15 Halloween Party Games for Adults Who Want Scary Fun
Almost a quarter of all Americans say that Halloween is their favorite holiday. While other seasons have their charm, there’s something especially unique about the fun yet spooky atmosphere of this special day.
If you want to make this year’s celebration the best, then thoughtfully planned Halloween party games for adults are the difference between a party where people stand around and one where everyone is kept on their toes.
Keep reading to learn about 15 imaginative Halloween games for adults that are easy to set up, a blast to play, and perfect for all types of people.
Why Games Matter at Adult Halloween Parties
Games aren’t just for kids. You might think that an adult Halloween party only needs booze and boos, but adults often appreciate games because they can break the ice and get the party flowing more easily.
Plus, it encourages mingling and creates shared experiences where people can bond, even in a short amount of time.
How Do You Entertain an Adult at a Halloween Party?
It’s worth emphasizing that a structure for your party can make each guest feel excited about what to expect. A strategy like this prevents the party from hitting awkward gaps or stalling altogether.
As you plan out Halloween activities for adults, it’s a good rule of thumb to focus on variety. Each game should do at least one of the following:
- Get people up and moving
- Encourage fun conversation
- Allow people’s creativity to take center stage
1. Murder Mystery Dinner Game
Murder mysteries are one of the most morbidly popular genres of TV shows and podcasts. For a truly immersive experience inspired by this trend, consider hosting a murder mystery dinner where each guest is assigned a specific role. Think about the characters and come up with some of the backstory, such as a butler with a chip on his shoulder or a billionaire who has a deep, dark secret.
Before the party, you can send out those character descriptions alongside your holiday invitations. That way, participants can prepare their costumes and flesh out the backstories. While playing as their characters, guests can pick up on clues and hints before trying to pinpoint who among them is the murderer.
The suspense is sure to intensify as accusations fly, alliances form, and secrets are revealed. A game like this works especially well for adults because it has a solid social element paired with imaginative problem-solving. Players can enjoy acting and improvisation as much as deduction. After the dramatic reveal and the curtain drop, your guests will have plenty to talk about well into the night.
2. Spooky Escape Room Challenge
Haunted houses are fun staples of the holiday, but transforming a room in your home into a haunted escape challenge is a way to elevate the experience even further. Be sure to round out the game with the following items:
- Locked boxes covered in fake cobwebs or splattered with red dye
- Clues hidden in creepy nooks and crannies
- Eerie lighting that gives the room a macabre atmosphere
To play, divide guests into teams and give them a certain amount of time to solve puzzles. Having them “escape” before the clock runs out will ensure everyone can have a turn, but it also adds a deeper feeling of suspense. You can incorporate the time limit into the story by explaining that a murderer will return to the room at the end.
Whether you want to theme the escape room as a haunted house, a witch’s lair, or a diabolical laboratory is up to you. If your Halloween party has a theme, then consider a situation that matches the overall aesthetic.
The sense of teamwork and quick thinking under pressure, not to mention unsettling sound effects and a fog machine, will make any victories feel that much sweeter.
3. Halloween Costume Contest With a Blood-Curdling Twist
Halloween parties are one of the few chances adults have to express themselves without any limits. From dressing as favorite villains to embodying your worst nightmares, Halloween costume contests are a true party classic.
To make this game more unique, you can judge each costume based on a scream-meter rather than an applause-meter. As each ensemble is revealed, your guests can vote by giving their best Hitchcockian shrieks of bloody murder. You can either get a meter that actually measures noise or craft your very own scream-meter with an adjustable arrow that can point from graveyard squeaks to cold-blooded massacre.
What to do at Halloween parties for adults?
It can also be helpful to have Halloween game prizes for particular costume categories. Examples could include the following:
- Best zombie, demon, or vampire
- Cute yet creepy
- Glory to the Goriest
- Most worthy of an exorcism
If you don’t want to use a scream-meter, then let guests mingle and admire each other’s attire throughout the night. Afterward, they can cast their votes anonymously. A variation like this ensures more people have a chance to win, and guests will be able to cut the tension with a rusty knife as the votes are tallied on a board.
