We sure do love tabletop games around here and I believe there’s a perfect one to play on any occasion. Games with simple rules, quick turns, and friendly rivalries can often be the perfect compliment to long nights where the drinks are flowing and the guests are eager to play!

Quiddler, Just Desserts, and Zooloretto: The Dice Game are perfect for playing with friends and family during holidays, celebrations, or just about any other night of the week. Get ready to heat up any social gathering with these essential games.

Quiddler

The award-winning Quiddler feels like a card game that has existed forever, but that’s probably due to the quirky, old-timey lettering on the cards. Like Scrabble, players make words according to the letters (or sets of letters) they draw. Unlike Scrabble, this game is eight unnerving and fast-paced rounds, with each draw bringing you one step closer to complete victory or total ruin. I spent this last New Year’s Eve obsessed with racking up points, but still taking time to laugh at all the funny and ridiculous words and phrases my friends and I created (“The Clay Vines” would make a perfect band name). Up to eight people can play, so no one’s left out of the party. Who knew you could be at the edge of your seat while trying to make simple words with cards!

 Just Desserts

In Just Desserts, two to five players compete over the affections of various quirky patrons using tasty confections. Players draw and combine dessert cards each turn to match the predilections of their customers (e.g. The Dude likes apples, chocolate, and marshmallows, and loves chocolate fondue). Someone wins when they snag one of every character type or three of a single type and becomes the Dessert Queen or King. I played Just Desserts for the first time at International TableTop Day 2015 and, amidst the revelry and intense gaming, it offered the perfect mix of sweetness and tart that kept my table coming back for seconds (and thirds… and fourths).

Zooloretto: The Dice Game 

You want to build your own zoo, but don’t have time to go all Zoo Tycoon up in here? Zooloretto: The Dice Game (a variation on the original Zooloretto) gets even more heated and silly as two to four players roll dice for alligators, ostriches, monkeys, elephants, and lions in order to fill up trucks with precision and strategy. You must lay out the correct amount of animals on your scorecard without losing them to your fellow zoo entrepreneurs (zoo-trepreneurs) or overstocking and shoving them away in a barn to lose points. Yes, the game is simplified from its award-winning predecessor, but Zooloretto: The Dice Game is packed to the brim with so many possibilities that you and your friends will be going bananas!

So now tell us what your favorite games are to play at parties! Any memorable experiences playing games at a social gathering? Please share with us in the comments below!