Brian's Dos and Don'ts of Hosting a Game Night

I’ve been having anywhere from 10-40 people at my house for years now in order to raid my closet of gaming goodness, and here’s the lowdown on what to expect, what to prepare for, and for how not to let yourself go insane with all the personalities, problems, and craziness that comes along with a ton of people invading your house.

I LOVE hosting game night.  It’s cheaper than going to the movies (sometimes, more on that later), it’s less likely to land you in jail than getting drunk, and it’s some of the best quality time I can think of with good friends.

Planning:

DO: Use Facebook is the place to invite.  You can get a guest count, and give good info for newcomers like address and phone number.  Make sure you know which of your friends frequent the site and send invites EARLY.  Some people don’t live on the internet and might only check things like this once a week.

DO:  Use Text for great, last minute, impromptu game nights.  It’s quick and easy for a small group to get in contact and meet up.  It’s very often that the impromptu last minute nights are better attended than anything I’ve spent time planning for.

DON”T:  Rely on the number of people formula, it doesn’t always work.  I’ve had three times more people show up than told me they were coming, and other nights when I thought there were going to be twenty and I ended up with four.  Stay flexible, and don’t lament the people who aren’t there, just enjoy the ones that are.

DO:  Make sure you have enough of these essentials on hand to be ready for the herd: Cups, Chairs, Paper Towels, Pens, Pads of Paper, and ESPECIALLY toilet paper.  Nothing can ruin a fun night worse than having to go to the store, so stock up!

DO:  Look at the setup of your house.  A lot of the time your everyday layout isn’t really the best for numerous tables to be played on.  Do you need to move the coffee table and put a higher card table in?  Should you plan to have extra tables in the garage?  Should you ask friends to bring extra chairs?  I know that my game nights are a little bigger than most normal ones out there, but ask yourself these questions beforehand to be prepared.

DO:  Clean the house!  No one wants to wade through your dishes, or smell the dirty cat box.  There may be a number of people that have allergies to dust and animal hair so do like we do, and try to make them as comfortable as possible so they’ll come back.

THE ACTUAL NIGHT

Refreshments:  This is probably the most difficult thing to figure out.  Do you provide a full dinner? Do you just have snacks?  If you plan on people getting food for themselves let them know, and schedule your start time at a logical time.  If you expect them to be fully fed ahead of time don’t ask them to be there at 5:00 sharp.  I like to provide food.  I usually will pick a location and order food ahead of time based on the number of people that will be there.  I’ve done Panda Express, Pizza, Costco BBQ supplies, and a ton of other things.  I’ve learned a few things though so here are my dos and don’ts on food service:

DO:  Pick something you enjoy.  It’s your house and your party.  Don’t get food you hate

DON’T:  Expect to make back the money you spend on it.  This was (IS) a hard one for me to swallow, no pun intended.  I have tried anything from donations to a $5 cover and it always seems that some people just won’t pony up even though they’re eating food and things.  Maybe my friends just suck, but I don’t think that’s the case.  Look at it this way.  If you recoup all but around 30-40 dollars from your cost you spent less than two tickets, popcorn and soda at the movies for the night.  Let it go!

DON’T:  Pick anything you have to spend a lot of time cooking yourself.  You’ll be in the kitchen all night and not playing games.  I found this out when I decided one time to make my famous home-made onion rings.

DO:  Use disposables.  I know it’s not Green, but the next day you’ll be thankful after you got to sleep at 3 AM the night before.

DO:  Have a bunch of easy low-cost alternatives at the ready.  There may be a ton of people you didn’t expect or food might not stretch as far as you thought it would.  Have Kool-Aid or Country Time Lemonade Mix available, and things like Totino’s Pizza Rolls or Bagel Bites.

DON’T:  Serve Sticky, gooey, or otherwise messy foods if you’re really anal about your games.  I like to keep them nice, but if a smudge is the price I got to pay to have a killer chicken wing, I’m okay with that trade-off.

GAMES

The games will take care of themselves.  People will shout out one they want to play, or bring one of their own.  Be gracious.  Even if you know that “Apples to Apples Bible Edition” sucks, try and seperate yourself and play a different game while helping them to find the right group to enjoy things.

I often have a few games that are on my agenda to play.  You know how often they actually get out on those nights?  A little less than never.  It’s okay.  If you want a night of your favorite games, just have your three or four favorite buddies over next time and you’ll be the Belle of the Ball.  The big nights are for loud, usually more party games, and for socializing more than hard-core in-your-face strategy.

A few last tips and things I’ve found to help you be the best host to your friends, and to have a bunch of fun yourself.

DON’T:  Turn on the TV!!!  Nothing ruins the game night worse than someone finding a movie they want to watch or finding your Guitar Hero Controller sitting out ready to be shredded on.  Don’t get me wrong I love those things too, but if I wanted to watch movies I would’ve had a movie night, not a game night.

DO:  Know the rules.  As the host and owner of the collections you will be called upon as the arbiter and end-all of disputes, and usually be needed to explain games you’re not even playing.  Knowing the rules to all the games will help you immensely.

and above all…….

DO:  BE FLEXIBLE!!!!!

So everyone wants to play Werewolf all night…….Great!  What if you can’t get more than four people over on time?  Use small filler games to pass the time while waiting for the rest.  No one is initiating a game?  Grab one from the closet and shout “The first four people over here get to play (insert name of game).  Do so with a couple other games that you know people will love.

I hope I gave a little insight for you.  As the host of “Arizona’s largest regular game night” I feel uniquely qualified to help you all out.  Happy gaming and if you’re ever in Tempe, AZ look us up.  We’re always down for a game.  If you have any questions, comments or other sggestions feel free to contact me.

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