Haunted Category RacePick a letter and give tables two minutes to write one answer per category that starts with it: a costume, a candy, a monster, something in a haunted house, a scary sound. An answer another table also wrote scores nothing. Players: 4 to 40. Time: 12 min. Props: paper and a pencil per table.
Catwalk Commentary PairsIn pairs, one guest walks the length of the room in costume while the partner commentates like a fashion reporter: the fabric, the inspiration, the price. Swap over for the walk back. It lets quiet guests get a laugh without saying a word. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
Eyeball Spoon SlalomDraw an iris on a ping-pong ball for each team. Runners carry the eyeball on a spoon in and out of a line of cones and back, then tip it onto the next spoon without touching it. A dropped eyeball goes back to the last cone passed. Players: 8 to 32. Time: 8 min. Props: spoons, ping-pong balls and cones.
Halloween Party Games for Teens and Adults: how it works
Halloween party games for teens have one job: beat the phone. That takes a dark room, a secret or a costume, so those three carry most of these 61 games, and none was written for a six-year-old. Press New games to deal three, or tap a chip such as Lights-out and hiding games first.
Build the night in three acts
Open with a game latecomers can join, such as Monster on My Back. Once everyone has arrived, tap Mystery and bluffing games or Lights-out and hiding games for the main event, then close on something with candy in it. Press Lock on a keeper, New games to replace the others and Copy all to send the plan to a co-host.
Halloween party games for adults: ideas without a bar
The Adults' party ideas chip holds 32 games, all alcohol-free. A costume gives grown-ups permission to be silly, so lean on the 13 Costume games: Who's Behind the Mask runs itself from the front door until the unmasking. For a seated crowd, the Murder Mystery Dinner in Three Acts fills the evening, and the Classic Monster Match-Up Sheet comes with its answer key.
Tips
Before any lights-out game, walk the route with the lights on. Clear the floor, shut off the stairs, and agree that one shout of "lights" stops the game.
Let the teens run the games. Werewolves on Maple Street needs a moderator, and the spooky voice is funnier from one of them.
Apple bobbing is missing on purpose. Doughnuts on a String gives the same no-hands scramble, and nobody shares a tub of water.
Questions and answers
What Halloween games will teenagers actually play?
Ones with a secret or a dark room. Vampire Wink and The Zombie Handshake need no props, and Glow Stick Sardines fills twenty minutes in a dark house. Tap Teens' picks for all 47. If the group is shy, open with Costume Spotter Bingo, which gives everyone a reason to cross the room.
Are these games scary?
Spooky, not gory. Nothing here needs fake blood, a jump scare or a horror film, and the mystery games swap anything graphic for fainting and groaning: the victim in Lights-Out Whodunit sinks to the floor with a wail. With younger siblings around, start with the Relays, tosses and races chip.
How many games do I need for a Halloween party?
For a three-hour teen party, plan four and a spare: an arrival game, one long game of 20 to 25 minutes, a quick relay and a closer. The Under 10 minutes chip holds 22 that fit between food and music. An adults' party needs fewer: a costume vote, one table game and the jar guess will do.
Catwalk Commentary PairsIn pairs, one guest walks the length of the room in costume while the partner commentates like a fashion reporter: the fabric, the inspiration, the price. Swap over for the walk back. It lets quiet guests get a laugh without saying a word. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
Costume Backstory InterviewsEach guest takes the chair for thirty seconds and answers three questions in character: what did you have for breakfast, what is your day job, what are you afraid of. The room votes for the most convincing answer, which is rarely the best costume. Players: 5 to 20. Time: 15 min. Props: none.
Costume Box RelayEach team has a box holding a hat, a cape, gloves and a pair of glasses. The first runner puts on all four, runs to the far wall and back, and strips them off for the next runner. A piece that falls off on the way goes back on before another step. Players: 8 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: a box of four costume pieces per team.
Costume Charades: Chores in CharacterDraw a slip with an everyday chore, such as folding a fitted sheet, parallel parking or waiting for a bus. Act it out the way your costume would do it, and the room has to guess the chore. A vampire flossing is harder to read than you would think. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 15 min. Props: chore slips in a bowl.
Costume Parade With Six SashesEveryone walks one lap of the room while the host reads out who they are. Guests then vote on slips for six titles: funniest, best made at home, best pair or group, best pun, most last-minute and spookiest. Six sashes mean the store-bought showpiece cannot sweep the night. Players: 8 to 60. Time: 15 min. Props: ballot slips, pens and six paper sashes.
