New Year's Eve games for family, couples and parties

Games for the last night of the year: a game an hour with the family until the countdown, party games for a big group, games for two, and an early midnight for little ones. Each one says how many it suits, how long it takes and how loud it gets, with a way to crown an overall winner at midnight.

Keep score until midnight on your iPhone or iPad, game by game. Tallynight is free, with no ads.

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Quick picks by situation

Short on time? Start here, then find each game further down the page.

• The family, until midnight: a game an hour, with an overall winner as the year turns.
• A party of 15 or more: Fishbowl with the year's moments, charades in two teams, or Bunco from ten o'clock.
• Adults at a smaller table: Skull King, Oh Hell or Nertz.
• Kids: an early midnight, pin the hands on the clock, and Uno.
• The two of you: Gin Rummy, Cribbage or Azul, best of five until the countdown.
• Around the table: a year in review quiz about your own family, and the New Year's trivia below.
• The last half hour: guess whose resolution is whose.
• The week before: our Christmas games and Christmas trivia.

Games to count down to midnight with the family

Turn the evening into one competition: a game an hour, a leaderboard that changes hands, and an overall winner as the year turns. Start at seven, or earlier with young kids, and keep the shortest game for the last half hour so it ends before the countdown.

• 7 pm · a card game for everyone. Uno or Five Crowns at the table while the food comes out. Agree on a number of hands, so it ends on the hour.
• 8 pm · charades or Pictionary. In two teams, with the New Year's prompts below.
• 9 pm · the year in review quiz. Questions the family wrote about its own year. Here's how to run it.
• 10 pm · dice. Farkle, Yahtzee or Qwixx. Dice put the youngest and the oldest on equal terms, which keeps the leaderboard close.
• 11 pm · New Year's trivia. The 15 questions below, read out in teams.
• 11:30 pm · the resolutions game. Guess whose resolution is whose, then seal them in an envelope to open next year.
• Midnight · crown the winner. Count down together, read out the final standings, and hand over a paper crown.

Give points for places. In each game, first place gets 3 points towards the night, second 2 and third 1. With more teams, first gets a point for each team and every place after gets one fewer.

Count every game the same, whether it took ten minutes or an hour, so a round of dice matters as much as the quiz and the lead can change in the last hour.

Three ways to keep the night's leaderboard

In the Tallynight app. Score each game in Tallynight as you play it. Every finished game is kept with its winner and scores, and whoever wins outright takes the belt. For the night's standings, start one more game: choose Something else, then Rounds, with the highest score winning, and add each player or team. After each game, type everyone's points for the night as a round. The table keeps the totals and who's in front, and at midnight the race chart replays the whole evening.

In a browser. The free online score keeper works on a laptop or the TV, with Full screen so the whole room can follow the race to midnight. The game stays in that browser until you clear it.

On paper. Print a blank score sheet, write the players or teams across the top and one game on each row, and add it up as the countdown starts.

New Year's Eve games for adults and large groups

At a party, the games that work are the ones a new arrival can join halfway through, and the ones that end in time for the countdown. Two teams, slips of paper and a timer cover most of them.

• Fishbowl, the year's edition · 8 to 30 in two teams · about an hour · loud. Everyone writes three things from the past year on slips: a news story, a song, a film, something that happened to someone in the room. Round one, describe them. Round two, one word only. Round three, act them out. A point for each slip guessed. Also called Salad Bowl or Celebrity.
• Bunco · 12 or more, at tables of four · about two hours · loud. Built for a crowd: guests change tables and partners after every round. Start at ten and finish the last round before midnight.
• Taboo · 4 or more in two teams · 30 minutes · loud. Describe the word without the five words on the card, while the other team listens for a slip.
• Two truths and a lie, the year's edition · 6 or more · 20 minutes · lively. Three things that happened to you this year, one of them made up. Good when there are new faces at the party.
• Paper telephone · 6 to 12 · 20 minutes · loud. Everyone writes a prediction for the new year and passes it on. The next person draws it, the next writes what the drawing shows, and so on round the circle. Read the stacks out at the end.
• Skull King · 2 to 8 · about an hour · lively. Bid exactly how many tricks you'll win, with pirates, mermaids and the Skull King in the deck. Up to eight at one table.
• Oh Hell · 3 to 7 · about an hour · lively. Bidding with one ordinary deck, from 10 cards down to 1 and back. Also called Up and Down the River.
• Nertz · 2 or more, a deck each · 10 minutes a hand · loud. Everyone plays at once on shared piles in the centre. Short enough to fit one more hand in before the countdown.

