Halloween party games for adults: 10 ideas that need almost nothing

Most Halloween parties start the same way: everyone shows off their costume, a few photos get taken, and then the group drifts apart between the kitchen and the living room. Decorations and costumes matter, but they do not carry the night. Halloween party games do, because they bring everyone back around one table.

We collected 10 Halloween games for adults that need almost nothing: a phone, a few scraps of paper, and eventually the lights off. There are quick warm ups, laugh out loud question games and a couple that are properly creepy.

What makes good Halloween party games

A good Halloween party game does three things. It can be explained in a minute, because nobody in a costume with a drink in hand is reading a rulebook. It includes everyone, not just the brave ones. And it has a little bit of a scare, but not so much that someone would rather go home.

Halloween games for adults: 10 ideas

1. Spooky This or That

The best warm up while guests are still arriving. Someone reads out two options, everyone points left or right at the same time, and anyone who ends up alone with their choice has to defend it. Ten rounds in, everyone knows who the biggest horror fan in the room is.

1. Vampire or werewolf?
2. Zombie or ghost?
3. Haunted house or abandoned hospital?
4. Scary costume or funny costume?
5. Trick or treat?
6. Witch or wizard?
7. Horror film at the cinema or at home under a blanket?
8. Graveyard at midnight or basement in a power cut?
9. Dracula or Frankenstein?
10. Candlelight or torch?
11. Carving pumpkins or making costumes?
12. One night in a haunted castle or one week without the internet?

2. Most Likely To: Halloween edition

Someone reads a statement, and on three everyone points at the person it fits best. Whoever collects the most fingers gets to make their defence. It is even funnier in costume, because the vampire and the skeleton both have to argue their case.

1. Most likely to: who would scream first during a horror film?
2. Most likely to: who would die first in a horror film?
3. Most likely to: who would go down to the basement alone after hearing a strange noise?
4. Most likely to: who is wearing the same costume for the third year running?
5. Most likely to: who eats the sweets they bought for the trick or treaters?
6. Most likely to: who believes in ghosts but would never admit it?
7. Most likely to: who would survive the zombie apocalypse?
8. Most likely to: who sleeps with the lights on after a horror film?

3. Werewolf

The classic social deduction game, also known as Mafia, and at its best on Halloween. A narrator secretly hands out roles on folded slips of paper: two werewolves, one seer, everyone else a villager. At night everyone closes their eyes and the werewolves silently pick a victim. During the day the village debates who they suspect and votes someone out. It gets really tense from eight players up, and a round takes about twenty minutes.

4. Horror story chain

Turn off the lights and keep one candle or a phone torch. The first player starts a scary story with a single sentence, the next adds one more, and so on around the circle. Whoever breaks the mood by laughing takes the light and starts the next story. After three rounds the story has to end, ideally badly.

5. Truth or Dare with Halloween dares

Truth or Dare works at any party, but on Halloween the dares can take on a costume twist too. Mix a few of these in with the usual questions.

1. Tell a horror story in thirty seconds, whispering.
2. Speak in a Dracula accent until your next turn.
3. Act like a zombie and try to catch someone in the room.
4. Scream like the first victim in a horror film.
5. Put on something from the host’s wardrobe and explain what costume it is.
6. Eat one bite of whatever the group hands you, with your eyes closed.
7. Hold the hand of the person on your right and read their fortune in a serious voice.
8. Say which horror film character you resemble most, and why.

6. Never Have I Ever: horror edition

Anyone who has done what the statement says takes a sip or puts a finger down. On Halloween, statements about fears and superstitions work best, because everyone has a story they have kept to themselves.

1. Never have I ever watched a horror film through my fingers.
2. Never have I ever slept with the lights on after a film.
3. Never have I ever believed a house was haunted.
4. Never have I ever turned off a horror film halfway through.
5. Never have I ever scared someone so badly they cried.
6. Never have I ever walked through a graveyard at night.
7. Never have I ever played with a Ouija board.
8. Never have I ever run up the stairs after switching off the basement light.

7. Costume awards

Do not settle for one best costume, have several categories so more people can win. Keep the vote secret, on paper, and announce the winners before midnight while everyone is still there.

• Scariest costume
• Funniest costume
• Best last minute costume
• Best couple or group costume
• Most committed to the character all night

8. Guess the horror film

Someone describes the plot of a horror film badly in one sentence, and the others guess. For example: a girl really should not have answered that phone. In the harder version you hum the soundtrack or act out a scene without words.

9. Who am I? Monster edition

Everyone writes a monster or horror character on a sticky note and sticks it on their neighbour’s forehead. Only yes or no questions are allowed: can I fly? Do I live in the suburbs? Are children scared of me? The first to work out who they are wins.

10. Sardines in the dark

Reverse hide and seek, with the lights off. One person hides, everyone else searches, and whoever finds them quietly squeezes into the hiding spot too. The spot gets more crowded, and the loser is the last person left wandering the dark house alone. Few games are this ridiculous and this creepy at the same time.

How to plan the night: Halloween party ideas for adults

1. As guests arrive: costume parade and quick rounds of Spooky This or That.
2. Once everyone is there: Most Likely To with Halloween statements, read from one phone.
3. Over snacks and drinks: Guess the horror film and Who am I?
4. Lights off: Werewolf and the horror story chain by candlelight.
5. Before midnight: costume awards and the big reveal.
6. After midnight, for whoever is left: Never Have I Ever horror edition or Sardines in the dark.

What to avoid

• Do not force scares on people who do not enjoy them. A scare is only fun when everyone signed up for it.
• Do not make the costume an entry ticket: anyone who did not dress up gets a mask or a painted scar at the door.
• Never let one game run longer than twenty minutes. A party is also about talking.
• Two or three games played properly beat ten abandoned ones.

The takeaway

A great Halloween party is not remembered for the decorations, it is remembered for the moment the vampire, the witch and the skeleton all scream at once in the dark. If you do not want to write questions yourself, download Party Games by Guessy for free: This or That and Most Likely To start in seconds, the premium Holidays category includes Halloween questions, and it all works offline. Planning the next one? Try our Christmas party games and New Year’s Eve games.