Costume Photo Challenge CardsTeams draw cards with group shots to stage: an album cover, a family portrait from 1890, everyone looking left but one. They have fifteen minutes and one phone per team. Play the photos back on a screen and let the room vote by cheering. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 20 min. Props: challenge cards and one phone per team.
Costume Spotter BingoHand out a grid of things to spot: a cape, a pun costume, a pair costume, face paint, a pointed hat, something made of cardboard. Find a guest who matches a square and get their initials in it. One guest may sign a card only once, so people have to circulate. Players: 12 to 60. Time: 15 min. Props: a printed grid and a pen each.
Freeze in CharacterDance while the music plays. When it stops, freeze in a pose your costume would strike: the witch mid-cackle, the robot mid-beep. Anyone who freezes as plain themselves sits down and becomes a judge for the next round. Players: 6 to 40. Time: 8 min. Props: music.
Mask Maker's Ten MinutesPut blank paper masks or paper plates on the table with markers, feathers, foil and glue sticks. Everyone has ten minutes to make a mask and must wear it for the next game. Give titles for the most elegant, the most unsettling and the one that fell apart first. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 15 min. Props: blank masks or paper plates, elastic, markers and trimmings.
Monster on My BackTape a card to every back as guests arrive: vampire, mummy, scarecrow, witch, skeleton, ghost, mad scientist, black cat. Guests ask each other yes-or-no questions, one per person, until they can name the monster they are wearing. It works as the arrival game because latecomers can join at any point. Players: 8 to 50. Time: 12 min. Props: name cards and tape.
Trash Bag Couture RunwayEach team gets trash bags, foil, streamers and tape, and ten minutes to dress one teammate as the monster the host calls: a robot, a mummy, a swamp thing. Models walk the runway while a teammate narrates the outfit, and the room votes by applause. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 20 min. Props: trash bags, foil, streamers and tape per team.
Which Ghost Is Under the SheetThree guests leave the room and one comes back under an old bedsheet with eye holes cut in it. The room asks three yes-or-no questions, answered by nods, then guesses who the ghost is. Swap shoes in the hallway to throw people off. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: an old bedsheet with eye holes.
Who's Behind the MaskAsk guests to arrive fully masked and hand each a numbered sticker at the door. Until the unmasking at a set time, everyone writes a name beside each number, using only voices, heights and shoes as clues. Most correct names wins. Players: 10 to 40. Time: 20 min. Props: numbered stickers, guess sheets and pens.
Lights-out and hiding games 10
Bedsheet Shadow MonstersHang a white sheet across a doorway and put a bright lamp behind it. A team steps behind the sheet and has one minute to build a single monster shadow from their bodies: three heads, six arms, a tail. The audience shouts out what it is supposed to be. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 15 min. Props: a white bedsheet and a bright lamp.
Flashlight Ghost Story Pass-AlongSit in a circle with the lights off. Whoever holds the flashlight under their chin adds two sentences to the story, then passes the light on. The last person has to end it with a twist that gets a laugh, not a scream: the footsteps were the cat. Players: 4 to 15. Time: 10 min. Props: a flashlight.
Ghost in the Graveyard, Porch Light RulesOne common way to play this yard game at dusk. The ghost hides while the rest count aloud at the porch from one o'clock to midnight. Whoever spots the ghost shouts "ghost in the graveyard" and everyone runs for the porch. The first player tagged is the next ghost. Players: 5 to 20. Time: 20 min. Props: none.
Glow Bone HuntBefore the party, mark twenty cardboard bones with glow tape and hide them around a darkened room or yard. Teams hunt by the glow alone, with no flashlights. Back at base, each team lays its bones out as a skeleton, and the most complete skeleton wins. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 15 min. Props: twenty cardboard bones marked with glow tape.
Glow Stick SardinesHide-and-seek turned inside out. One player hides with a glow stick up a sleeve while the rest count in the dark. A seeker who finds the hider squeezes into the same spot without a word. The last one still looking loses and hides next, and the hider snaps the glow stick out to end the round. Players: 5 to 15. Time: 20 min. Props: a dark house and one glow stick.
Guard the Candy CauldronA blindfolded guard sits on the floor beside a cauldron of wrapped candy. One at a time, players creep in to take a piece. The guard points at any sound, and a player pointed at goes back empty-handed. Whatever you lift in silence, you keep. Players: 5 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: a blindfold and a cauldron of wrapped candy.