For 20 or more, play in two teams and put the score on the TV with the online score keeper, or add each team as a player in Tallynight and start the turn timer for each turn. Each team gets a big tile in its colour, easy to read from across the room.

New Year's Eve party games

The classics, with a New Year's twist. Each works for a family party as well as a room of friends, and none needs more than paper, a pen and a timer.

• Charades · 4 or more in two teams · as long as you like · loud. Act out the New Year's prompts below, or moments from the year you're leaving behind.
• Pictionary · 3 or more in 2 to 4 teams · 30 minutes or more · loud. A big pad on an easel, or a whiteboard, lets the whole room see the drawing.
• Scattergories, New Year's edition · up to 6, or teams · 30 minutes · lively. Write your own categories: things that sparkle, resolutions people make, things you hear at midnight, something to leave in the old year.
• Trivia · teams of up to 6 · about an hour · lively. One host reads, the teams write. Start with the New Year's trivia on this page, then add a round of Christmas trivia.
• Who said it this year · 6 or more · 20 minutes · lively. Collect things people said during the year, from the family chat or the dinner table, and read them out. Guess who said each one, for a point a right guess.
• Hum that tune · 6 or more in two teams · 20 minutes · loud. One person hums a song from the past year with their mouth closed, and their team has 30 seconds to name it. Write the titles on slips first, so nobody runs out of ideas.

New Year's Eve games for kids

Few young kids make it to midnight, and they don't need to. Pick an earlier midnight, fill the hours before it with games, and let them count down with everyone else.

• An early midnight · any number · 10 minutes · loud. Count down at seven or eight with noisemakers and paper confetti. At 7 pm Eastern it's already midnight in London, so the little ones can see in a real new year. In the Pacific time zone, the ball in Times Square drops at 9 pm your time.
• Pin the hands on the clock · 3 or more · 10 minutes · lively. Draw a big clock face with no hands and cut out two paper hands. Take turns blindfolded, and the closest to midnight wins.
• The balloon countdown · any number · all evening · lively. Write a small challenge on a slip for each hour until bedtime, roll it into a balloon and blow it up. Pop one on the hour: a joke, an animal impression, a dance. A point for each challenge taken on.
• Freeze dance · any number · 10 minutes · loud. Play music and stop it without warning. Anyone still moving is out, and the last dancer picks the next song.
• A scavenger hunt for 12 things · any number · 20 minutes · lively. One thing for each month: something gold, something that sparkles, a calendar, a clock, a party hat. The first back with all 12 wins.
• Crazy Eights and Kings Corner · 2 to 6 · 10 minutes a hand · lively. One deck and simple rules, for kids from about 6.
• Uno · 2 to 10 · 10 minutes a hand · loud. From about 7, and a grown-up can join in.
• Shut the Box · 1 or more · 5 minutes a turn · quiet. Two dice and some adding, for kids learning their sums.
• Sushi Go · 2 to 5 · 15 minutes · lively. Pick a card, pass the rest. Quick to learn, from about 8.

New Year's Eve games for couples

A quiet night in for two: a card game or a board game, and a match that runs until the countdown. Play best of five, or first to a number of games you agree on, and whoever leads at midnight takes the year.

• Gin Rummy · 2 players · 20 minutes a game · quiet. Knock or go gin, and play to 100. The classic card game for two.
• Cribbage · 2 players · 30 minutes a game · quiet. Race to 121 round the board, and the loser is skunked if they haven't reached 91.
• Spite and Malice · 2 players · 20 to 30 minutes a game · lively. Race to empty your pay-off pile first. A match to 50 makes a good evening for two.
• Canasta for two · 2 players · a whole evening · quiet. Fifteen cards each, draw two and discard one each turn, and two canastas to go out.
• Azul · 2 to 4 · 30 to 45 minutes · quiet. Pick tiles to make a wall. Plays well with two, and the guide's worked example is a two-player game.
• Ticket to Ride · 2 to 5 · about an hour · quiet. Claim train routes across the map before the other one does.
• Scrabble · 2 to 4 · about an hour with two · quiet. Tournament Scrabble is played by two, so it works well as a pair.
• The year for two · 2 players · 30 minutes · warm. Each of you writes your five favourite moments of the year, in order, without looking. Read them out, and score a point for each moment you both chose.

