Games to Play at a Restaurant

Quiet games for the wait between ordering and the food, played from your seats: press Pick 3 new games.

Games to Play at a Restaurant

  1. Eyes-Shut Napkin Golf1. One player draws a hole on a paper napkin: a tee in one corner, a small circle in the far corner, and a pond and a tree between. 2. The other puts the pen on the tee, looks, closes their eyes and draws one straight stroke. 3. Eyes open. The next stroke starts where the last one stopped. A stroke into the pond costs one extra. 4. Count the strokes to reach the circle, then trade jobs on a new napkin. Players: 2 to 4. Time: 10 min. Props: a pen and paper napkins.
  2. A Face Made of Their Initials1. Each person writes the initials of the person on their left in the middle of a napkin, in large capitals. 2. Using those letters as the nose, eyes or ears, they draw that person's face around them. 3. Two minutes, then pass the napkin to its subject. 4. Each subject holds up their portrait and says which letter became what. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 5 min. Props: a pen and a paper napkin each.
  3. Your Week as Three Courses1. Each person describes the week they have just had as a meal: an appetizer, a main course and a dessert. 2. The appetizer is how the week began, the main course is the biggest thing in it, and the dessert is the best small thing. 3. Nobody may use the name of a real dish. 4. The table votes for the week it would most like to have been served. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 10 min. Props: none.

Next step Dinner conversation starters for when the food comes

How it works

These games to play at a restaurant fill the wait between ordering and the food. Every one is seated, played at speaking volume and leaves the table as it was, and none involves alcohol or a bet.

Read the full guide

What is on the table decides

1. Before the menus are taken away, play one of the Menu games. 2. With nothing in front of you, use the Talking games with nothing on the table. 3. If someone has a pen, the Napkin and pen games open up. 4. The Sugar packet, coaster and straw wrapper games use what the restaurant already put there.

Dinner party games to play at a restaurant

For a booked table, choose Games for a long table of eight or more. They are built so that both ends of the table are in the same game.

Tips
  • Ask for a paper napkin if the table is set with cloth ones: the pen games need it.

Questions and answers

What games can you play at a restaurant with nothing at all?

The talking group. Two Words Become One and First, Worst, Best need no props, and Call the Minute the Food Arrives needs only a clock. Choose No props under More filters for the full set.

Which games to play at a restaurant for adults use the menu?

The Menu games. The Strangest Three Courses on This Menu and Predict Every Order Before the Server Comes are played before ordering, and How Many Times Does the Menu Say Fresh? fills the minutes after.

Are these games quiet enough for a restaurant?

They were chosen for it. Nothing is sung or shouted, nobody leaves their seat, and no game is about the other diners. The sugar packets and coasters go back where they were when the food comes.

What can a big group play at a restaurant?

Use the long-table group. In Recite the Whole Table's Order one person tries to remember every dish, and Each End Pitches a Dessert, the Middle Votes gives the middle seats the last word.

More tools

Browse Acting and Drawing

All 30 games

Talking games with nothing on the table 6

  • A Minute Without Um 1. The table gives one person a plain subject: umbrellas, breakfast, the color green. 2. That person talks about it for one minute without saying um or er, and without repeating a word of the subject. 3. Anyone who catches a slip raises a finger and takes over the subject for whatever is left of the minute. 4. Whoever is talking when the minute ends scores a point. Players: 3 to 8. Time: 10 min. Props: a watch or a phone timer.
  • Add Up the Table: Guess the Sum First 1. One person asks a question with a number for an answer: how many pets has this table owned, how many states has it lived in? 2. Everyone guesses the total for the whole table. 3. Go around and add up the real answers. 4. The closest guess asks the next question. Players: 3 to 10. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Call the Minute the Food Arrives 1. As the server walks away with the order, everyone says the exact time they think the first plate will touch the table. 2. No two people may pick the same minute. 3. One person writes the times down or keeps them in their head. 4. The closest call wins and names the minute for the next course. Nothing rides on it. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 5 min. Props: a watch or a phone clock.
Show all 30 games (27 more)

Talking games with nothing on the table, continued

  • First, Worst, Best 1. One person names a kind of thing: jobs, haircuts, vacations, meals in a restaurant. 2. Going around the table, each person tells their first, their worst or their best, and says which. 3. The table may ask one question each. 4. The teller of the story the table liked most names the next kind of thing. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 15 min. Props: none.
  • Two Words Become One 1. Two people count to three and each say any word at the same moment. 2. They count again, and each says a word that lies somewhere between the two just said. 3. They keep going until both say the same word on the same count. 4. The rest of the table counts the rounds it took. The next pair tries to do it in fewer. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Your Week as Three Courses 1. Each person describes the week they have just had as a meal: an appetizer, a main course and a dessert. 2. The appetizer is how the week began, the main course is the biggest thing in it, and the dessert is the best small thing. 3. Nobody may use the name of a real dish. 4. The table votes for the week it would most like to have been served. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 10 min. Props: none.

