All too often, we find ourselves glued to our smart phones and socializing online instead of face to face, which is by far, a more rewarding experience. So why not foster real conversation to make get-togethers and gatherings more meaningful?

If you’re hosting an event or a small party and you want people to start talking instead of typing away on their mobile phones, then there’s probably a game to help with that! Check out our suggestions for the best conversation games to try at your next gathering to make your family and friends peel away from their phones and socialize for real.

Conversation Games for Kids

Conversation Games for Kids

Strong relationships and personal connections established in the childhood years are vital for developing appropriate socialization skills, confidence, and self-esteem. Try these conversations games for kids the next time you have time to spend with your little ones to help stir their thinking and strengthen your bond as a family.

The Name Game

The Name Game is a fun way to stimulate your kids’ imagination and to build their vocabulary. Preparation is fairly simple and your children can take part in the entire process to make it even more fun for the whole gang!

What You Need:

  • 3 containers or bowls
  • Pens
  • 50 or more small slips of paper

Preparing to Play:

  • Write each letter of the alphabet on separate slips of paper. Place them in a bowl labeled “Letter”
  • Brainstorm different categories of anything under the sun. Food, vegetables, animals, boy’s names, girl’s name, and everything else you and the kids might think of. Write each category on a piece of paper and put all of them in a bowl labeled “Categories”
  • Take three slips of paper and write the number 5 on one, 10 on the second, and 15 on the last. Place these into a separate bowl labeled “Numbers”

How to Play:

  1. The game master picks out a piece of paper from each bowl – one letter, one category, and one number.
  2.  The objective of the game is to name different objects that fit the category. The number designates how many items the group needs to name.
  3. For instance, if the game master picks the letter “A” under the category “Vegetables” with the number “15”, then the group needs to be able to name 15 different vegetables that all start with the letter A.
  4. Participants take turns, moving from player to player one at a time until the number of items are met.
  5. The game master is in charge of making sure the items mentioned fit the category.
  6. To make it even harder, you can increase the maximum number of items to be named. You can also include categories like “Fantasy” or “Outerspace” to test adapt the game to bigger kids.

My Name Is…

Here’s a fun memory game that gets tougher the longer you play. Perfect for kids aged 6 and older, this fun activity stimulates memory and creativity, and can be adapted to older age groups for loads of fun.

What You Need:

How to Prepare:

  • Have all participants seated side by side in a circle.
  • Make sure no one is holding papers, pens, or phones that they can use to jot down information!

How to Play:

  1. Each member should contribute to a series of names and corresponding interests. Statements should follow alphabetical order.
  2. For example, the game master starts off with, “My name is Andy, and I like animals.”
  3. The next person in the circle should follow with a name and interest that starts with the letter B. However, before mentioning their statement, they need to start off with the previous player’s entry.
  4. In this case, the second in the circle might say, “My name is Andy and I like animals. My name is Beth and I like balloons.”
  5. Each player in the circle repeats the previous statements and adds their own following alphabetical sequence.
  6. The game master should take charge of jotting down each new entry to make sure the players are accurately recalling each statement.
  7. To adapt the game to older players, add more information. For instance, instead of just mentioning a name and interest, players can also include a place to make the information harder to remember.

Conversation Games for Couples

Conversation Games for Couples

Maybe date nights have gotten a little dry, or maybe you want to learn more about your special someone. Whatever the case, these fun conversation games for adults can help get you and your lover talking for hours.

Fact and Fiction

Perfect for couples who still have a lot to learn about each other, this conversation game lets you discover new truths about your special someone in a fun and exciting way. To make it even more interesting, players who guess wrong can take a shot of your choice of drink.

What You Need:

  • It’s always more fun when there’s a bit of booze!

How to Play:

  1. Share two statements about yourself – one truth and one lie.
  2. Your partner’s objective is to guess which statement about you is true and which one isn’t.
  3. It’s ideal to make sure the lie isn’t too outlandish so your partner has a hard time telling the two apart!
  4. If they guess right, you take a shot of booze. If they guess wrong, they take the shot.
  5. To make it harder, you can add an extra truth to come up with three different statements for them to consider.

This or That

Here’s a fun little game that you can play with your partner when you find yourself lined up at the bank, waiting for your food at a restaurant, or simply hanging out at home. Learn something new about them every day, and save the information for later when faced with the question to get them this or that?

What You Need:

  • Absolutely nothing!