Keep the match in Tallynight. Every game you finish is kept with its winner, and whoever wins outright holds the belt into the new year.

Card and dice games for the long evening

New Year's Eve is a long night, and a deck of cards or a handful of dice fills it at your own pace. These suit a table of family or friends from dinner to the countdown.

• Mexican Train · 2 to 10 with a double-12 set · two hours or more · lively. Thirteen rounds from double 12 down to double blank, a countdown of its own. Lowest total wins.
• Five Crowns · 2 to 7 · about an hour · lively. Eleven rounds with a new wild card each round. Lowest total wins.
• Phase 10 · 2 to 6 · often two hours · lively. Ten phases, for the hours before the countdown.
• Hearts · 4 players, or 3 to 6 · about an hour · quiet. Lowest score wins, and the queen of spades costs 13.
• Spades · 4 in two teams · an hour or more · lively. Bid with your partner, and watch the bags.
• Euchre · 4 in two teams · about 30 minutes · lively. Five tricks a hand and quick games to 10, so partners can rotate in as guests arrive.
• Hand and Foot · 4 in two teams · a whole evening · lively. Five decks and four rounds, for families who play it every holiday.
• Farkle · 2 or more · about 45 minutes · loud. Roll six dice, keep the ones that score, and decide whether to bank or roll again.
• Yahtzee · 1 or more · 30 minutes · lively. Thirteen turns and a score card that does the teaching. Print a Yahtzee score sheet for each player.
• Qwixx · 2 to 5 · 15 minutes · lively. Everyone can use every roll, so there's no waiting for your turn.

Most guides come with a score sheet to print, with the rounds and totals already laid out.

A year in review quiz about your family

This is a quiz only your family can answer. Everyone writes questions about the year you've had together, and you play in teams. It takes ten minutes to prepare, and every question starts a story.

• Hand out slips. Everyone, kids included, writes three to five questions about the family's year, with the answer on the back. Little ones can tell a grown-up their questions.
• Fold them into a bowl and pick one host to read them out, or pass the bowl round and let everyone read the one they draw.
• Play in teams that mix the ages, so every team has someone who remembers each part of the year.
• Score a point a right answer, and a bonus point if a team also gets the month right.
• When your own question comes up, sit it out and watch the others try.

Year in review question ideas

Borrow these if anyone gets stuck.

• Where did we go on our longest trip this year?
• What was the first thing that broke this year?
• Which film did we watch more than once?
• Who learned to do something new, and what was it?
• Which song did we play most in the car?
• Who lost a tooth, and in which month?
• What was the best meal we cooked at home?
• Which game did we play most, and who won it most often?
• Who said this, and when? (Read out something said this year.)
• Which month had the most birthdays?
• Who visited us from farthest away?
• What was the biggest surprise of the year?

If you keep score in Tallynight, the game question has an answer: every finished game is kept with its winner, and with Tallynight Pro the Family Hall of Fame counts everyone's wins across the year.

New Year's resolutions as a game

Resolutions are more fun out loud. These turn them into something to guess, act out and score, now and a year from now.

• Guess whose resolution · 4 or more · 15 minutes · lively. Everyone writes a resolution on a slip, folds it and puts it in a bowl. Read them out one at a time, and everyone guesses who wrote it. A point for each right guess, and a point to the writer for each person who guessed wrong.
• Resolution charades · 4 or more in two teams · 15 minutes · loud. Act out your own resolution, or a kind one for someone else in the room. A point for each one guessed in a minute.
• Resolution bingo · any number · all year · quiet. Each person writes nine small resolutions on a grid of three by three: read a book a month, learn a new card game, call a grandparent on Sundays. Cross one off when it's done. The first full line wins, and a full card by next New Year's Eve wins outright.
• Open them next year · any number · 5 minutes · warm. Seal the slips in an envelope and write next year's date on it. Open it next New Year's Eve, and give a point for every resolution kept.

New Year's Eve charades and Pictionary prompts

Copy them onto slips of paper, fold them into a bowl or a party hat, and draw one a turn. Act it out for charades, or draw it for Pictionary with no letters, numbers or talking. Give each turn a minute, and a point for each one guessed in time. These first 20 suit younger players.

