use beautifully illustrated cards and give clues that need to be obvious enough that someone understands them, but not so obvious that everyone does.
It's still social and creative, but it's a very different kind of party game from one where everyone is shouting across the table.
Which brings me to...
Party Games Don't Have to Be Loud
I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions about party games.
If someone says "party game", it's easy to picture a big group, lots of noise and everyone trying to talk over each other.
And yes, there are absolutely games like that.
But there are also plenty of party games that are more about conversation, creativity or working out how your friends think. Games like Dixit can create a much more relaxed experience while still having that social element that makes party games so much fun.
You also don't necessarily need ten people. There are party games in our range that work with two players, while others are at their best when you've managed to get the entire family or friend group around the table.
So, How Do You Pick a Party Game?
One of the great things about having a range of different party games is that people can pick and choose what they want to play based on their moods and can tag in and tag out as the rounds and games change.
You can also choose party games based on the types of games that you all like playing.
✨ Does your group love trivia? Find something that lets them show off all of that completely random knowledge they've been storing away.
✨ Do they love arguing about who is lying? Try social deduction.
✨ Are they creative? Look at drawing, word and storytelling games.
✨ Do they just want to laugh and don't really care who wins? Embrace the chaos.
And if you're introducing games to people who don't usually play board games, party games are a fantastic place to start. They're generally designed to get going quickly, keep everyone involved and put the focus on having fun together rather than learning a giant rulebook.
That's probably why the category itself has become so enormous. Our Party Games collection now covers everything from clever word games and quiet creative games to bluffing, trivia and complete chaos.
So "party game" might not tell you exactly what you're going to be doing.
But there's a pretty good chance you'll be doing it together.
