Halloween party games for adults: seven that work in costume

Most Halloween game lists are written for eight-year-olds. Adults in costume want an excuse to stay in character, a job for the quiet ones, and at least one moment where the lights go down and somebody screams. Here is what works, in the order you will want it.

The seven games at a glance

Wink Murder is the only one that needs a crowd. With four or five of you, skip it and play an extra round of Imposter. On a phone, swipe the table sideways to see every column.

1. Costume Court, while people arrive

The first half hour of any Halloween party is people turning up dressed as something and everyone else squinting at them. Make that the opening game. Each new arrival stands in the doorway and the room gets three guesses at what they have come as. If nobody gets it, they explain. If the explanation needs a second go, that is a forfeit.

Keep a note on your phone, because Costume Court hands out awards at the end of the night: Best Effort, Best Last Minute (anything made on the day), Most Explained, and Most Likely To Be Mistaken For Something Else. Anyone who did not dress up is a judge. That one rule turns the person in jeans from a party pooper into the most powerful person in the room.

2. Imposter with Halloween words, once everyone is in

Imposter is the best sit-down game for a crowd in costume. Everyone gets the same secret word except one player, the imposter, who gets nothing. Go round the circle giving one-word clues, then everyone points at their suspect on three. A caught imposter gets one guess at the word, and a right guess still wins. The full rules are here.

Halloween words are brilliant for it because they are visual and everyone has a story about them. The best ones have at least three angles. Ouija Board has the glass sliding about, the friend who is obviously pushing it, and the sleepover where it all went wrong. Avoid anything abstract like "spooky" or "fear": every clue sounds like a guess, and the imposter blends right in.

Two house rules for playing in costume. First, leave out any word somebody in the room is wearing. If someone has come as a werewolf, every clue for Werewolf comes with a glance across the room, and the imposter gets a free round. Second, if your imposter keeps getting caught in the first circuit, give them a one-word hint along with the blank: true, but wide. For Pumpkin, Seeds. For Werewolf, Claws. It keeps the bluff alive long enough for the vote to become a proper argument.

Deal the Halloween words with paper strips: the word on every strip but one, Imposter on the last, all drawn from a bowl. For a round of everyday words in between, the free Imposter dealer on this site deals them on one phone. Eight Halloween words to start you off:

For a longer list, with an easy and a hard hint for every word, see Halloween words for Imposter.

3. The mummy wrap race, the one with a shopping list

The only game here you have to buy anything for: one toilet roll per team. Split into teams of two or three and pick a mummy for each team. Set a two-minute timer and wrap. When it goes off, every mummy walks one lap of the room, and the mummy with the most paper still on at the end wins. The judges (the people in jeans again) can add style points for anything inventive around the face.

Buy the cheapest, thinnest roll you can find. It tears constantly, which is the whole game. Have a bin bag ready for the aftermath.

4. Wink Murder, with the lights down

The classic, and Halloween is the one night of the year it is genuinely atmospheric. You need six or more players and a pack of cards.

1. Make a mini deck: one Ace, one King, and a plain card for everyone else. Shuffle and deal one each, face down.
2. The Ace is the murderer and keeps quiet. The King is the detective and owns up straight away.
3. Everyone sits in a circle facing in, with the detective in the middle. The murderer kills by winking at someone.
4. Victims count to three in their head, then die. Loudly.
5. The detective gets three guesses. A right guess wins it for the detective. Run out of guesses, and the murderer wins.

The Halloween rule: deaths must be in character. A vampire goes down hissing, a zombie dies twice, and whoever came as a ghost has some explaining to do. Best death goes on the Costume Court list. Turn the big light off but keep fairy lights or a lamp on: in pitch dark nobody can see a wink, so nobody dies.

5. The ghost story relay

Lights off, one phone torch. Whoever holds the torch shines it up under their chin, adds one sentence to a ghost story, and passes it left. Laugh while you are holding the torch and you are out. The story gets dafter with every sentence, which is exactly why nobody lasts. Last one standing wins. Get it going with an opening line like "The last bus never stopped on our road, until the night it did."

6. Horror film questions, for any gap

Most Likely To and Never Have I Ever take a Halloween theme without a single new rule. Start with this card from the free Truth or Dare deck in Antics. Ask it to one person, then put it to the whole room on three:

• Who in this room survives longest in a horror film, and who goes first?

Then four Most Likely To lines for the night. Everyone points on three, and whoever gets the most fingers explains themselves:

• Most likely to go and check the noise downstairs.
• Most likely to watch a horror film through their fingers.
• Most likely to wear the same costume two years running.
• Most likely to still be in costume tomorrow afternoon.

And four for Never Have I Ever. Anyone who has done it puts a finger down:

• Never have I ever bought a costume on the day.
• Never have I ever slept with the light on after a horror film.
• Never have I ever hidden from trick or treaters.
• Never have I ever eaten the sweets I bought for trick or treaters.

When those run out, there are plenty more in the Most Likely To questions and Never Have I Ever questions.

7. What Are The Odds, in character

The loudest game in the house. You dare someone to do something, they set the odds (say one in ten), then you both count down from three and shout a number. Match, and they have to do it. Rules and dares here. At Halloween, play it in character. This card from the free deck in Antics does the job on its own:

• You speak in an accent until your next turn. Group picks which.

The group picks the accent your costume would have. Nobody knows what a scarecrow sounds like, which is the joy of it.

Putting the night together: a running order

Play them in the order above and finish with the Costume Court awards, read out like the Oscars. Here is how that looks across the night:

1. As people arrive: Costume Court at the door. Three guesses per costume, and anyone in jeans starts judging.
2. Once everyone is in: Imposter with Halloween words, sat in one circle. It is the first game the whole room plays together.
3. At the first lull: the mummy wrap race. It gets everyone back on their feet.
4. Lights down: Wink Murder, then the ghost story relay with one phone torch.
5. The last game: What Are The Odds in character, once the room is loud enough for it.
6. To finish: the Costume Court awards, with the best Wink Murder death on the list.

Any gap in between, use the horror film questions. They need no setup, so they slot in anywhere.

Plenty of groups play with drinks in hand and plenty don't; every game here runs on forfeits, so it works either way. The thinking behind the order (open low, build, peak, and switch at the first lull) is in how to run a games night that doesn't die at 9pm.

Halloween party games FAQ

What Halloween party games can adults play with no props?

Costume Court, Imposter, the horror film questions and the ghost story relay need nothing but the people in the room, plus a pen, some paper and a phone torch. Wink Murder needs a pack of cards. The mummy wrap race is the only one that needs shopping: one toilet roll per team.

What Halloween games work for a small group?

With four to six people, Imposter and the horror film questions fit best, because everyone gets a turn every round. Wink Murder needs at least six players to hide a murderer in, so save it for a bigger crowd.

How do you involve guests who didn't dress up?

Make them the judges. They score Costume Court and the mummy wrap race, which gives them a job from the first knock at the door and stops anyone feeling left out for turning up in jeans.

What are good Halloween words for the Imposter game?

Pumpkin, Werewolf, Ouija Board, Apple Bobbing, Fake Blood, Couples Costume, Toffee Apple and Scooby-Doo all work, because each one has several different clues. Leave out any word someone in the room is dressed as, or the clues give it away.