• Fireworks
• Party hat
• Blowing a party horn
• Throwing confetti
• Counting down to midnight
• The clock striking twelve
• Popping a balloon
• Throwing streamers
• Waving a sparkler
• Banging pots and pans at midnight
• Staying up late
• Falling asleep before midnight
• A big group hug
• Dancing at a party
• Baby New Year
• Father Time
• Making a wish
• Turning the page on a calendar
• Pulling a party popper
• Waving goodbye to the old year

Harder prompts for teens and adults

• The ball drop in Times Square
• Making a New Year's resolution
• Breaking a resolution on 2 January
• Joining a gym in January
• Singing Auld Lang Syne
• Eating 12 grapes at midnight
• Writing last year's date by mistake
• A polar bear plunge
• Trying to stay awake until midnight
• Fireworks over Sydney Harbour
• A float in the Rose Parade
• Stuck in the crowd in Times Square
• The first sunrise of the year
• Confetti stuck in your hair
• Clearing out the closet for a fresh start
• Watching the countdown on TV
• Starting a new diary
• Running your first marathon

New Year's trivia: 15 questions and answers

A round for the eleven o'clock slot: traditions around the world, the midnight song, Times Square and the calendar. Read each question aloud twice, give a point for each right answer, and tap Answer to check. Printed, the answers come on a page of their own at the end, so the host can keep them out of sight.

1. In Spain, what do people eat at midnight, one with each chime of the clock? A) olives B) grapes C) almonds

   Answer

   B) Grapes, 12 of them, one for each chime.

2. What do people in Scotland call New Year's Eve and its celebrations?

   Answer

   Hogmanay.

3. In Japan, how many times do most Buddhist temples ring their great bell around midnight on New Year's Eve? A) 12 B) 60 C) 108

   Answer

   C) 108. The custom is called joya no kane.

4. In Russia, who brings presents for the New Year, with his granddaughter the Snow Maiden?

   Answer

   Ded Moroz, or Grandfather Frost.

5. Which Scottish poet wrote down the words of Auld Lang Syne in 1788?

   Answer

   Robert Burns, from an older Scottish song.

6. What does auld lang syne mean? A) times long past B) a happy new year C) ring out the bells

   Answer

   A) Times long past. Word for word, old long since.

7. Which bandleader helped make Auld Lang Syne a New Year's Eve tradition in North America, playing it at midnight on the radio from 1929?

   Answer

   Guy Lombardo, with his band the Royal Canadians.

8. Times Square in New York is named after what?

   Answer

   The New York Times. Its owner, Adolph Ochs, persuaded the city to rename Longacre Square when the paper moved there in 1904.

9. In which year was a ball first lowered in Times Square on New Year's Eve? A) 1907 B) 1937 C) 1967

   Answer

   A) 1907. The first ball was made of iron and wood, with 100 light bulbs.

10. The Times Square ball follows the time balls once dropped at observatories, like the one at Greenwich in London from 1833. What were they for?

    Answer

    Ships' captains watched the ball drop at the same time each day and set their chronometers by it, for navigation.

11. January is named after which Roman god of doorways and beginnings, shown with two faces?

    Answer

    Janus.

12. The calendar most of the world uses today was introduced in 1582. Which pope is it named after?

    Answer

    Gregory XIII. It's the Gregorian calendar.

13. Until 1752, the year in England and its American colonies officially began on which date? A) 25 March B) 1 May C) 21 June

    Answer

    A) 25 March. A British law, the Calendar Act, moved the start of the year to 1 January from 1752.

14. Which California city holds the Rose Parade on New Year's Day? A) San Diego B) Pasadena C) Sacramento

    Answer

    B) Pasadena. When 1 January is a Sunday, the parade moves to Monday 2 January.

15. In the American South, which dish of black-eyed peas and rice is eaten on New Year's Day for luck?

    Answer

    Hoppin' John.

More games for the holidays

For the week before, our Christmas games has party games for large groups and family games for the long evenings, and the Christmas trivia has 60 more questions with answers, ready for a second round.

Tallynight

Keep score until midnight

Tallynight is a score keeper for iPhone and iPad, free with no ads. Pick a game and its scoring is ready, or set up your own for the year in review quiz. Each player or team gets a big tile in their colour, a turn timer runs for charades and Pictionary, and at midnight the race chart replays the whole evening.

• 39 games set up with their rules, Uno and Five Crowns included
• Rounds that add up, with who deals next
• A winner card for the family chat, and the belt for whoever wins
• With Tallynight Pro, the Family Hall of Fame: wins, streaks, head to head and records

Download on the App Store