How many controllers do you actually need?
This is the question to answer before you choose the game, because it may change what you buy.
Two players: a standard Switch can do this out of the box, using one Joy-Con each. Nothing extra needed.
Four players: you need one more pair of Joy-Cons, or two more controllers of some kind. If you’re giving a party game as a main present to a household that only has the console’s original controllers, adding a pair is what turns the gift into an actual party. Our Pro Controller vs Joy-Cons comparison explains why a pair adds two players and a single Pro Controller only adds one.
More than four: some games handle this cleverly. Just Dance lets extra people use a phone as their controller, which removes the hardware limit entirely and is the reason it works so well at an actual party.
Matching the game to the room
A room of people who don’t play games
Just Dance and Nintendo Switch Sports. Both are physical rather than button-based, which is the great leveler — nobody has an advantage from having played video games before, and the barrier to joining in is standing up. Mario Kart is the third option and the most universal of all: the controls are essentially “accelerate” and “steer”, and the game deliberately helps whoever is losing.
A family with a wide age range
Mario Party and Clubhouse Games. Mario Party is a board game with quick minigames attached, so luck does a lot of the work and a seven-year-old can beat an adult without anyone patronizing anyone. Clubhouse Games is the pick when the room includes people who’d rather play cards than a video game — it’s fifty-one real board and card games, most of which everyone already knows the rules to.
Teenagers
Smash Bros, without much debate. It’s the game their friends already play, rounds take a few minutes, and a beginner can win by mashing buttons while the depth stays available for the person who cares. It’s rated E10+, so it’s fine for a mixed-age room too.
Two people who want to argue
Overcooked. It’s a co-operative cooking game that is famously, hilariously stressful, and it produces more shouting per minute than anything else here. It’s a brilliant gift for a couple or two housemates with a sense of humor, and a bad one for a household that’s already tense. Our co-op games for couples list has gentler alternatives.
The two mistakes to avoid
Buying a party game for a solo player. These games are much less interesting alone. If the person you’re buying for plays by themselves in the evening, a party game is a well-meant present that stays in the shrink wrap. Buy from the casual games list instead.
Assuming everyone can see the screen. Four-player games on one TV split the screen into four small panels, or shrink everyone onto one shared view. In a room where people are sat at the back, physical games like Just Dance and Switch Sports hold up much better than games that need you to read anything.
If they have a PlayStation or an Xbox instead
Same-room multiplayer is thinner on those consoles — the modern PlayStation and Xbox libraries lean heavily toward online play with people elsewhere. There are good options, but you’ll typically need to buy a second controller as well, and a Game Pass subscription is often the better route because it gives them a library to pick a party game from rather than one title. For a household that specifically wants people playing together in the same room, a Switch is the console that does it, which is worth knowing before you spend.
