24 New Year’s Eve Games for Adults (and Teens)

New Year’s Eve games for adults bring lots of fun and laughter to the party.

The fantastic ice breaker games get the party started. And the games from the Song Matching and I Did This to the Roll the Dice keep the party going and everyone having a terrific time.

Many of these games work for teens too. But not the ones that have alcohol involved.

As a disclaimer here: do not serve alcohol to underage guests and do not drink and drive.

Ring in the New Year with friends the fun way!

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1. Find the Guest

Let’s start with an ice breaker! If you have a large group of people who don’t know each other very well, play a simple ice breaker game: Find the Guest.

Prepare a list of clues such as: find the guest

• who was born in January,
• who has five siblings,
• who bought a new house this year,
• etc.

Or use the Find the Guest printable game I made. It is a part of an inexpensive game set with ten easy games you can play at your New Year’s Eve party.

2. Two Resolutions and a Lie

This is another simple ice breaker you can play, and it’s played the same way as Two Truths and a Lie.

A player states three resolutions, and the others guess which two he wants to keep and which one is a lie. This game is great for fun and laughter.

3. I Did This – Who Am I?

What You Need

• Index cards
• Pens

Ask the guests to write on an index card something they did during this year. It could be something they bought, a place they visited, a party they hosted, an outfit they wore, etc.

Collect the cards. Read them out loud. The players try to guess who did each thing.

4. Whose Resolution Is It?

What You Need

• Index cards
• Pens
• Jar or Box

As the guests arrive, ask them to write a resolution on a piece of paper. Collect them in a box or jar. At some point during the evening, read the resolutions out loud and figure out who wrote them.

5. New Year’s White Elephant Gifts

Gift exchanges are not only for Christmas! Have a fun New Year’s gift exchange that encourages others to meet their goals. They might even be inspired to adopt a new goal.

What You Need

• Gift exchange game
• Gift for each player (ask the guests to bring one)

Gift Ideas:

• spa gift card
• planner
• kitchen organizer
• cookbook
• gardening tools
• cooking utensils
• drawer organizer
• hand grip strengthener
• healthy snack
• gardening book
• non-slip yoga socks
• fiction book
• paracord bracelet for outdoors lovers
• bath bomb
• “simple pleasures” goat milk soap
• tea infuser

6. Collect The Kisses

What You Need

• Chocolate Kisses
• Bags
• Labels
• Conversation Starters (optional)

Prep

• Label the bags, so you’ll know who it belongs to when they get left behind on counters, chairs, etc.
• Hide Hershey’s™ Kisses around the party area.

How To Play

1. Give the guests a little bag to collect kisses.
2. Whoever has the most kisses at midnight is the winner.

This is one of the simple New Year’s Eve games for adults that work for kids, too, if they are included in your party.

You could also hide a conversation starter with each chocolate kiss. You’ll find 46 of those in the New Year’s Eve Game Bundle mentioned at the beginning of this article.

7. Name That Tune

What You Need

• A playlist of the popular songs of the year

How To Play

• Form teams.
• Play a song
• The team that answers correctly first wins points based on knowing the title and the artist.

You could add an element of dance to this game by allowing the winning team (or the point-grabbing team) to do a victory dance.

8. Wishes for The New Year

What You Need

• Labels
• Mini champagne bottles or sparkling juice
• Pens

How To Play

1. Let the guests write their wishes for the New Year on blank labels.
2. Attach the tags to mini champagne bottles or sparkling juice.
3. Pop the bubbly and read your wishes for the New Year at the stroke of midnight.

A couple of ideas for the labels:

Here’s to

• good health
• more parties
• awesome friendships
• great adventures
• peace
• success in the New Year.

9. New Year’s Eve Charades

What You Need

• A list of significant events around the world and in your friend circle
• Write each down on a piece of paper

How To Play

Well, it’s charades so…

You could also use these to play Pictionary.

10. Who Is Most Likely To

Who is most likely to redo the kitchen? To be late for work?

This game will provide laughter and perhaps some surprising things as you all figure out who is most likely to do the things you have written down.

What You Need

• Who Is Most Likely To game (Included in the set I mentioned at the beginning of this list.)
• Pens

How To Play

1. Each player answers the questions. Talk about your choices at the tables or as a group.
2. If you want to, you could give points based on how many people answered the same way.

E.g.

• 2 points if two people had the same answer
• 3 points if three people had the same answer

11. Roll the Dice Countdown

What You Need

• A piece of paper with numbers 10-1 for each player.

How to Play

• If you have a lot of people, split into groups.
• Take turns to roll the dice to complete the countdown in order.
• You must roll first 10, then 9, etc.
• Check off the numbers as you go.
• Once you are down to 1, use only one die to roll. (You can switch to one die already at number six, if you’d like.)
• Whoever first finishes the countdown and shouts Happy New Year wins.

You can add an element of answering a question, eating a piece of candy, or taking a sip from a beverage if you roll a number you already checked off.

For the questions, use the conversation starters in the New Year’s Eve game set mentioned at the beginning of this article.

12. New Year’s Eve Roll The Dice

This is another roll-the-dice New Year’s Eve game adults find entertaining.

What You Need

• candy or
• small gifts or
• gift cards or
• dollar bills or
• quarters or
• mini liquor bottles or
• liqueur-filled chocolates.

How to Play

1. Sit in a circle.
2. Everyone starts with two items. Place the rest in the middle.
3. Pick someone to start the game.
4. Decide how many rounds or minutes you’ll play.
5. Take turns to roll the die.

