Party games with no equipment
Without any equipment, word and guessing games work best. “Never Have I Ever”, “Most Likely To” and “Categories” take the least explaining. “Secret Number”, “Ranking” and “Guess the Number to 100” give you more to think about. All ten work from 3 players, and every one can be played as a drinking game too.
- Games
- 10, each explained in under a minute
- Players
- 3 or more, most up to 12
- You need
- nothing (a phone for Ranking)
- As a drinking game
- all of them, rules below
The best rounds often start on a whim, at a campfire or late at night in a shared kitchen. The cards are at home, of course. That is when you want games you can explain in a minute that need nothing but people willing to play.
We make the Knirt app and took a lot of these games apart while building it. Here they are the way they work best without an app. There is always a phone on the table anyway, and none of them needs more than that. Knirt tested all ten. He did not win a single one.
Which party games need no equipment?
Word and guessing games work best, because they only need people and a few sentences. All ten work from three players.
| Game | Players | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Never Have I Ever | 3 to 12 | Warming up |
| Most Likely To | 3 to 12 | Laughing at each other |
| Categories | 3 to 10 | A fast pace |
| Buzz | 3 to 10 | Concentration |
| Two Truths and a Lie | 3 to 10 | Getting to know people |
| Secret Number | 3 to 10 | Guessing with imagination |
| Guess the Number to 100 | 3 to 8 | Sneaky questions |
| Ranking | 3 to 12 | Sizing each other up |
| I Packed My Suitcase | 3 to 10 | Memory |
| Truth or Dare | 3 to 10 | Brave rounds |
Never Have I Ever
Going round, each person says a sentence starting with “Never have I ever …”. For example: “Never have I ever missed a flight.” It has to be true: the person really has never done it.
Scoring: Everyone starts with ten fingers up. Whoever has done it puts one down. The first person with no fingers left loses.
As a drinking game
Everyone who has done it drinks 1 sip.
In the Knirt app: Same name, with ready-made sentences.
Most Likely To
One person asks “Who is most likely to …?”, for example “Who is most likely to fall asleep at their own party?” Everyone counts to three out loud and points at someone at the same time.
Scoring: Every finger pointing at you is a point. After ten questions, whoever has the most loses.
As a drinking game
Each person drinks one sip for every finger pointing at them.
In the Knirt app: Called “Who Among Us?” there.
Categories
One person names a category, for example beer brands or countries starting with A. Going round, everyone names something that fits. The round ends with the first person who repeats something, says something wrong or takes longer than five seconds.
Scoring: That person gets a penalty point and names the next category. The first to 3 penalty points loses.
As a drinking game
Whoever ends the round drinks 2 sips and names the next category.
Buzz
Count up from 1, one number each. Instead of any number that contains a 7 or can be divided by 7, you say “Buzz”. So: 5, 6, Buzz, 8 … 13, Buzz, 15, 16, Buzz. After a mistake you start again at 1.
Scoring: Whoever miscounts or hesitates too long is out. The last one standing wins.
As a drinking game
Whoever miscounts or hesitates too long drinks 2 sips and stays in.
Two Truths and a Lie
One person tells three things about themselves. Two are true, one is made up. Everyone else shows 1, 2 or 3 fingers at the same time to vote for the lie.
Scoring: Everyone who spots the lie gets a point. If nobody does, the storyteller gets 2.
As a drinking game
Everyone who votes wrong drinks 1 sip. If everyone gets it right, the storyteller drinks 2.
Secret Number
Everyone except the guesser knows a number from 1 to 10. The guesser gives each player a category, and the answer fits the number: 1 is the worst, 10 the best. For a 9 and “car brands” you say “Ferrari”. Then the guesser names the number.
Scoring: A correct guess scores a point. First to 3 wins.
As a drinking game
Right: the guesser hands out 4 sips. Wrong: they drink 4.
In the Knirt app: The phone draws the number.
“Secret Number” in fullGuess the Number to 100
One person thinks of a number from 1 to 100. The others take turns asking yes-or-no questions, 10 at most between them. The fun ones come at it sideways: “Could you eat that many burgers in one go?” Instead of a question you can also guess a number, which counts as a question.
