J. Jefferson
United States
Columbus
Ohio
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When I think of party games, all of the games I can think of are best with at least 4, probably more players. But supporting a lot of players is not the only defining characteristic of a party games. I also think of party games as being highly interactive, having simple, easily taught mechanics, and focusing more on fun than strategy (though of course a party game can and should have strategy). Generally, I think a good party game is one during which players might laugh out loud.
Are there any games that have these other characteristics of party games, but either work well or are specifically designed for two players? Do you think such a game design is even possible?
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Randy Cox
United States
Clemson
South Carolina
1024x768 works just fine - Don't Wide the Site!
The Back Alley gets no respect.
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The only one I can think of is Pants on Fire, which I have played 2-player (and enjoyed it). But it would still be better as a multi-player affair, as would most party games, I think.
Now, if you include knowledge games in the "party" genre (and most people to), then Trivial Pursuit and other trivia games work just as well with two as with many. In fact, they are arguably better with only 2, because there's far less downtime.
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Eric Jome
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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To me, a party game is a weird sort of non-game game. It cannot really be called a game in the same sense that Twilight Struggle is a game. The essential nature of a party game is organic flow; the game just comes from the participants, not from a body of rules. The prototype of party games is Charades. Here there are no pieces, no boards, the rules are just passed on through oral tradition, and it is totally dependent on the people playing.
So, could 2 people play Charades? Sure. In fact, there are many "talking" games perhaps best with 2 players.
Is a game like Trivial Pursuit a party game? It's in a grey area between party games and board games. Clearly, we could play a talking game of trivia, but the essential problem of that is authority - is your answer right or not? So, Trivial Pursuit provides an authoritative source to work out the details... and a simplistic board to help keep score (though a pad and paper would be just as good). Yet, I suspect many would call Trivial Pursuit a sort of party game. The basis, I think, of asking each other trivia questions, that is of the nature of party games.
Inherent in my line of thinking is something of a disagreement that a party game should have strategy. Strategy games have strategy. Party games aren't about strategy, they are about socialization, personal interaction. So, if you can have personal interaction between only 2 people (and of course you can) then certainly there are party games for 2.
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Mike Windsor
United States
Fort Worth
Texas
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Quote: Are there any games that have these other characteristics of party games, but either work well or are specifically designed for two players? Do you think such a game design is even possible?
Yes, and they are listed under "Adult" or "Couples" online. 
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Trent Hamm
United States
Huxley
Iowa
See this text? It's a gratuitous waste of GeekGold.
The game itself isn't important. Spending time intellectually jousting with likeminded folks is the real reason to game.
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mwindsor wrote: Yes, and they are listed under "Adult" or "Couples" online.
Such games end too quickly and take a long time to clean up.
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Thibault Bloch
France
Unspecified
Unspecified
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trenttsd wrote: mwindsor wrote: Yes, and they are listed under "Adult" or "Couples" online. Such games end too quickly and take a long time to clean up.
Yeah sure but OTOH they are the only games I know of where a very long setup time doesn't become boring after repeated plays.
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Ed Browne
United States
Terre Haute
Indiana
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Jefforama wrote: When I think of party games, all of the games I can think of are best with at least 4, probably more players. But supporting a lot of players is not the only defining characteristic of a party games. I also think of party games as being highly interactive, having simple, easily taught mechanics, and focusing more on fun than strategy (though of course a party game can and should have strategy). Generally, I think a good party game is one during which players might laugh out loud.
Are there any games that have these other characteristics of party games, but either work well or are specifically designed for two players? Do you think such a game design is even possible?
I recommend Cranium Hoopla. My wife and I enjoy it very much. Elements of Pictionary, Charades, etc. and you are working together to get so many within a certain time frame. When you run out of cards, Apples to Apples noun cards work too.
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Edward Jamer
Canada
Fredericton
NB
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Grimstax wrote: I recommend Cranium Hoopla. ...
Came into this thread to make the same suggestion. Hoopla is an excellent choice for groups large or small - timed, cooperative, and very enjoyable.
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DoomTurtle
United States
Redford
Michigan
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Games like Catchphrase and Taboo can be played 2 player (pretty much any trivia/clue-giving game) if you're just playing for fun and not necessarily trying to keep score. You can just give the clues/questions to each other.
