Best Party Games To Play This Holiday Season

Best Party Games To Play This Holiday Season

With Christmas and New Year’s upon us, family and friends will gather to celebrate the holidays. Whether it’s a cozy family get-together or a room packed with dozens of friends, sooner or later, the party will start to go stale. That’s when it’s time to pull out your collection of party games to keep the party hopping. What’s that? You don’t have a collection of multi-player video games to choose from. That’s okay because we’ve compiled a list of the best party games that will keep your group playing into the wee hours of the night.

Super Mario Party Jamboree

  • System: Nintendo Switch
  • Max Number of Players: 4 offline, 20 online

The Mario Party has been keeping family and friends battling it out to collect the most stars since 1998. Part board game, part mini-game mayhem, Super Mario Party Jamboree was released in October 2024. Choose from twenty-two characters as you collect stars on five new boards and two returning favorites. You’ll need to master 110 mini-games as you play in 4-player offline mode or against up to 20 players online.

Jackbox Games

  • System: PC, Mac, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, iPhone, FireTV (varies by game)
  • Max Number of Players: 10 plus 10,000 audience members

While most party games are limited to the number of controllers you have for your system, with Jackbox Games’ Party Packs, up to 10 players use a phone or tablet to play along. The remaining people at your party (up to 10,000 people) still get to participate as a collective audience, so no one is left out.

With over 50 family-friendly party games spread across 10 Party Packs, you will have your party-goers laughing for hours. Or, if your party is adult-only, you can spice things up with Jackbox Games’ latest threesome of adult-themed games in The Jackbox Naughty Pack – Fakin’ It All Night Long, Dirty Drawful, and Let Me Finish.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

  • System: Nintendo Switch
  • Max Number of Players: 4 on a single Switch, 8 via wireless (up to 2 per device), 12 via LAN or online

Nintendo fans have been racing Kart racing for years. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the definitive version of Mario Kart and is packed with 42 drivers and 48 courses, plus an additional 8 drivers and 48 courses with the optional Booster Course Pass. With each race only lasting a few minutes, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is perfect for a round-robin tournament if you have a large group at your party.

Tekken 8

  • System: PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5
  • Max Number of Players: 2

If you want your party to have a fighting game with a little more oomph than SSBU, then Tekken 8 is the game for you. A classic 1v1 brawler, Tekken 8 will have everyone screaming NEXT as they pick from the 32-character roster. 

Super Smash Bros Ultimate

  • System: Nintendo Switch
  • Max Number of Players: 8

Released in 2018, Super Smash Bros Ultimate is still the penultimate party brawler. Up to 8 players can choose from over 80 characters and fight it out across 100+ stages (more fighters and stages available through DLC). Fighting is easy to learn but hard to master, making SSBU a great party game for players of any skill level. There’s even a tournament mode that can handle up to  32 players in a bracket-style brawl to crown your party’s fighting champion.

Ultimate Chicken Horse

  • System: PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch
  • Max Number of Players: 4

Ultimate Chicken Horse is an exciting platformer with a twist. The objective is simple: be the first player to go from one side of the stage and reach the goal line on the other side. Each round, players will place obstacles to create the stage. Some players will place obstacles like stairs or springboards to help you, but others will place deadly traps like buzzsaws or barbed wire to stop you in your tracks. Hilarious antics ensue as players earn points not only for making it to the goal, but also for stopping other players with their well-placed traps.

Sociable Soccer 25

  • System: PC, PlayStation 4|5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch
  • Max Number of Players: 2

Most sports games require dozens of hours to master, but if you’re looking for a game that can get everyone involved, look no further than Sociable Soccer 25. With arcade-style controls, Sociable Soccer 25 is more casual than the likes of EA Sports FC25. Even though the game is more arcade than sim, you’ll still find over 1,000 licensed teams and 13,000 licensed players to choose from, allowing everyone at your party to represent their favorite team as they battle for the “Best of the Party” Cup.

OverCooked 2

  • System: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch
  • Max Number of Players: 4

Overcooked 2 is the one game that could possibly have friends and family leaving your party as hated enemies. The premise is simple: work together to prepare, cook, and serve dishes to earn enough points to move on to the next stage. But things quickly go awry as the dishes pile up, food gets burnt, and incorrect ingredients are mixed together, causing you to start over. Each level also has built-in mayhem, like moving counters and floors.

Written by
Old enough to have played retro games when they were still cutting edge, Mitch has been a gamer since the 70s. As his game-fu fades (did he ever really have any?), it is replaced with ever-stronger, and stranger, opinions. If that isn't the perfect recipe for a game reviewer, what is?

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