• 30 games
  • Checked October 2026

Games to Play With Roommates

Games for two to five roommates, played with what the apartment already holds: no drinking games and no video games.

Games to Play With Roommates

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  1. Empty the Shelf, Put It Back From Memory1. Pick one crowded shelf in a shared room and take a photo of it. Put the phone face down.2. Everyone studies the shelf for one minute. Then take everything off and pile it on the floor.3. Together, put it all back exactly where it stood. Talk as much as you like.4. Compare the shelf with the photo and score one point for each thing in its right place. Fix what was wrong, dust on the way, and try a harder shelf next time.Players: 2 to 5. You need: a phone and a crowded shelf.
  2. Groceries Away Without a Word1. Carry the bags to the kitchen and agree on one rule: from now until the last bag is folded, nobody speaks.2. Start a timer and unpack together. Point, nod, or hold a thing up with a question on your face.3. Anything put in the wrong place may be moved by another roommate, once, without comment.4. A spoken word adds ten seconds. Stop the clock when the last bag is folded, write the apartment's time on the fridge and try to beat it after the next shop.Players: 2 to 5. You need: a full load of groceries and a phone timer.
  3. The Coffee Table Tower, One Thing a Day1. Lay one sturdy thing on the coffee table: a thick book, flat.2. Every day, each roommate adds one thing to the top: a coaster, a deck of cards, a TV remote. Nothing breakable, nothing with liquid in it and nothing anyone will need before the weekend.3. Your thing must stay up for a slow count of five after you let go.4. Whoever makes the tower fall puts everything away and starts the next one. The best height, counted in things, is written on the fridge.Players: 2 to 5. You need: unbreakable things from around the apartment.

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Games that run all week 6

  • The Coffee Table Tower, One Thing a Day 1. Lay one sturdy thing on the coffee table: a thick book, flat. 2. Every day, each roommate adds one thing to the top: a coaster, a deck of cards, a TV remote. Nothing breakable, nothing with liquid in it and nothing anyone will need before the weekend. 3. Your thing must stay up for a slow count of five after you let go. 4. Whoever makes the tower fall puts everything away and starts the next one. The best height, counted in things, is written on the fridge. Players: 2 to 5. You need: unbreakable things from around the apartment.
  • Fridge Door Four in a Row, One Mark a Visit 1. Tape a sheet of paper to the fridge door, rule a grid of six squares by six on it and hang a pen beside it. 2. Each roommate chooses a mark: an initial or a shape. 3. Whenever you open the fridge you may fill one empty square, but never twice running: wait until somebody else has marked. 4. Four of your marks in a line, in any direction, win the sheet. The winner rules the next grid and marks last on it. Players: 2 to 5. You need: paper, tape and a pen.
  • Mirror Word Ladder, One Note a Visit 1. Stick a note with a four-letter word at the top of the bathroom mirror, and leave the pad and a pen on the shelf. 2. On any visit you may add one note under the last: the same word with one letter changed, making a real word that is not on the mirror yet. 3. Nobody adds two notes running. 4. The ladder ends when the newest note has stood for a full day with nothing under it. Whoever wrote that note wins and starts the next ladder. Players: 2 to 5. You need: sticky notes and a pen.
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Games that run all week, continued

  • One Word, One Photo Each, Shown on Sunday 1. On Monday, write one word on the fridge: stairs, red, breakfast, shadow. 2. During the week, each roommate takes one photo on a phone that fits the word, and shows nobody. 3. On Sunday, pass the phones around the sofa. On the count of three, everyone points at the photo they like best, and never at their own. 4. The photographer with the most votes writes next week's word. Whoever chose this week's word settles a tie. Players: 3 to 5. You need: a phone each.
  • This Week's Bingo, Written by the Apartment 1. On Sunday, each roommate rules a grid of three squares by three and fills it with things that could happen in the apartment this week: a package for the wrong door, the smoke alarm chirps, the Wi-Fi drops, a neighbor moves furniture at midnight. 2. No square may be about one roommate's habits. 3. The cards go on the fridge. When a square happens and a second roommate saw or heard it, initial it. 4. The first line of three wins. If nobody has a line by the next Sunday, the most squares win. Players: 2 to 5. You need: paper, a pen and fridge magnets.
  • The Traveling Duck: Whoever Finds It Hides It Again 1. Choose one small unbreakable thing that belongs nowhere, such as a rubber duck. The first hider puts it somewhere in a shared room with a part of it showing. 2. Whoever spots it says nothing, hides it again and adds an initial to a list on the fridge. 3. Three places are off limits: bedrooms, anywhere food is kept, and anything hot or wet. 4. At the end of the month the most initials win. If the duck stays hidden for a whole week, its hider gives one clue. Players: 2 to 5. You need: one small unbreakable thing, paper and a pen.

