Tech
13 Fun Games That Are Perfect For Virtual Surprise Parties
Prepare to laugh out loud.
While going to a boozy birthday brunch or meeting up at a bar for happy hour hasn’t been an option for most people in the last year, virtually getting together with friends has been the highlight of quarantine. And by now you’re no stranger to Zoom parties and have probably even hosted one or two yourself. Of course, having fun games, ice-breakers, and activities to do virtual parties is a must — and it’s especially true when you’re planning a Zoom surprise party.
If the crew at the virtual party doesn’t all know each other, games like Mystery Talk and Psych! are great for breaking the ice and getting everyone feeling comfortable. And brainy games like Two Truths And A Lie, Celebrity Names, and How Do You Doo are all great when you want to liven the party up. And you’ll want to throw in games like the Surprise Matching Game and the Press Conference Game to shine a light on the guest(s)of honor.
Ready to make this virtual surprise as good as one IRL? Whether you’re throwing a virtual surprise birthday party or just a surprise celebration, these 13 games are sure to get the Zoom party started.
1. Two Truths And A Lie
This college favorite is one of the perfect ice-breaking games. As the title suggests, each guest will tell everyone two truth facts about them, along with one lie, and the other party guests must figure out which "fact" is actually false.
2. The Laughing Game
Way harder than it sounds, the whole point of this game is not to laugh — which makes it all the more entertaining. Party guests will take turns one at a time, saying either of the words "ha," "ho," or "hee" to mimic laughing. But, whoever actually busts out laughing first loses the game. Last one to not laugh, wins! This game will be perfect for your most stoic friends.
3. Mystery Talk
In this mysterious game everyone will draw a fellow guest's name and a random phrase from an online generator. The object is to casually drop your phrase during conversation to the guest that your drew without them realizing you're trying to squeeze a random phrase into the conversation.
4. Things
According to the Things official website, the point of the game is to get everyone laughing, but, winning is nice too. You'll be given categories like, "Things you would never do in public." Participants will then write down one thing they would never let happen out in the open — it can be as outrageous as you wan. One person will then read each player's response anonymously and everyone will then take turns trying to guess who wrote what in order to eliminate the other guests, until only one person is left.
5. Jackbox Games
Packed with something for everyone, Jackbox games, offers games like Trivia Murder Party and Joke Boat that will keep everyone entertained for hours. All you have to do is sign up for Jackbox and send a four-letter code to your friends who’ll put it into the Jackbox website — and then voila!
6. Psych!
Outwit your friends with the game Psych!. Described as trivia-meets-Cards Against Humanity, you and your party mates will be answering real questions with fake answers. One person goes first and asks everyone a real question that has a real answer. Your friends will then try to psych you out by saying wrong answers intentionally. If you can discover the real amongst the fakes, you win the round.
7. Surprise Matching Game
How well does everyone know the guest of honor? In this game, you'll have different categories like favorite movie, travel destination, pizza topping, etc. and the whole point is to match what the guest of honor will write down. Make the game more challenging by setting a timer and whoever matches the most items as the guest of honor, wins. If you need some examples of categories you can choose from check out this site.
8. What's In Your Bag?
Using the guest of honor’s bag as the example, have everyone take out their own bags to compare identical items. Whoever has the most identical (or similar) items, takes the winning prize...or just gets bragging rights.
9. The Celebrity Name Game
You and your party guests will take turns in this game as you try to name as many celebrities as you can... but there's a twist. After the first person goes, you can only name a celebrity whose name starts with the first letter of the aforementioned celebrity's last name. For example, if someone said Anne Hathaway, you could then say Halle Berry.
10. The Press Conference Guessing Game
One part Charades and one part improv, this game involves one person thinking of a celebrity or character to impersonate. Then they will then hold a "press conference" and give random clues in order for the other party guests to successfully guess who they are impersonating. The person to guess correctly gets to hold the press conference next.
11. Houseparty Games
Another social networking party tool, the Houseparty app allows you and your friends to bounce around to different virtual rooms and play all sorts of games like Chips and Guac (a version of Cards Against Humanity) and Quick Draw.
12. Virtual Scavenger Hunt
Move the party to different areas of everyone's homes by setting up a scavenger hunt. You can tailor your hunt list to things that specifically relate to the guest of honor, or you can head over to Google and find a home scavenger hunt list.
13. How Do You Doo
Everyone will need to break into even teams for this musical game. The opposite team will mute their microphones and a timer will be set for 60 seconds as the team selects one person who will sing a song to their teammates only using the word "doo". You'll keep singing songs as your teammates work to guess them correctly. Each correct guess is worth one point, and the team with the most points at the end of their rounds, wins.
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