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David Jackman
United States
Indianapolis
Indiana
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taurus wrote: trenttsd wrote: mwindsor wrote: Yes, and they are listed under "Adult" or "Couples" online. Such games end too quickly and take a long time to clean up. Yeah sure but OTOH they are the only games I know of where a very long setup time doesn't become boring after repeated plays.
My long setup time, you mean a males entire life, right? 
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Randy Cox
United States
Clemson
South Carolina
1024x768 works just fine - Don't Wide the Site!
The Back Alley gets no respect.
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cosine wrote: To me, a party game is a weird sort of non-game game. I think it depends on how stringently you define the term. I know lots of people (and I think the majority of BGGers who have posted an opinion) who consider Password to be a party game. It's got a rigid set of rules, plenty of strategy, and a definitive scoring mechanism. It's a cutthroat, strategic game. But because it's fun, it gets called "party" by most.
Quote: The prototype of party games is Charades. Here there are no pieces, no boards, the rules are just passed on through oral tradition, and it is totally dependent on the people playing. Again, it depends on the players. I was taught Charades as an adult (I had played "guess what I'm miming" type charades as a kid, though). When I was taught, it was decidedly cutthroat and strategic. You had to come up with the other team's clues, so you went for obscure stuff that is tough to sound out. You had to consider your clue and play to your team's strengths and weaknesses (are they better with homophones? better with fill-in-the-blank number-of-words puzzles? better with whole-thing's-about clues in a more holistic manner? can they handle a 25 second build-up of clues that will then "pop" and make sense? will Molly be able to figure out "hump"? etc). And you had to do all this with no more than 20 seconds lead-time and constantly altering your strategy as you discover where the turn is going.
Quote: Is a game like Trivial Pursuit a party game? According to BGGers, apparently it is. I've tried to argue the point for "knowledge" games, but no one who enjoys party games, and certainly not the party poo-poohers, ever agrees with me on that one.
Quote: Party games aren't about strategy, they are about socialization I'll agree they're social. But so are Puerto Rico and Power Grid, if you're at all capable as a human and gamer. I think the game genre you're looking for is more Parlor than Party game. And, more restrictively, I think you're talking about the non-strategic parlor games which are more for fun. Most party games I've played, and every party game I've ever seen put into a box, is a strategtic affair in some way. It is about scoring in some way or other.
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J. Jefferson
United States
Columbus
Ohio
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cosine wrote: Inherent in my line of thinking is something of a disagreement that a party game should have strategy. Strategy games have strategy. Party games aren't about strategy, they are about socialization, personal interaction. So, if you can have personal interaction between only 2 people (and of course you can) then certainly there are party games for 2.
This gets to a different discussion of whether party games can/may/must have strategy. But it's an interesting discussion, so ... I think your example of charades shows that party games don't really need to have strategy. But some of my favorite party games clearly do. There's strategy to both Wits & Wagers and Ca$h 'n Gun$, maybe not the same extreme degree of strategy as in Twilight strategy, but still some pretty good strategy. I guess you could define the two types of games in such a way that Cash-n-Guns is not a pure party game, but sort of a hybrid party-strategy game.
For me, a party game is all about the tone and feeling that it evokes--a tone that is suitable for a party. It should be lighthearted, fun, get people laughing. That's the type of game I'm seeking for two players. (And I've gotten some really great ideas already, thanks!)
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Randy Cox
United States
Clemson
South Carolina
1024x768 works just fine - Don't Wide the Site!
The Back Alley gets no respect.
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Interesting points.
Funny thing is, I've never played a party game at a party. So, I don't use that criteria at all when deciding if a game "feels" like a party game.
Personally, I consider Cash N Guns and Bang to be standard games. Adult Social Strategy games just like Twilight Struggle or ASL or Chinatown or Aladdin's Dragons or Pit or Careers. They're all games with goals and strategies and mechanics and free reign to work within the rules to strategically dominate your opponent. But what they are not is socially freeing. Free-form. You can't really play a strategy game while washing the dishes or talking about the kids' doctor appointments or checking out this week's specials in the newspaper's grocery insert or sculpting a new wax figurine. In the games I think of as party games, there's plenty of opportunity to do all that stuff and still not miss a beat in the game.
That's not my complete definition of what makes a game a party game, but I know them when I play them. And I don't consider CNG or Bang to be in that group.
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Superhawk
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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Depends on what you mean by "party". Lts of different ways to think about that. Some things that look like they would be perfect stink and some things you wouldn't guess as good can be great with a little forward thinking.