Games that get a chore done 6

  • Both Sides of the Window: Point Out the Other One's Streaks 1. Choose a window or a glass door that both of you can reach while standing on the floor, one from inside and one from outside. 2. Each roommate takes a cloth and cleans their own side. 3. When both step back, take turns pointing through the glass at a streak the other one left. Rub it: a streak that turns out to be on your own side counts against you twice. 4. Keep pointing and wiping until neither can find a mark. The roommate with fewer marks against them wins. Players: 2. You need: two cloths and glass cleaner.
  • Chore Draft: First Pick Goes to the Best Paper Toss 1. Write each of the week's chores on its own slip and lay the slips on the table. 2. Stand the recycling bin three steps from the sofa. Each roommate throws five balls of scrap paper at it from a seat. 3. The roommate with the most in the bin picks a slip first, then the next best, down to the last. 4. Picking then runs back the other way, last to first, so the worst thrower gets two picks in a row, and on until the slips are gone. A tie throws again from one step farther back. Players: 2 to 5. You need: slips of paper, a pen, scrap paper and the recycling bin.
  • Dish Rack Count: Closest Guess Skips the Next One 1. Before anyone unloads the dishwasher or the drying rack, each roommate says how many things are in it. Every fork, lid and mug counts as one. 2. No two guesses may be the same. 3. Unload it together, counting out loud as each thing goes into its cupboard. 4. The closest guess is excused from the next unloading, and the farthest starts it. Players: 2 to 5. You need: a full dishwasher or drying rack.
  • Fridge Audit: Name the Oldest Thing in There 1. Before the fridge is cleaned out, each roommate writes down the one thing they think has been in there longest. 2. Empty it shelf by shelf onto the counter. Whoever bought a thing says roughly when. 3. The roommate who named the oldest thing, or came closest, chooses the music for the rest of the clean. 4. Anything that nobody claims is put to a vote, keep or toss. Wipe the shelves while they are empty. Players: 2 to 5. You need: slips of paper, a pen and a cloth.
  • Odd Finger Out Takes Out the Trash 1. For three roommates or more. Everyone puts a fist behind their back. 2. On the count of three, show one finger or two. 3. If exactly one roommate shows a number that nobody else shows, that roommate has the chore. If not, throw again. 4. With only two of you, one calls odd and the other even, both show from one to five fingers, and the total decides who goes. Players: 2 to 5.
  • One Song Reset: Count What Gets Put Away 1. Pick the room that needs it most and one song that everybody likes. 2. Press play. Until the song ends, everyone puts things back where they live, one thing a trip, walking. 3. Each roommate counts their own trips out loud. 4. When the song ends, add the counts and write the total on the fridge. Next time the apartment plays against that number, with a different song of about the same length. Players: 2 to 5. You need: a speaker or a phone.

For you and one roommate 6

  • Across Against Down: One Crossword, Two Pens 1. Find one crossword, in a newspaper or printed from a free puzzle page, and two pens of different colors. 2. One roommate may read only the Across clues and the other only the Down clues. 3. Take turns writing in one answer. An answer that clashes with letters already in the grid may not go in, so every word you write helps or blocks the other pen. 4. When neither of you can add a word, count the answers in each color. Players: 2. You need: a crossword and two pens of different colors.
  • Dinner From Four Things the Other One Picked 1. Each roommate goes to the kitchen alone and sets out four things for the other to cook with, from what is already in the cupboards and the fridge. Salt, oil and spices are free. 2. Show the four things to their cook before you start, and swap out anything they cannot eat. 3. Cook side by side for thirty minutes. 4. Eat both plates together. A plate that used all four things scores. If both did, you both wash up. Players: 2. You need: a kitchen and what is already in it.
  • Draw the Other One's Day in Three Panels 1. Before either of you says a word about today, each takes a sheet and rules three boxes: morning, afternoon, evening. 2. In three minutes, draw what you think the other roommate did in each. Stick figures are fine. 3. Swap sheets. Each tells their real day and gives one point for every box that is close. 4. The higher score picks what you cook or watch tonight, and both drawings go on the fridge. Players: 2. You need: paper and two pens.
  • Finish the Sentence From the Shelf 1. Each roommate takes a book from the shelf that the other has not read. 2. Open it anywhere and read one sentence aloud, stopping before its last word. 3. The other roommate says the word they think ends it. The exact word scores two. A word that means the same scores one, and the reader is the judge. 4. Swap after every sentence. The first to ten wins and chooses the next two books. Players: 2. You need: two books.
  • Kitchen Scale Duel: Closest to a Pound 1. Put the kitchen scale on the counter with its display turned to the wall. 2. Each roommate has two minutes to gather things from their own shelf that they think weigh one pound together: a can, three apples, a bag of rice. 3. Weigh one pile, then the other. The pile closer to a pound wins the round. 4. Play best of five. The loser of each round sets the next target: half a pound, two pounds, the weight of the full kettle. Players: 2. You need: a kitchen scale and what is in the cupboards.
  • Kitchen Tile Checkers, Caps Against Coins 1. Mark out a board of eight squares by eight: four strips of tape around the edge on a tiled floor, or the whole grid in tape on any floor. 2. One roommate collects twelve bottle caps and the other twelve coins. Set them up as for checkers, on every second square of your three nearest rows. 3. Before the first move, agree whether a jump must be taken when one is there. 4. Play checkers by the rules you both know. A piece that reaches the far row is flipped over to show that it is a king. The board stays down until the game is finished, even if that takes three evenings. Players: 2. You need: painter's tape, twelve bottle caps and twelve coins.

