The best games where you have to act 🕴 2025

Monikers is a lively and entertaining party game inspired by the classic public domain game Celebrities. It is designed for players who enjoy guessing games and offers a fun challenge through a series of rounds where the methods of clue-giving evolve and become more restrictive.

Monikers: Serious Nonsense is a standalone expansion featuring 330 cards created by Shut Up & Sit Down. This new set also includes several requests for the return of Monikers, offering twelve delightfully ridiculous fourth rounds, minus the two least interesting ones.

Time's Up! is a lively and entertaining charades-based party game, ideal for playing in teams of two or more. It's particularly engaging when played with teams of two. The game revolves around guessing famous historical or fictional characters, with each player contributing to a communal deck of names used across three distinct rounds.

Players form teams to participate in a charades-based party game. Each player selects cards featuring famous historical or fictional characters, which are then shuffled into a common set for three rounds. Team members take turns giving clues to help each other guess as many names as possible within a time limit, using varying rules for hints and responses in each round.

Players form teams of two or more and engage in a charades-based party game. Before the game starts, each player selects cards featuring familiar objects, crafts, and animals, which are then mixed into a stack for three rounds. Team members take turns giving clues to help their partners guess as many words as possible within 30 seconds, with each round introducing new rules for how clues can be given.

Time is up! Academy is a team-based party game that relies on charades, best enjoyed with pairs. Players select cards featuring old TV shows, music, and movies, which are then shuffled into a deck for three rounds of play, with varying rules for giving clues. In each round, team members take turns getting their teammates to guess as many names and titles as possible within 30 seconds, using increasingly limited clues.

Imagine is a creative and engaging party game that challenges players to guess over a thousand different items from various categories using 61 unique transparent cards. These cards can be combined by placing them next to each other or by layering them on top of one another to create representations of the items to be guessed. The key rule is that players must convey these concepts silently, relying solely on their ability to manipulate and combine the cards to express their ideas.

Spyfall immerses players in a unique party game experience where they step into the intriguing roles of spies, navigating through various scenarios to decipher their surroundings. In this engaging game, participants aim to uncover the spy in their midst while the spy endeavors to blend in and discern the secret location.

Players receive six secret missions in a party game where the first to complete three wins. The game is designed to be played in the background, allowing it to be enjoyed at home, on vacation, at the office, or at a party. Missions can include getting compliments from another player, hiding a card in a glass, or inventing a word and prompting someone to ask about its meaning.

Players assume roles in a secret role deduction game featuring three asymmetrical factions. While everyone is on the same ship, their goals diverge: loyal sailors aim to navigate safely to shore, pirates want to lead the ship into the Bermuda Triangle, and a crazed cultist seeks to summon their dark ruler, the Kraken. Each round, the ship sails in one of three directions, determined by the captain's often conflicting orders, while the crew engages in discussions and possible mutiny amid their quest for control.

Players give hints for their teammates to guess a word or phrase in a lively gameplay format. What sets this version apart is the use of cards featuring only images, with no text. The game consists of two rounds using the same set of cards; players can describe them in the first round and mimic the hints in the second round to accumulate points.

Two Rooms and a Boom is an exhilarating social deduction and hidden role party game designed for six or more players. The game divides players into two teams, the Red Team and the Blue Team, each with a critical role: the President for the Blue Team and the Bomber for the Red Team. Players are split between two separate playing areas, representing two rooms, where the strategic interplay and deception unfold.

Spyfall 2 elevates the intriguing and humorous party game Spyfall to new heights. This game is all about deception, quick thinking, and trying to pinpoint the spy among your friends. Each round, players find themselves at a secret location, except for the spy (or spies, in this version), who has no idea where they are. Through clever questioning, players must figure out who the spy is while the spy tries to blend in and guess the location to win points.

Snake Oil offers a refreshing twist on party games, where creativity, quick thinking, and persuasive skills reign supreme. Players transform into cunning salespeople, concocting bizarre products from a random assortment of word cards to pitch to various "customers" drawn from a deck of unique character cards. The aim is not just to sell a product but to tailor the pitch to the whims and needs of an ever-changing clientele, ranging from pirates to zombies.

