Level Up Your Game Night: Strategies for an Unforgettable Challenge

If you’re up next to host game night, then you might be wondering how you can take it up a notch. Instead of adding shots as a “punishment” for losing in one way or another, consider these creative ways to make your game night more challenging.

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Choose more complex games

The first thing you can do when looking to take game night to a new level is choose games that are more difficult to complete. Did you ever play minesweeper and actually win? Games like this or RPGs require you to have a mix of strategy, skill and memory. Not only is it more fun to introduce a wide choice of games to play, but when you succeed it will be so much more satisfying. You could even mix it up and ask each guest to bring a game with them for everyone to play.

Introduce house rules

You might be looking at ways to twist some of the classics up, and creating your own house rules for them is a great place to start. For example, you could make a rule when playing Cards Against Humanity that the person that won the previous round is now the dealer. Or, you could introduce your own cards to create answers you’ve never seen before. You can get really creative with it, just make sure that the house rules at complexity and strategic depth rather than hindering anyone from enjoying the game itself.

Add timers into the mix

Slapping a timer onto each player’s turn will significantly raise the game. Not only does it speed up the pace of the game but it adds pressure, which requires each player to think quickly and trust their choices. You can even adjust timers for those playing that might need more time, for example if you have children joining in on the fun and they might need a little longer to come up with an answer.

Play skill based challenges

Adding skill based challenges into your game is a great way of adding more flair to your usual games. For example, if you’re playing a trivia game, increase the difficulty of the answers or ask each player to provide more information about their answer if possible. For games like charades, you could limit how many clues can be given. Doing this helps elevate the game and require higher skills to play.

Turn it into a tournament

There’s nothing wrong with some good old fashioned friendly competition, and you could use this to turn your rounds of games into a tournament. Keep track of winners and award points based on performance and speed in each game. Not only is it a fun way of going about game night, but it also creates a competitive atmosphere and will encourage each of you to play at your best across all of the games you choose.

Mix up the teams

Mixing up your teams is a great way of creating a different experience when it comes to gaming, especially if you’ve got less-skilled players joining you. This will help make the game more predictable and add a challenge to your game, meaning you’ll need to work as a team and strategize accordingly. You never know, your “noobie” may be more skilled than you think!

Play educational games

Playing games that allow you to learn is another way of creating more of a challenge to your game night. Games like Scrabble to Trivial pursuit are perfect for this, as it allows you to learn new information while still competing to win the game. You could even add education to games that otherwise wouldn’t provide it as a fun addition. 

Incorporate physical challenges

Another fun twist you could add to your game night is adding physical challenges into games. For example, when playing a board game, players will need to complete a simple physical task to earn another spin or extra resources in the game. This can be fun because you’ll each enjoy watching each other fumble around to try and get ahead in the game. Make it challenging enough to interfere with the game so that if they do complete it, it will be worth it.

Add in role playing elements

Finally, if you enjoy role playing games then why not get into character properly? If you’re a level 60 mage called Skyelf on World of Warcraft, then become her in all of her glory! Make the effort to dress up, and refer to each other as your gaming name for the night – you’ll have a blast!