Menu games 6

  • Cover the Prices, Put Five Dishes in Order 1. One person picks five dishes from the menu and reads their names aloud, hiding the prices with a hand. 2. Everyone else agrees on an order for the five, from least to most expensive. 3. The reader uncovers the prices. 4. A point for each dish in the right place. The menu passes to the next reader. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 10 min. Props: a menu.
  • How Many Times Does the Menu Say Fresh? 1. With the menus closed, everyone guesses how many times one word is printed on it: fresh, served, house. 2. Open the menus and count together, a page each. 3. The closest guess picks the next word. 4. Three words make a game. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 5 min. Props: a menu each.
  • Menu A to Z, a Letter a Turn 1. Everyone keeps a menu open. 2. The first player finds a word on the menu that begins with A and reads it out. The next finds one for B. 3. A player with no word for their letter may skip it once in the game by saying so. 4. The second time a player is stuck, that player is out. The last one in wins. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 10 min. Props: a menu each.
  • Predict Every Order Before the Server Comes 1. Before anyone says what they want, each person writes down what they think every other person will order. 2. Fold the napkins or slips and set them aside. 3. Order as usual. 4. When the server has gone, open the predictions. A point for each right dish. Players: 3 to 8. Time: 10 min. Props: a pen and a paper napkin or slip each.
  • Read a Dish With the Ingredients Left Out 1. One person picks a dish and reads its description aloud, saying something in place of every ingredient. 2. Served on something with a side of something, drizzled with something. 3. The others search their menus for the dish. 4. The first finger on the right line reads the next one. Players: 3 to 8. Time: 10 min. Props: a menu each.
  • The Strangest Three Courses on This Menu 1. Each person builds the oddest meal the menu allows: one appetizer, one main dish and one dessert. 2. Everything must really be on the menu. 3. Read the three courses out with a straight face, as if ordering. 4. The table votes for the meal it would least like to be served. Nobody may vote for their own. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 10 min. Props: a menu each.

Napkin and pen games 6

  • A Face Made of Their Initials 1. Each person writes the initials of the person on their left in the middle of a napkin, in large capitals. 2. Using those letters as the nose, eyes or ears, they draw that person's face around them. 3. Two minutes, then pass the napkin to its subject. 4. Each subject holds up their portrait and says which letter became what. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 5 min. Props: a pen and a paper napkin each.
  • A Floor Plan of the Dining Room, Eyes Down 1. Everyone looks around the dining room for thirty seconds. 2. Then everyone looks down and draws a floor plan on a napkin: the door, the kitchen, the windows, and how many tables. 3. No looking up for two minutes. 4. Look up and check. A point for each thing in the right place. The number of tables is the tie-breaker. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 5 min. Props: a pen and a paper napkin each.
  • Add a Word to the Grid 1. Write one long word from the menu across the middle of a napkin, in capitals. 2. On a turn, a player adds a new word that crosses a letter already there, as in a crossword. 3. Every run of letters that touch must make a real word. 4. A player who cannot add a word passes. The last player to add one wins. Players: 2 to 4. Time: 10 min. Props: a pen and a paper napkin.
  • Draw Your Order Before It Arrives 1. After ordering, each person draws on a napkin what they think their plate will look like: where the food sits, the garnish, the shape of the dish. 2. Sign the napkin and turn it face down. 3. When the food comes, hold each drawing beside its plate. 4. The table picks the closest likeness. Players: 2 to 10. Time: 5 min. Props: a pen and a paper napkin each.
  • Eyes-Shut Napkin Golf 1. One player draws a hole on a paper napkin: a tee in one corner, a small circle in the far corner, and a pond and a tree between. 2. The other puts the pen on the tee, looks, closes their eyes and draws one straight stroke. 3. Eyes open. The next stroke starts where the last one stopped. A stroke into the pond costs one extra. 4. Count the strokes to reach the circle, then trade jobs on a new napkin. Players: 2 to 4. Time: 10 min. Props: a pen and paper napkins.
  • Word Shapes: Tall Letters, Short Letters 1. One player picks a word from the menu and draws a row of boxes for it on a napkin. 2. A tall box stands for a tall letter such as d or l, a short box for a letter such as a or n, and a hanging box for one with a tail, such as g or p. 3. The others search their menus for a word of that shape. 4. The first to find it draws the next word. Players: 2 to 6. Time: 10 min. Props: a pen, a paper napkin and a menu.