The objective is to collect the most treasures, awarded by completing tasks. Players turn the hourglass and reveal a treasure card on each turn, completing various tasks before time runs out, such as pantomiming animals or matching cards. They can choose to flip over another card for a chance at more treasures, but if time expires, they lose all accumulated treasure cards.

A new edition of "Der HeidelBÄR" dives into the ocean. Players must use the names of sea creatures to get the other players to guess which "bear" they are referring to.

Four players enter the stage together and improvise a scene based on a unique situation known only to them. Each player knows their own rank, from 1 to 4, but not the ranks of others. Players must act in a way that makes their rank clear to the audience, and no acting experience is required to enjoy the game.

Funemployed is a card-based party game where players compete to land jobs. They apply for real positions like astronaut, lawyer, or priest while claiming absurd qualifications, such as being able to talk to pandas. Players must creatively present their qualifications in a role-playing manner, aiming to convince others that they are the best fit for the job.

Sound Box is a cooperative party game for 4 to 7 players where you listen to your friends make strange sounds while trying to guess various concepts. At the start of each round, you lay down sound cards and draw a numbered token to find out which one you must imitate. As the timer starts, all sound makers create their noises simultaneously for 13 seconds of hilarious chaos. Players earn points for correct guesses, but wrong guesses end the round and mean players risk losing lives if cards go unguessed.

Engage in a sneaky competition of covert communication. Signal with a wink that you have a delivery for another spy, and wait for their eye shift to indicate the meeting point. Be discreet; if someone intercepts you, the mission is blown!

Take a tour through the peaceful vineyards and picturesque wineries of California's wine country. During the annual wine tasting festival, the body of local vineyard owner Barry Underwood is discovered hidden in his wine cellar, after being missing for six years. With the finding of his body, new clues emerge to unravel this vintage murder, and you might just be a suspect.

Teams of two players compete for a seat on a train based on drawn cards. One member gestures and calls out the passenger's name to guide the other, who adjusts the passenger positions on a board. The first team to seat all passengers and shout "Tokyo Train" wins the card, and the first to collect seven cards wins the game.

Players take on the role of politicians in a seriously silly party game where they debate both serious and absurd topics. Two players argue for or against a topic, and once the time is up, others vote on who won the debate. It’s a hilarious game for 3 to 16 adults, lasting between 30 to 120 minutes, ensuring everyone stays engaged throughout.

Players create a steady beat by clapping their thighs and hands to the rhythm of Queen's "We Will Rock You." At the start, each player receives a card with a symbol they must create with their hands. As the game progresses, players must replace claps with their own symbols and pass them along while keeping the rhythm. Players who fail to maintain the beat receive new symbol cards, making the game more challenging.

Speechless is an exciting party game for 3 to 8 players where participants desperately express words without speaking. One player takes on the role of the "host" and has 90 seconds to present 6 words for others to guess, writing their guesses down on a dry-erase board. Points are awarded for correct guesses, with bonus scoring for matching incorrect guesses from other players.

Players assume the roles of news anchors at a desk or in the field within a strange evolving world. The game unfolds over three rounds—Morning News, News at Noon, and Evening Edition—where participants alternately create news stories, repurpose elements from previous rounds, and introduce new articles. Each round prompts players to adapt assigned story elements to their news segments, leading to increasingly bizarre and chaotic narratives as the same news story evolves through different themes.

In Ugg-Tect, players collaborate in teams to construct impressive, albeit "functional," structures using nearby materials. As cavemen, communication relies on primitive gestures and sounds, with each team having an architect who guides them using simple commands. The fastest and most precise building team will win the game.

Players must have their teammates guess what they are trying to convey. They will act, draw, hum, and talk about various topics, from "European Capitals" to "Movie Villains." Speed and creativity are essential, but beware of the forbidden word that cannot be used.

Ancient sorcery, dark omens, and endless curses await as players become adept practitioners of Egyptian dark magic, followers of the undead druidic arts, or arcane wizards performing Voodoo rituals. Prepare for the greatest conflict of black magic ever, as the Voodoo tournament begins.

Players embark on a thrilling journey through time, exploring bright eras and countries. They must unmask a spy hidden in various intriguing locations, from a Neanderthal cave to a moon base, while trying not to reveal the secrets of unexpected characters. This standalone party game combines bluffing, questioning, and clever answering, allowing players to have fun uncovering the mystery of the hidden spy.