Co-op games: the apartment against the clock 6

  • Count the Apartment: One Answer From All of You 1. One roommate reads out five counting questions about the apartment that nobody has checked: forks in the drawer, steps down to the street, light bulbs, mugs, coat hooks. 2. For each one, the whole apartment must agree on a single number in under a minute. 3. Then walk around together and count. 4. An answer within two of the real count scores, and three of five is a win for the apartment. The roommate whose first guesses were best writes five new questions for next time. Players: 2 to 5. You need: paper and a pen.
  • Empty the Shelf, Put It Back From Memory 1. Pick one crowded shelf in a shared room and take a photo of it. Put the phone face down. 2. Everyone studies the shelf for one minute. Then take everything off and pile it on the floor. 3. Together, put it all back exactly where it stood. Talk as much as you like. 4. Compare the shelf with the photo and score one point for each thing in its right place. Fix what was wrong, dust on the way, and try a harder shelf next time. Players: 2 to 5. You need: a phone and a crowded shelf.
  • Groceries Away Without a Word 1. Carry the bags to the kitchen and agree on one rule: from now until the last bag is folded, nobody speaks. 2. Start a timer and unpack together. Point, nod, or hold a thing up with a question on your face. 3. Anything put in the wrong place may be moved by another roommate, once, without comment. 4. A spoken word adds ten seconds. Stop the clock when the last bag is folded, write the apartment's time on the fridge and try to beat it after the next shop. Players: 2 to 5. You need: a full load of groceries and a phone timer.
  • One Reads, One Chops, One Stirs 1. Choose a recipe that none of you has cooked before. 2. Split the jobs so that nobody does two: one roommate may only read the recipe aloud and touches nothing, one may only chop and measure, and one may only work at the stove. A fourth washes up as you go, and a fifth sets the table and tastes. 3. The reader may repeat any line as often as asked but may not point. 4. Swap jobs at the halfway mark. The apartment wins if dinner reaches the table and nobody has done another roommate's job. Players: 3 to 5. You need: a recipe and its ingredients.
  • Power-Cut Drill: Five Things in the Dark 1. Agree on five things the apartment would want if the power went out: a flashlight, spare batteries, a charged battery pack, a blanket, a deck of cards. 2. In the evening, switch off the lights and start a timer. 3. Walking only, and with no phone light, bring all five to the sofa. Anyone may call out where they think a thing is kept. 4. Stop the timer when the fifth thing lands. Then decide together where each one should live from now on, and run the drill again next month against that time. Players: 2 to 5. You need: a timer.
  • Recycling Tower: Taller Than the Shortest Roommate 1. Tip the clean recycling onto the floor: boxes, cans, tubs, tubes. 2. Start a song. Before it ends, the whole apartment builds one tower that stands by itself and is taller than the shortest roommate. No tape, and no leaning it on a wall. 3. Each roommate may have only one hand on the tower at a time. 4. If it stands for a count of ten after the song, the apartment wins, and the tower goes into the bin from the top down. Next time, the tallest roommate is the mark. Players: 2 to 5. You need: clean recycling and a song.