I recommend Kakerlakensalat, Hey, That's My Fish!, and Zombie Dice
Or any simple game where you can quick house rule stuff to make it more interactive adn crazy. We play Hey! That's My Fish as a party game where crazy stuff happens everytime a penguin is sunk.
Strip Zombie Dice anyone?
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Eric Jome
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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Randy Cox wrote: It's got a rigid set of rules, plenty of strategy, and a definitive scoring mechanism. It's a cutthroat, strategic game.
I would consider Password a party game. I would not consider it to have any meaningful level of strategy.
Quote: When I was taught, it was decidedly cutthroat and strategic.
Trying hard to win does not make it strategic. Complex planning before the game begins and re-evaluation of planning during the game makes it strategic. Party games are mostly far too spontaneous for anything like serious strategy.
Contrast Chess. Chess has lots of strategy. Trivial Pursuit has choosing between 2 categories and picking the worst category for the opposing team in the end. Those are several orders of magnitude apart from one another.
I'm not saying that it doesn't take considerable skill to play a party game well or that you cannot play hard to win. But there isn't much planning in playing such games. It would defeat the purpose of having an game with an impromptu, ad hoc nature which is essential to party games.
Quote: I'll agree they're social. But so are Puerto Rico and Power Grid, if you're at all capable as a human and gamer.
You are over-generalizing the meaning of social in this context; I mean social as "the point of the game is interacting with other people on a personal level" not merely playing a game with other people present in the game.
One cannot play Charades solo or against machines. One can play Puerto Rico like that. The laughter and fun of party games comes not in the execution of a well played strategy, but in the antics and delightful frivolities of the player's choices and actions.
Quote: It is about scoring in some way or other.
Having a winner and a loser is essential to the nature of all games. Keeping score is a way to have a winner and a loser. Thus, party games are games, but scoring alone does not make it a strategic game - all games have that.
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Eric Jome
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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Jefforama wrote: But some of my favorite party games clearly do.
Like most things in life, games exist on a spectrum. Some are more party, some are less party.
We swear like sailors, laugh and tease each other endlessly over Le Havre. We have quite a social time. Is Le Havre a party game? Probably not. Or maybe a little. Or is it just the way we play that makes playing a game a party?
Above, I refer to what I feel is the nature of some sort of ideal concept of party game. Many games can have more or less of those aspects. To me, it is therefore difficult to draw a line in the sand and say all things beyond it are definitely party and all things short are not.
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Was George Orwell an Optimist?
United States
Corvallis
Oregon
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Tumblin-Dice is a dexterity game, and Unspeakable Words is a word game, but both serve very well as party games at my house, and both work great for two players.
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Rick
United States
Burnsville
Minnesota
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Games that I consider "Party Games" that my wife and I have played:
- Scattergories
- Word on the Street
Although both are much more fun with a large group of people, or a "party" if you will...
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Randy Cox
United States
Clemson
South Carolina
1024x768 works just fine - Don't Wide the Site!
The Back Alley gets no respect.
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This reminds me, you can play Kaleidos or Scrutineyes with 2.
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Mike Windsor
United States
Fort Worth
Texas
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Quote: For me, a party game is all about the tone and feeling that it evokes--a tone that is suitable for a party.
Yep, exactly what I was talking about earlier.  
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Patrick Carroll
United States
Carver
Minnesota
"If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly." (GK Chesterton)
"That's how the light gets in." (Leonard Cohen)
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Facetious hijack attempt:
How 'bout a solitaire party game?
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Erik D
United States
Elmhurst
New York
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trenttsd wrote: mwindsor wrote: Yes, and they are listed under "Adult" or "Couples" online. Such games end too quickly and take a long time to clean up.
Not if you bag your bits.
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Patrick C.
United States
Milford
New Hampshire
Labyrinth: The War On Terror is historically inaccurate & politically biased. It's the one popular game that violates BGG's requirements to keep politics out of gen. discussion. And yet it receives special treatment =US-centric views of this site.
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Blink
It's ridiculously simple and some consider it a kids only game. But I honestly can't think of any other game that I've played that both feels like a party game and can be played by two people.
You'd probably play this three times max in a row. That's only about 10 mins, 15 at most.
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Superhawk
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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Best solution so far: Get an ipad2 and have dozens of options with no mess and no transportation issues.
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