Haunted House Drawn in the DarkGive everyone paper and a marker, then switch off the lights. The host calls the parts in order: a crooked house, a door, three windows, a bat over the roof, a cat on the fence, a moon. Lights on, and score a point for every part that landed where it belongs. Players: 4 to 40. Time: 8 min. Props: paper and a marker each.
Haunted House Sound TourBehind a screen, the host makes ten noises with household things: a creaking hinge, cellophane crackling like fire, a comb run along a ruler, a chain in a pan. Guests sit in the dark and write down the object, not the effect. Most correct wins. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 12 min. Props: ten noisy household objects, a screen, paper and pencils.
Lights-Out WhodunitDraw slips for one detective and one secret culprit. The detective steps out and the lights go off. The culprit taps one shoulder, and the victim counts to five and sinks to the floor with a wail. Lights on: the detective questions everyone, and only the culprit may lie. Clear the floor first. Players: 6 to 16. Time: 15 min. Props: role slips and a room you can darken.
Night Watchman's FlashlightIn a dim room the watchman stands with his back turned and his flashlight off while everyone creeps up from the far wall. He spins round and switches on the beam whenever he likes. Anyone caught moving in the light goes back to the wall, and the first to touch his shoulder takes the flashlight. Players: 5 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: a flashlight.
Mystery and bluffing games 9
Alibi for the Missing CandyTwo suspects leave the room for three minutes to agree where they were when the candy vanished: the place, the weather, what they ate. The room then questions them one at a time. Three answers that do not match and the pair is guilty. Players: 5 to 20. Time: 15 min. Props: none.
The Cursed CandyLay twelve wrapped candies on a plate. One player looks away while the group silently picks the cursed one. The player then takes candies one at a time and keeps each, until a hand touches the cursed candy and the whole room howls. Reset the plate for the next player. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 8 min. Props: a plate of twelve wrapped candies.
Murder Mystery Dinner in Three ActsSend each guest a character with the invitation, with one secret and one grudge. Open a clue envelope before the starter, the main course and dessert, and let guests question each other in character between them. Accusations come with the coffee, and the culprit confesses last. Players: 6 to 12. Time: 90 min. Props: character cards and three clue envelopes, written in advance.
Two Truths and a FrightEach guest tells three short tales of the strangest thing that ever happened to them: a noise in an attic, a wrong turn, a door that would not stay shut. One is invented. The room votes on the fake, and the teller explains the true ones. Players: 4 to 14. Time: 15 min. Props: none.
Vampire WinkWink murder in a cape. The detective leaves the room while the group picks a vampire, then returns to the middle of the circle. The vampire winks at victims, who faint as loudly as they like. The detective has three guesses, and each wrong one costs another victim. Players: 6 to 25. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
Werewolves on Maple StreetThe village game with a moderator. At night everyone closes their eyes and the two werewolves silently pick a victim. By day the village argues and votes one suspect out. The villagers win when both wolves are gone, and the wolves win once they equal the villagers. Play with an odd number so votes cannot tie. Players: 7 to 15. Time: 25 min. Props: role slips and a moderator.
Who Holds the Cursed CoinOne team sits along a table and passes a coin from hand to hand underneath it. When the other team calls "hands up", all fists slam on the table at once, and the callers listen for the clink. They get two guesses at which fist holds the coin, then the coin changes sides. Players: 6 to 16. Time: 8 min. Props: a coin and a table.
Who Stole the Candy BowlThe host writes a card for each guest: where you were at nine o'clock, one thing you saw, and for one guest, "you took it". Guests question each other for three rounds of five minutes, and only the thief may lie. Then everyone points on the count of three. Players: 6 to 14. Time: 25 min. Props: a clue card per guest, written in advance.
The Zombie HandshakeEveryone mingles and shakes hands. The secret zombie scratches a palm with one finger as they shake. A victim shakes two more hands to cover the trail, then groans and freezes. Anyone may point and accuse: a right guess ends the round, and a wrong one turns the accuser too. Players: 8 to 40. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
Relays, tosses and races 13
Candy Corn Chopstick DashEach player has a pair of chopsticks, a full bowl and an empty bowl. In one minute, move as many pieces of candy corn across as you can, one piece at a time. Players eat their own bowl afterward. Players: 2 to 12 at a time. Time: 5 min. Props: chopsticks, two bowls each, candy corn and a timer.
Decoration Safari Photo HuntFor teens who feel too old to trick-or-treat. Teams walk the neighborhood with one phone and a list: a skeleton doing something funny, an inflatable taller than the team, purple lights, a black cat, a door with a wreath of bones. Go in threes or more, stay on the sidewalk and set a time to be back. The first team home with every photo wins. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 30 min. Props: a photo list and one phone per team.