A costume contest works as both a game and an easy conversation starter. It gives everyone an excuse to compliment each other and swap stories about their outfits as they play the other games that you’ve chosen for your Halloween party.
4. Cemetery Pong
Cemetery pong is a haunted spin on the classic beer pong that everyone knows and loves. While beer pong is often associated with college party life, it’s a versatile game that’s a cinch to put together. Best of all, it’s enough of a challenge where everyone can get into the competitive spirit while chit-chatting all the while.
You can set up cemetery pong the usual way, except instead of red silo cups, you can use black ones. You can also cut out tombstone pieces of paper and affix them to the front of the cups to bring your graveyard to undead life. To make things even spookier, you should put the names of guests on the tombstones and give extra points if people score on their own grave.
If you incorporate dry ice into cups, then that will bring even more of a devilish atmosphere to your Halloween party game. Just be sure to emphasize to guests that they shouldn’t drink or touch the dry ice.
Whether you play in teams or as solo competitors, don’t forget to have some prizes at the ready for those who win. Mini gold-painted pumpkins are fun trinkets that can double as souvenirs.
5. Zombie Horde Tag
One way to get people up and about is by indulging in a “zombie tag,” where the person who is it must move in slow, jerky motions while groaning with all the drama they can muster. Instead of one player being “it,” whoever the zombie tags also becomes a zombie. You can keep on playing until there’s one desperate survivor left.
If you have your rotten heart set on throwing a zombie-themed shindig, then this activity is a must. You’ll want to emphasize the undead dress code on your Halloween party invitations so that everyone looks the part.
6. Interview With a Vampire
Interview With a Vampire is a true classic film of the horror genre. You can use this flick as inspiration for a detective game.
Someone has been killed by a vampire, and it’s up to the party guests to interview each other and try to weed out the bloodsucker. The trick is that everyone has to vote in the moment for who they think should have a stake driven through their heart. If they kill the wrong person, then that’s a point for the mystery vampire.
The vampire can also kill unsuspecting guests as people go from room to room in the house looking for helpful clues. The game calls for analytical thinking, strategic moves, and plenty of engaging acting.
7. Fear Factor Food Dare
Your guests will certainly be hungry at some point during the festivities. That’s why you should blindfold them and ask them to sample mystery foods with disturbing textures. The goal of this fear factor food challenge is to successfully guess what the samples actually are.
Isomalt sugar can act as pieces of glass, peeled grapes can feel like eyeballs, and a pile of spaghetti can pass for brains. While the foods are perfectly safe and tasty, your guests’ imagination will do the heavy lifting and freak everyone out.
When it comes to Halloween party ideas for adults, the laughter that comes from exaggerated reactions and wrong guesses will make this one of your most memorable bashes.
8. Do You Really Know Halloween?
Halloween trivia may be simple on the surface, but it’s a beloved game type for a reason. It works for groups of all sizes and can liven things up with some friendly competition.
After dividing people into teams, you can challenge them with holiday-themed questions ranging from horror films and ghost legends to the long history of Halloween traditions.
Here are some example trivia facts and questions you could include:
- In what year was John Carpenter’s The Thing released? (1982)
- What does the name “Dracula” mean in Romanian? (“Son of the Dragon”)
- Is it true that witches were burned in Salem? (False)
- In Mexican tradition, what holiday coincides with Halloween? (Día de los Muertos)
How to Make a Halloween Party Not Boring
You should try to curate a list of easy, tricky, and unexpected questions. Doing this gives everyone a fair shot at getting some of the answers right.
Be sure to read them aloud in a dramatic voice, perhaps using your best Christoper Lee or Vincent Price impression. Likewise, you should reveal answers with suspense.
Remember to keep score as teams battle for the title of Halloween expert. Bat-covered mugs, boo baskets, or even horror movie DVDs can work as prizes.
9. Curse of the Mummy Wrap Race
Vampires and zombies are scary, sure, but there’s something particularly awful about bodies stuffed in claustrophobic sarcophagi. You can use the image of the wrapped mummy for a toilet paper challenge.