Scoring: Whoever names the number gets a point. If nobody gets it, the point goes to the person who picked it.
As a drinking game
Whoever names the number hands out 3 sips. If nobody gets it, every guesser drinks 2.
In the Knirt app: A variant of “Secret Number”. There, everyone has their own number that only the others can see.
Ranking
One person gets a topic, for example unread emails, and secretly ranks the whole group by it, themselves included. They type the order into the notes on their phone. Then everyone says their real number.
Scoring: Every correct spot is a point for the person who ranked. Once everyone has had a turn, whoever has the most wins.
As a drinking game
For every wrong spot, the person who ranked drinks 1 sip, 5 at most. All correct: they hand out 3.
In the Knirt app: The phone picks the topic and counts the mistakes.
“Ranking” in fullI Packed My Suitcase
The first person says: “I packed my suitcase and in it I put a toothbrush.” The next one repeats everything and adds one item. The list keeps growing until someone forgets something or mixes up the order.
Scoring: Whoever forgets something is out. The others keep packing until only one person is left, and they win.
As a drinking game
Whoever forgets something drinks one sip per item in the suitcase, 5 at most, and starts a new suitcase.
Truth or Dare
Going round, one person asks the next: “Truth or dare?” Truth means answering a question honestly, dare means doing a small task. Agree beforehand what is off limits.
Scoring: None. This one is about the answers and dares, not about winning.
As a drinking game
Whoever turns down a question or task drinks 3 sips. Questions about off-limits topics can be turned down without a penalty.
In the Knirt app: With questions and tasks from harmless to spicy.
Tips for a good round
Agree on limits first. Decide before you start what is off limits. Anyone who does not want to answer a question about it sits that one out, no penalty and no follow-up questions.
Small stakes. Whoever loses clears the table or picks the next game. That is all it takes to get everyone invested.
Switch in time. Most of these games last 10 to 15 minutes. Move on to the next one before people start checking their phones.
How do you play them as drinking games?
Every one of the ten games becomes a drinking game if you hand out sips instead of points. Each game has its rule to expand. Always sips, never whole glasses. Anyone who does not want to drink plays along with water or juice.
“For physical health, it is best not to drink alcohol at all.”
Until then, the DHS considered up to 24 grams of pure alcohol a day low-risk for men and 12 grams for women. That limit is gone, because according to the DHS there is no safe amount. That is why every rule here counts in sips.
Playing alcohol-free is nothing unusual: in 2025, Germany produced over 616 million litres of alcohol-free beer, 6.5 percent more than the year before.
Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis), 7 July 2026, in German
Frequently asked questions
Which party games need no equipment at all?
For example “Never Have I Ever”, “Most Likely To”, “Categories”, “Buzz” and “Two Truths and a Lie”. All you need is people, and each takes a minute to explain.
Which games work with three people?
All ten games here work from 3 players. “Secret Number”, “Categories” and “Two Truths and a Lie” are especially good with three.
Which game suits a big group?
“Never Have I Ever” and “Most Likely To” are fun even with twelve, because everyone plays at once. “Ranking” and “I Packed My Suitcase” drag from about 8 players.
Which drinking games need no equipment?
All ten here. Hand out sips instead of points, the rules are in the drinking game section. “Never Have I Ever” and “Most Likely To” are the easiest to start with.
Do these games work on a video call?
Most of them do. “Never Have I Ever”, “Categories” and “Two Truths and a Lie” work the same on a call. For “Most Likely To”, everyone types a name into the chat at the same time.
By KnirtGames, the makers of the Knirt drinking game app. Updated:
Six of them are in the app
The Knirt app already has “Never Have I Ever”, “Most Likely To” (called “Who Among Us?”), “Secret Number”, “Guess the Number to 100”, “Ranking” and “Truth or Dare”. It brings the sentences and topics and keeps score for you. In the free main game Knirt, “Secret Number” and “Ranking” pop up as mini-games between the cards.
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