Doughnuts on a StringThe cleaner cousin of bobbing, where no one shares a tub of water. Hang a doughnut for each player from a clothesline at mouth height, in the way Scottish households hang treacle scones at Halloween. Hands behind backs, and the first to finish a whole doughnut wins. Every doughnut gets eaten. Players: 4 to 12 at a time. Time: 8 min. Props: a clothesline, string and a doughnut each.
Eyeball Spoon SlalomDraw an iris on a ping-pong ball for each team. Runners carry the eyeball on a spoon in and out of a line of cones and back, then tip it onto the next spoon without touching it. A dropped eyeball goes back to the last cone passed. Players: 8 to 32. Time: 8 min. Props: spoons, ping-pong balls and cones.
Feed the Monster TossCut a jagged mouth and two eye holes in a large cardboard box and paint the rest as a monster. Players throw beanbags from a line: one point through the mouth and three through an eye. Let each player pick their own distance, and add a point for every step back. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: a painted cardboard box and three beanbags.
Ghost Cup KnockdownDraw ghost faces on ten white paper cups and stack them in a pyramid on a table. Each player gets three rolled-up socks to throw from eight feet away. Count the ghosts knocked off the table, and restack for the next thrower. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: ten white paper cups, a marker and three rolled-up socks.
Pin the Spider on the WebDraw a big web on poster paper with a bullseye at the center. Blindfolded players are turned once, not spun dizzy, and stick a paper spider where they think the middle is. Initial each spider, and the closest to the center wins. Players: 4 to 25. Time: 8 min. Props: a web poster, paper spiders, tape and a blindfold.
Skeleton Jigsaw RaceCut a paper skeleton into fifteen pieces for each team and seal them in an envelope. On go, teams tip out the bones and rebuild the skeleton flat on the floor. The first team with every bone in the right place, checked by the host, wins. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a cut-up paper skeleton in an envelope per team.
Slow Zombie ShuffleA race where the last one over the line wins. Zombies shuffle stiff-legged with arms out and may never stop moving forward. A judge walks alongside and sends anyone who stops or steps backward to the start. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
Spider Web HallwayCriss-cross a hallway with yarn tied to chairs and door handles, and hang a few small bells on the strands. Players cross one at a time against a stopwatch, and every bell that rings adds five seconds. Dim the lights for the second run. Players: 4 to 16. Time: 15 min. Props: yarn, small bells and a stopwatch.
Sweep the Ghost RelayDraw a ghost face on a white balloon for each team. Runners use a broom to sweep the ghost around a chair and back, then hand over the broom. Balloons drift wherever they like, so a short course is plenty. Players: 8 to 32. Time: 8 min. Props: a broom and a white balloon per team.
Two-Roll Mummy WrapTeams of three get two rolls of toilet paper and three minutes to wrap one teammate from ankles to crown, leaving the face clear. Torn paper may be tucked back in. Judge on coverage, then let the mummies race to the far wall, because the paper rarely survives the first stride. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: two rolls of toilet paper per team.
Witch Hat Ring TossStand three witch hats on the floor at four, six and eight feet, worth one, three and five points. Each player throws five glow necklaces joined into rings. Turn the lights down and the rings are the only thing anyone can see. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: three witch hats and five glow necklaces.
Table, craft and quiz games 16
Blindfold Candy TastingCut five kinds of fun-size candy into quarters and number the plates. Blindfolded tasters try one piece from each plate and name the candy. Ask about allergies before anyone puts on a blindfold, and keep nuts on their own plate. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: five kinds of candy cut up, numbered plates and blindfolds.
Candy Corn in the Jar GuessCount candy corn into a clear jar before the party and seal the number in an envelope. Guests write a guess and a name on a slip at any point in the evening. Open the envelope just before people leave, and the closest guess takes the jar home. Players: any number. Time: 5 min. Props: a jar of counted candy corn, slips and a pen.
Candy Swap MarketDeal everyone ten wrapped candies at random. The market is open for five minutes of loud trading, one for one or any deal two players agree. When the bell rings, the biggest set of one kind wins, and everyone keeps what they hold. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: ten wrapped candies each and a bell.
Classic Monster Match-Up SheetMatch eight old stories to their authors, in pairs. The key: Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (1818); Dracula, Bram Stoker (1897); The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving (1820); The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe (1845); Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson (1886); The Invisible Man, H. G. Wells (1897); The Canterville Ghost, Oscar Wilde (1887); The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux (serialized 1909 to 1910). Players: 2 to 40. Time: 10 min. Props: a sheet and a pencil per pair.