The whole apartment on the sofa 6

  • Charades From the History of This Apartment 1. Each roommate writes three slips, each naming something that happened here and that everyone present remembers: the night the power went out, the wardrobe that would not go up the stairs. Nothing that would embarrass anyone. 2. Fold the slips into a bowl. 3. In turn, draw a slip and act it in silence for one minute while the others guess. 4. The actor and the first right guesser score a point each. A slip that nobody guesses is read out, and its writer tells the story. Players: 3 to 5. You need: slips of paper, a pen and a bowl.
  • Doubles in the Apartment 1. Each roommate takes paper and a pen. In three minutes, list things the apartment owns two or more of and needs only one of: can openers, kettles, copies of the same book. 2. Read the lists aloud. 3. A thing scores only for a roommate who was alone in listing it, and only if somebody can fetch both of them within a minute. 4. The highest score wins. The spare of every pair goes into a box by the door to give away. Players: 2 to 5. You need: paper, pens and a box.
  • Rank the Mugs: Match the Apartment 1. Line up six mugs from the cupboard and put a letter on a scrap of paper in front of each. 2. Each roommate secretly ranks them on a slip, from the best mug to the worst. 3. Show the slips. For each place, first to sixth, the letter that the most roommates put there is the apartment's answer; a place with no single most-chosen letter is skipped. 4. Score one point for every place where your slip matches the apartment's answer. The winner drinks from the top mug for a week. Players: 3 to 5. You need: six mugs, slips of paper and pens.
  • The Tea Round From Memory 1. One roommate is the server and takes everyone's order for a hot drink, with every detail: which mug, how strong, what goes in and how much. 2. Nothing is written down, and no order is said twice. 3. The server makes the whole round alone and carries it in. 4. Each drinker gives one point if theirs is right in every detail. The roommate on the server's left makes the next round, and the round with the most points wins the evening. Players: 3 to 5. You need: a kettle, mugs and whatever the apartment drinks.
  • Three Lists, One Dinner 1. For the night when nobody can decide what to eat. Each roommate secretly writes three dinners they would be glad to have tonight, cooked or ordered. 2. Show the lists together. A dinner that is on every list wins at once. 3. If none is, each roommate crosses one dinner off somebody else's list, and nobody adds anything. 4. Keep crossing off, one each a round, until a single dinner is left. Whoever wrote it chooses who cooks or who places the order. Players: 2 to 5. You need: paper and pens.
  • What Is in the Junk Drawer? 1. Choose the drawer where things go to be forgotten. Nobody opens it yet. 2. Each roommate writes ten things they believe are in it right now. 3. Open the drawer and read the lists aloud, one thing at a time. A thing scores one point if it is there, and two if nobody else wrote it. 4. The winner chooses three things from the drawer that the apartment agrees to throw away. Players: 2 to 5. You need: paper and pens.

How this list was compiled: Our own games for two to five adults who share an apartment, played with what is already in it. The wording and the player counts are ours. There is no drinking game and no video game on the list, nothing of value is staked (a few games decide who takes a chore), and no game is about one roommate's habits, money or private life. The set-up of Kitchen Tile Checkers (a board of eight squares by eight, twelve pieces each on every second square of the three nearest rows, a king at the far row) follows Wikipedia's article English draughts, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_draughts, read on 13 October 2026; the play is by the rules the two players already know. The list states no other fact that needs an outside source. Licence: own work

How it works

These games to play with roommates use the apartment itself as the board: the fridge door, the junk drawer, the dish rack. Some are played from the sofa in one sitting, some run all week, and six get a chore done.

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Start one that runs all week

A game on the fridge door costs nobody an evening. Tape up Fridge Door Four in a Row, One Mark a Visit tonight, or hide The Traveling Duck: Whoever Finds It Hides It Again, and the game is under way by breakfast.

When a chore needs doing

Games that get a chore done holds six. Chore Draft: First Pick Goes to the Best Paper Toss shares out the whole week's list, Odd Finger Out Takes Out the Trash settles one job in seconds, and Fridge Audit: Name the Oldest Thing in There empties the fridge.

  • Agree what a chore game decides before the first throw, not after it.

Questions and answers

What are fun games to play with roommates?

Ones that use the place you share. What Is in the Junk Drawer? scores what each of you remembers is in it, Doubles in the Apartment finds everything you own two of, and The Tea Round From Memory tests one server on every order.

What games can you play with your roommate when it is just the two of you?

For you and one roommate holds six. Across Against Down: One Crossword, Two Pens splits one puzzle between you, and Kitchen Scale Duel: Closest to a Pound sends you both to the cupboards. 2 roommates, under More filters, shows all 25 that work for two.

Are there co-op games for roommates with no console?

Six, in Co-op games: the apartment against the clock. The apartment wins or loses together: Groceries Away Without a Word against its own best time, Power-Cut Drill: Five Things in the Dark, and One Reads, One Chops, One Stirs for three or more.

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