Sugar packet, coaster and straw wrapper games 6

  • Coaster Card House, a Coaster a Turn 1. Gather every coaster on the table. 2. Two coasters leaned together start a house. 3. Players take turns adding one coaster, leaning or laid flat as a floor. 4. The player whose coaster brings it down gathers them up and starts the next house. Count the coasters in the best one. Players: 2 to 6. Time: 5 min. Props: the coasters on the table.
  • Count the Caddy: Guess the Packets First 1. Nobody touches the sugar caddy. 2. Everyone guesses how many packets are in it, all colors together. 3. One person takes them out and counts them onto the table in piles of five. 4. The closest guess wins, and the loser of the round puts every packet back the way it was. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 5 min. Props: the sugar caddy on the table.
  • Edge Flip and Catch, Add a Coaster Each Time 1. Lay one coaster so that half of it hangs over the edge of the table. 2. With the back of the fingers, flip it up from below and catch it in the same hand before it lands. 3. A clean catch earns a second coaster on the stack for the next try. 4. Each player keeps going until a miss. The tallest stack caught is the score to beat. Players: 2 to 6. Time: 5 min. Props: the coasters on the table.
  • Knot the Straw Wrapper Without Tearing It 1. Each player keeps the paper wrapper from a straw. 2. On go, everyone ties one plain knot in their wrapper and pulls it snug. 3. A wrapper that tears is out. 4. Those still whole tie a second knot beside the first, and so on. The wrapper with the most knots wins. Players: 2 to 8. Time: 5 min. Props: a paper straw wrapper each.
  • Slide a Sugar Packet to the Table Edge 1. Players sit at one side of the table and aim for the far edge. 2. Each in turn slides one sugar packet across the table with one push of a finger. 3. The packet that stops closest to the far edge without going over scores a point. One that hangs over the edge and stays scores two. 4. A packet on the floor scores nothing and is picked up at once. First to five. Players: 2 to 4. Time: 5 min. Props: a few sugar packets.
  • Three Men's Morris With Sugar Packets 1. Draw a square on a napkin with lines joining the middles of its sides, which gives nine points. One player takes three white sugar packets and the other three of another color. 2. Players take turns placing one packet on any empty point. 3. When all six are down, they take turns sliding one of their packets along a line to the next empty point. 4. Three of your own in a row wins. Put the packets back in the caddy afterward. Players: 2. Time: 5 min. Props: a pen, a paper napkin and six sugar packets in two colors.

Games for a long table of eight or more 6

  • Across the Table: Do Your Answers Match? 1. Everyone pairs up with the person sitting opposite. 2. Someone at the head of the table asks a question with a short answer: a color, a number from one to ten, a day of the week. 3. On three, each pair answers aloud at the same moment. 4. Pairs that match score a point. After ten questions, the best pair asks the next ten. Players: 8 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Each End Pitches a Dessert, the Middle Votes 1. When the dessert menu comes, each end of the table picks one dessert to argue for. 2. Each end has thirty seconds to make its case to the seats in the middle. 3. The middle seats vote by pointing at an end. 4. The winning end has to order its dessert. The middle may order whatever it likes. Players: 8 to 16. Time: 5 min. Props: the dessert menu.
  • How Many of Us? Guess Before the Hands Go Up 1. One person asks a question of the whole table: how many of us have worked in a restaurant, how many can whistle? 2. Everyone holds up fingers to show their guess at the number. 3. Then the hands of those it is true for go up, and are counted. 4. Whoever guessed the exact number scores a point, and the next question passes down the table. Players: 8 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • One Lap, One Word Each, Against Your Own Time 1. Someone names a kind of thing: fruits, countries, things in a kitchen. 2. Starting at one end, each person says one of them, as fast as the turn reaches them, all the way around the table. 3. A repeat stops the lap. Time a clean one. 4. Change the category and try to beat the time. Players: 8 to 20. Time: 5 min. Props: a watch or a phone timer.
  • Recite the Whole Table's Order 1. When the server has gone, one person tries to say what everyone at the table ordered, going around in seat order. 2. Each diner nods or shakes their head. 3. A miss passes the turn to the next person, who starts again from the beginning. 4. The first person to get around the whole table wins. Players: 8 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Two Stories Start at the Ends and Meet in the Middle 1. The person at each end of the table starts a story with one sentence. The two stories have nothing to do with each other. 2. Each story moves toward the middle of the table, one sentence a person. 3. The two people in the middle hear both arrive. 4. Together they have to finish with one sentence that ends both stories at once. Players: 8 to 16. Time: 10 min. Props: none.

How this list was compiled: Written by the Game Night Generator editors on 2026-10-03 for adults at a restaurant table, for the wait between ordering and the food, in our own words. Player ranges and minutes are our estimates. Every game is played seated and at speaking volume, uses only what is on the table, a pen or a watch, and leaves the table as it was. No game involves alcohol or a bet, and none is about the other diners. The rules of the one traditional game were checked on 2026-10-03 against English Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_men%27s_morris Licence: own work