Epitaphs for Lost ThingsHand out paper tombstones. Everyone writes a two-line rhyming epitaph for a lost object: the left sock, the TV remote, the good scissors. Tape them to the wall as a graveyard, and let guests put a sticker on their favorite. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: paper tombstones, pens, tape and stickers.
Fortune SaucersA gentle take on púicíní, an old Irish Halloween game. Set out four saucers holding a ring, a coin, a dried bean and water. A blindfolded guest picks one after the saucers are shuffled: the ring means romance, the coin riches, the bean a lean year, and the water travel. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 8 min. Props: four saucers, a ring, a coin, a dried bean, water and a blindfold.
Halloween Bingo With Candy MarkersDeal picture or word cards with bats, cauldrons, cobwebs and capes, and mark the squares with candy corn as the caller draws. Play one line, then four corners, then a full card. Winners eat their markers, and so does everyone else. Players: 4 to 40. Time: 15 min. Props: bingo cards, a caller's list and candy corn.
Halloween True or False by TableRead ten statements and have each table hold up a T or an F. Halloween is the eve of All Saints' Day (true). The first jack-o'-lanterns were pumpkins (false, turnips). Frankenstein is the monster's name (false, the creature has none and Victor Frankenstein is the scientist). Dracula lands at Whitby (true). "Trick or treat" first appeared in print in 1917 (true). Soul cakes go back to at least the 15th century (true). Scots call apple bobbing dooking (true). Poe's raven says "Nevermore" (true). The raven sits on a bust of Pallas (true). In Sleepy Hollow a smashed pumpkin lies by the bridge next morning (true). Players: 4 to 60. Time: 10 min. Props: a T card and an F card per table.
Haunted Category RacePick a letter and give tables two minutes to write one answer per category that starts with it: a costume, a candy, a monster, something in a haunted house, a scary sound. An answer another table also wrote scores nothing. Players: 4 to 40. Time: 12 min. Props: paper and a pencil per table.
Jack-o'-Lantern Carving Contest by CategoryEveryone carves for forty minutes, then the lanterns are lit in a dark room and judged by secret ballot: funniest, spookiest, best use of the stem. The first lanterns in Ireland and Scotland were hollowed turnips, so give a bonus to anyone brave enough to carve one. Roast the seeds while you vote. Players: 4 to 20. Time: 45 min. Props: a pumpkin each, carving kits, battery tea lights and newspaper.
Mad Scientist Mystery BoxesCut a hand hole in six shoeboxes and put one harmless thing in each, with no food: a damp sponge, a water-filled rubber glove, cold gel beads, a bristle brush, a bunch of pipe cleaners, a wig. Label the boxes brain, hand, eyeballs and so on. Guests feel without looking and write down what each thing really is. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 12 min. Props: six shoeboxes with hand holes and six objects.
Name That Spooky ClassicPlay the first twenty seconds of four orchestral pieces and have tables name the piece or the composer: Danse macabre by Saint-Saëns, where a harp strikes twelve for midnight and a xylophone rattles the bones; In the Hall of the Mountain King by Grieg; Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky; Funeral March of a Marionette by Gounod. Half a point for humming along correctly. Players: 4 to 40. Time: 10 min. Props: a speaker and the four recordings.
Pitch a Spooky MovieEach team draws three word slips, such as lighthouse, dentist and fog, and has five minutes to invent a scary movie that uses all three: the title, the monster and the twist. Pitches run sixty seconds each, and the room votes for the one it would buy a ticket for. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 15 min. Props: word slips and a timer.
Roll a MonsterEveryone has paper, and a die goes round. The first roll sets the number of eyes, the second the arms, the third the legs, the fourth the horns, the fifth the teeth. Draw the monster your rolls gave you, name it, and vote for the one you would least like to meet. Players: 3 to 20. Time: 10 min. Props: paper, pencils and a die.
Six-Word Ghost StoriesEveryone writes a complete ghost story in exactly six words, such as "I live alone. Someone flushed upstairs." The host reads them all aloud without names, and the room votes for the best chill and the best laugh. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 10 min. Props: slips of paper and pens.
Would You Rather, Haunted EditionThe host reads a choice and players walk to the left or right wall to vote: sleep in a haunted attic or a haunted basement, be a ghost nobody can see or a werewolf everyone can smell. One volunteer from each side has ten seconds to win people over before the next question. Players: 6 to 50. Time: 8 min. Props: none.