• Roll 1: take one
• Roll 2: take two
• Roll 3: put one back
• Roll 4: take one from the person on your left
• Roll 5: give one to the person on your right
• Roll 6: put two back

You are out if you run out of whatever you are playing with.

13. Selfie Scavenger Hunt

What You Need

• A selfie scavenger hunt (included in the New Year’s Eve game set.)

How to Play

1. The guests can either work as a team or individually taking selfies during the party.
2. Whoever collects most points, wins.

Use the photos taken to make a collage for the next New Year’s Eve party!

14. New Year’s Eve Word Scramble

What You Need

• New Year’s Eve Word Scramble Game (Yep, this too is included in the game set.)

How To Play

This is an easy game. All you need to do is to unscramble New Year’s Eve related words. Make it more challenging by giving a time limit for completing it.

15. This or That

What You Need

• This or That Game (Of course! You’ll also get this in the New Year’s Eve Games.)

How to Play

This game can be played as a conversation starter at the tables. Everyone fills it out and talks about their choices.

Or you can choose one person to be it, and his answers become the correct answers the others try to guess.

16. Collect the Liqueur/Candy

If you are good at memory games, then this is the game you’ll shine!

What You Need

• liqueur-filled chocolate or
• candy bars or
• mini liquor bottles, and
• dice

It works best if you have 4 to 6 of each candy bar or whatever you are using.

How To Play

1. Sit in a circle.
2. Place all the candy in the middle of the circle.
3. Make sure everyone knows the names of the candy and the players.
4. Take turns rolling the dice. If you roll a 12, take one of the candies and hide it behind you.
5. Once all the candies are taken, decide how many rounds you’ll still play.
6. Now you’ll start taking candy from other players.
7. To do so, you must roll a double and state a player’s name and the name of the candy you want from them. If you get either one wrong, you are out of the game (optional: You are out, give half of the candy you have to the player you made a request, keep the rest.). Also, you are out of the game if you run out of candy.

17. A to Z Challenge

This can be harder than it sounds.

What You Need

• A to Z New Year’s Eve Game or write down letters from a to z on paper.

Each player or team needs their own form.

How To Play

1. Give the players three minutes to come up with New Year’s Eve-related words. Or declare the one who finishes first the winner.
2. Read out loud the winner’s answers.

18. Happy New Year

How many words can you make with the letters in the phrase: “Happy New Year”?

The one who writes down most in three minutes or whatever time you choose wins.

E.g.

• hay
• pea
• ear
• why
• where

19. New Year’s Eve Categories

This game can really make you work your brain cells. It can be pretty hard to come up with words for various categories. (Do I need to even say this… New Year’s Eve Categories also come in the game set… see it at the beginning or end of this article.)

How to Play

1. Each round, select a random letter or use the letters Y E A R.
2. Set the timer to 3 minutes.
3. The players write down words/terms that begin with that word.

E.g., in round one, the letter is Y

• firework color: yellow
• party food: yams

4. When the time is up, each player reads their list.

• If another player has the same word, zero points.
• If nobody has the same answer, one point.
• If the word does not fit the category, a player can challenge it. If this happens, all the players vote whether the answer is accepted.

After all the rounds are played, the one with the most points wins.

20. Who

This is a simple, fun game you can play throughout the party to hand out small prizes.

At random times, call out “who” questions. Whoever is the “who” gets the price.

Sample questions:

• Who got to the party first?
• Who got to the party last?
• Who brought the best appetizer? (If more than one person claims this, you can ask the guests to vote.)
• Whose birthday is closest to New Year’s Eve?
• Who sparkles the most?

21. Song Matching

You don’t have to sing in this game but it might help you to find your match quicker.

What You Need

• First few (15-20) words of a song written on long paper slips. Cut the paper in half.
• Or you could write the song’s title on one piece of paper and a line or two of that song on another.

How to Play

1. Hand out the song lyrics to the guest.
2. They need to find who is holding the other half of the lyrics. (Or to match the title with the lyrics.)

The ones who find each other first win.

22. Minute To Win It – Clock Game

What You Need

• Wrapped candy or chocolate pieces numbered from 1 to 12. (Place the numbers on the bottom side of the chocolate.

Prep

Arrange the chocolate pieces in a circle (random order.)

How to Play

The object of the game is to form a clock with the candy pieces.

• The player has 1 minute to organize the candy in the correct order. (To form an analog clock.)
• And he has to do it in order from 1-12.
• Meaning he must first find the number 1 and place it in the correct spot. The candy that he took from the place goes in the empty spot. Then he looks for the number 2 and so on.

23. What’s On Your Phone – New Year’s Eve Version

Do you have fireworks emoji in your last text message? Or a the New Year’s Eve party written in your calendar? If so, you just earned some points!

Prepare a What’s On Your Phone game or get the one I included in the New Year’s printable party game bundle below.

24. Finish My Phrase

How well can you read minds? Let’s find out.

What You Need

• Finish My Phrase New Year’s Version (Comes in the party game set.)

How To Play

Before you have someone fill out the game, decide on the rules, such as can more than one word be written.

1. Pick someone to fill out a Finish My Phrase game (he can do this while others are guessing his answers.)
2. Ask the players to guess what that person wrote.

For example, the rule is to write only one word:

• Midnight…. kiss
• New… adventures

Whoever gets the most correct wins.

If you have kids at the party, they will have fun with these New Year’s Games for Kids!

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