Put your guests into teams and hand out either white crepe paper or toilet paper rolls. Get your stopwatch ready and time each team’s ability to wrap one of their members from top to bottom. The goal is to make sure that the person is well-wrapped and looks as much like a mummy as possible.
Since the event’s timed, you can bet that plenty of the mummies will look raggedy and lopsided, which works great for photo opportunities. The person who wins the mummy-wrap race can put a curse on the losers for the rest of the evening, such as making them do a goofy dance when they hear a specific buzzword.
For an extra challenge and heightened hilarity, you can do this wrap race after you’ve finished a horror movie drinking game.
10. Horror Movie Drinking Game
Everyone has their personal favorite horror movie of all time, whether it’s Kubrick’s The Shining or Rob Zombie’s take on the Halloween series. For this game, you’ll have to choose a cult horror film and formulate a set of rules for drinking throughout the movie.
Examples for drink-sipping rules include the following:
- Whenever a character or someone in the audience screams
- Any time there’s a jump scare
- After each character’s death
The shared reactions to over-the-top horror tropes are sure to make the game even better.
11. A Witchy Potion-Mixing Contest
In the spirit of witches, set out a medley of mixers, garnishes, and colorful liquids for guests to create their very own “potions.” If one or more guests don’t drink alcohol, then mocktail options can work just fine.
Encourage creativity in the presentation and naming. You can also have everyone taste and vote for their favorite concoctions. Not only is this delicious game interactive, but guests also get to enjoy the drinks they’ve made throughout the night. It’s both a competition and a refreshment break.
If you want to get a little evil with it, then you can also include some nasty ingredients to surprise taste-testing guests, such as pickle juice, ketchup, or hot sauce.
12. Summoning Seance Silliness
You may think that Ouija boards are ancient artifacts that are hard to get, but Hasbro produces and sells them like any other board game. You can elevate the experience of playing it by lighting one or two candles that just barely reveal the board’s letters. Have everyone sit around a table, and be sure to play some eerie background noise on your phone.
Instead of contacting spirits, your guests should be secretly given a list of silly words or phrases they must “channel” into the conversation without being too obvious. Others must guess the hidden word before the seance ends. It’ll certainly be hilarious when the “spirits” start demanding spicy tacos.
13. Pumpkin Carving Craziness
Pumpkins are literally the face of Halloween, and yet they also work as blank slates of imagination. It’s worth taking the time to set up a carving station with pumpkins, tools, and a variety of stencils.
To put the pressure on, give participants a time limit to create their very best jack-o’-lantern designs. When time is up, you can display all the freaky pumpkins and have guests vote for their favorites. It’s a game that works well for adults who want to get into the spirit by using their creative juices, and the finished pumpkins can help with the party decorations.
14. Halloween Photo Booth Bonanza
Photos ensure the party lasts in your guests’ memories for many years to come. That’s why you should have a decorated photo booth area with props like the following:
- Fake murder weapons
- Funny wigs
- Creepy masks
Challenge guests to recreate famous scenes from horror movies. An activity like this will generate plenty of laughs and leave you with hilarious, high-quality photos to share as Halloween party favors.
15. Guess the Ghost Story
Ghost stories never fail to raise goosebumps on the listener’s arms. Almost everyone has at least one creepy experience they can’t fully explain.
It could be a toy activating without batteries or a full-on sighting in a mirror at night. Either way, you should ask your guests to come up with two fake tales alongside one real experience.
From there, they take turns trying to guess which one actually happened. It’s the perfect game to accompany roasting s’mores over a campfire in the backyard or over unscented, non-toxic candles indoors.
These Halloween Party Games for Adults Will Haunt Your Guests’ Dreams
You’re sure to leave an impression on your party guests when you plan the most fun Halloween party games for adults. Everyone will be counting down to your next Halloween party because they know it’ll also be legendary.From Halloween celebrations to baby showers, Greetings Island has all of your invitation needs covered. We also offer a party invitation maker that takes customization and personalization to a whole new level. Be sure to try it out or browse our many different categories to find the perfect invitation for your next amazing event.