How to Play:

  1. Think of common preferences that can be defined by two different choices.
  2. Some good examples include – cats or dogs, pasta or pizza, nachos or tacos, winter or summer, rain or sun. Anything that gives your partner the opportunity to choose between two opposites.
  3. Take turns asking each other, and discover something new every time you play! Simple, easy, and ideal for starting a conversation when you’re not sure what to talk about.

Would You Rather

Here’s a fun conversation game for adults that can keep you laughing for hours. The more obscure and otherworldly your choices, the more fun it becomes!

What You Need:

  • Your imagination! Try to keep things exciting by suggesting crazy scenarios for more laughs.

How to Play:

  1. Give your partner two scenarios to choose from. Make sure you’re giving choices that make it hard to settle on a single decision.
  2. A few good examples might be, would you rather eat 15 live spiders or sit in a pit with 15 snakes?
  3. Take turns asking each other unique would you rather scenarios and have fun trying to rationalize choices!

Conversation Games for Groups or Parties

Conversation Games for Groups or Parties

No one wants to throw a boring party. That’s why it’s always nice to have a few conversation games for groups tucked away in your mind to turn a bland gathering into a fun-filled shebang. Here are some ideas to try the next time you throw a party or when you find yourself with a few minutes to spare in class.

The Alphabet Game

This fun conversation game encourages exactly that – a conversation. Great for big groups, this activity lets you take turns talking, creating a complete conversation with a fun little twist.

What You Need:

  • Nothing! This one’s great as a quick icebreaker for parties and other types of gatherings.

How to Play:

  1. The group decides on one topic that they want to talk about.
  2. Each member of the group takes turns saying something related to that topic. It can be a statement or a question.
  3. Contributions to the conversation need to follow alphabetical order. That is, the beginning letter of every statement or question must be the next letter of the alphabet depending on the previous player’s contribution to the conversation.
  4. For instance, in a game where the chosen topic is travel, the game master might start with Airplane rides make me feel uneasy. The next player might say, But I love airplane rides!
  5. The object of the game is to enjoy an authentic conversation with the added challenge of thinking carefully about your answer in order to match the alphabet.

Ask Me Anything

If you’re feeling a little silly, here’s a fun way to share some laughs with a group of friends. Careful what you say! Points are taken to decide the winner in this conversation game for parties.

What You Need:

  • A piece of paper and a pen, or a mobile phone for keeping score.

How to Play:

  1. The game master decides how many times each person gets a turn to contribute to the conversation.
  2. For instance, with all players seated in a circle formation, the game master decides that the game ends when everyone gets 3 turns, going around the circle one by one.
  3. Every person contributes to a conversation with one question.
  4. All answers to questions need to be stated in the form of a question.
  5. Players take turns asking each other one question after another.
  6. Those who answer with statements are penalized and given one point.
  7. Players who score the most points at the end of the game must perform the chosen punishment decided upon by the group.

Here’s how it would go:

  • Player 1: Do we start now?
  • Player 2: Do you think now would be a good time to start?
  • Player 3: I think everyone understands the mechanics.

Player 3 is given 1 point for contributing a statement. Fun, simple, and definitely a crowd-favorite! To make it even tougher, give players a short time limit – like 3 or 5 seconds – to come up with their question!

20 Questions

Here’s a fan-favorite classic. The game 20 Questions has been around since who knows, and poses a fun, challenging experience for groups both big and small. To add an extra challenge, divide your group into two smaller groups and challenge each other to beat the other team’s time!

What You Need:

  • Paper and a marker
  • Double-sided tape

How to Play:

  1. Divide your group into two teams.
  2. Each team thinks up their entries for the 20 Questions game. These entries are the words or concepts to be guessed by the other team.
  3. The first team chooses one member to represent them.
  4. The chosen representative sits in a chair in front of both groups.
  5. The opposing team chooses one of their written entries for the representative to guess.
  6. The game master takes this and sticks it to that person’s forehead.
  7. It’s the representative’s job to guess the word by asking the his or her team 20 questions about the word they’ve chosen.
  8. Questions need to be yes or no questions only.
  9. Their team can answer with yes, no, or maybe.
  10. Teams need to help their representative guess the word by answering their questions within a given time limit.
  11. The representative should be able to guess the word correctly within the time given. If time expires, the representative is given the chance to guess the word twice regardless of whether they’ve been able to ask all 20 questions.
  12. Teams take turns designating one representative to guess the words for them.
  13. Take score and see which team rises above as the 20 Questions champions!

Final Thoughts

Sometimes, it pays to have a few tricks up your sleeve to start a conversation. The next time you find yourself with a few friends, hanging out with your kids, or spending time with your special some, try one of these conversation games to help you make the most of every moment you spend with the people that matter!