The Adventure Protocol brothers have spent a lot of time camping–which means we’ve also spent a lot of time playing games. Over the years we’ve cycled through dozens of games, but many we keep in the rotation trip after trip—the classics that everybody loves. Some of them are great for large groups, others for just two to four people. Most are appropriate for children and easy to learn and to play. All of them are guaranteed to be a good time. So check out the 12 best camping games for your next adventure.
Best camping games: Favorite multiplayer strategy game
Settlers of Catan
Number of players: 3 to 4 (standard version) or 2 to 6 (with various expansions)
Ages: 10 and up
Set up time: 10 minutes
Playtime: 1 to 4 hours
Description
At this point Settlers of Catan has gone way beyond the nerd subculture and is one of the most popular board games ever. In fact it’s so popular, the Washington Post referred to is as “the board game of our time.” If you haven’t played by now, take a moment to evaluate your life choices. Settlers is a multiplayer board game that involves each player building settlements, roads, and cities by collecting resources. Players obtain “victory points” for various actions, and the first person to earn ten victory points wins the game. While being fairly simple to learn, Settlers involves plenty of strategy and just the right amount of luck. And with five major expansions and numerous smaller spinoffs, it’s one of the most replayable of our best camping games.
Buy Settlers of Catan on Amazon
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Favorite large group game
The Fishbowl Game
Number of players: 4 to 50
Ages: 8 and up
Set up time: 5 minutes
Playtime: 30 to 60 minutes
Description
AKA Tres Muertes, Tres Locos, or Jim’s Amazing Game, The Fishbowl game is super easy to learn, can be played with any size group, and will keep people entertained for hours. The premise is simple: two teams trying to guess a word their teammate is describing or acting out–think Taboo or Charades, but with a few twists. Possibly the game we’ve played for the longest time, so we had to include it in our best camping games list. Here’s how to play:
Items you needs to play:
- A large bowl (doesn’t have to be a fishbowl)
- A timer
- 3 strips of paper per player
- Enough pens/pencils to go around
Setup:
Each player writes a word or phrase on each piece of paper, folds it in half once and places them into the bowl. And that’s it! The easy setup is part of what makes this one of the best camping games. Pro tip: encourage people to use words and phrases that everyone will know, and to write legibly.
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Game play:
The game involves three rounds. Each round ends when all of the pieces of paper have been guessed. All three rounds use the same words, new words are only created for each new game.
Round 1 is like the game Taboo. A player from Team 1 stands in the front the group and has some time (usually 45 seconds–have someone from the other team hold the timer) to describe the words or phrases on the strips of paper as quickly as possible, without using any form of the words on the paper (and no hand motions). If their team guesses the phrase, they get a point. Once Team 1 is done, they keep the correctly guessed phrases (to tally up later), and Team 2 is up. It goes back and forth like this until all of the strips of paper have been guessed. Tally up how many each team guessed, and put all of the strips of paper back into the bowl.
Round 2 is played exactly like Round 1, except instead of Taboo you’re now playing Charades. This means players cannot use any words but only hand gestures and acting to get their teammates to guess the phrases on the paper. The time allotted is the same (45 seconds) and you go back and forth between teams until all of the paper slips run out. Count up the totals for each team, and return the paper back into the bowl.
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Round 3 is one-word Taboo. This means the player can only describe what’s on the paper with one single word. At this point everyone has heard all of the phrases twice, so it’s surprisingly easy to get people to guess the phrase even with only a one-word description. Players still get 45 seconds to get as many as they can. Total up the points from all three rounds and announce the winner!
Some notes about game play:
- Players can skip a certain word or phrase as often as they’d like.
- If a player starts their turn and there are only one or two pieces of paper left in the bowl, they should still go as fast as possible to get them guessed. Whatever time remains of their 45 seconds “rolls over” to the next round and they start off the round with that amount of time left, using the new rules from the new round to get as many phrases guessed.
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Favorite role play game
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
Number of players: 3 to 10
Ages: 8 and up
Set up time: 5 minutes
Playtime: ~10 minutes per game
Description
Based on the popular social game Werewolf (which was based on the popular game, Mafia), One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a quicker version that’s paired with an iOS or Android app that takes the role of the moderator. One Night involves every player having a secret identity. On one side are the werewolves and the other are the villagers (who each have various identities and powers). During the “night” while everyone has their eyes closed, various actions are performed, all of it described and moderated by the smartphone app. Once everyone “wakes up”, there’s a limited amount of time for the villagers to try and figure out who the werewolves are while the werewolves and their allies try to maintain their innocence. This game is fast paced, highly interactive, and every round plays out differently, which we think easily makes it one of the best camping games.
Buy One Night: Ultimate Werewolf on Amazon, or find the app versions on iOS or Android.
Favorite adult group game
Cards Against Humanity
Number of players: 4 and up
Ages: 17 and up
Set up time: 5 minutes
Playtime: As long as you want
Description
Cards Against Humanity is the adult version of Apples to Apples. And when we say adult, we seriously mean it. Even for many adults, some of the cards can be disturbing, offensive, and disgusting. Definitely be aware of who you’re playing with! For those unfamiliar, the game is very simple. Every player has a number of white cards in their hand (7-10). These have phrases like “Not wearing pants”, “Justin Bieber”, “The Rapture”, and “Panda Sex.”
Each round a new judge–usually just going around clockwise after starting with “whoever pooped last” (seriously, it’s in the instructions)–pulls a random black card, which will have a question or a fill-in-the-blank like “What gives me uncontrollable gas” or “I got 99 problems but _______ ain’t one.” Each player chooses one white card that they think is funny, pertinent, nonsensical, or just plain shocking and places it into a pile. The judge shuffles the pile, reads them aloud, hilarity ensues, and they pick whichever one tickles their fancy. The winner keeps the black card for that round. Play until someone reaches some number of black cards, you run out of energy, or grandma walks in. The simplicity’s why it’s one of our continual favorites and the nonstop laughter make it one of the best camping games we’ve ever played.
Buy Cards Against Humanity on Amazon
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Favorite trivia game
Smartass
Number of players: 2 to 12
Ages: 12 and up
Set up time: 5 minutes
Playtime: 30 to 60 minutes
Description
Smartass is a fast paced trivia game that doesn’t test who is necessarily smartest, but who can think quickly on their feet. Instead of a simple question being read, Smartass involves one person reading off eight clues one at a time. The first person to yell out at the answer wins! Players move pieces along the gameboard and can run into Smartass spaces (and lose a turn) or Hardass space (and earn bonus questions!). A fun and interactive trivia game that doesn’t go on for hours, Smartass is sure to be one of the best camping games you’ve played.
Buy Smartass on Amazon
Favorite game where someone gets to be a wizard
Avalon
Number of players: 5 to 10
Ages: 13 and up
Set up time: 10 minutes
Playtime: 10 to 30 minutes
Description
Who doesn’t love the chance to be a wizard? Avalon is like One Night Ultimate Werewolf set in Britain during King Arthur’s time. There are two sides: Arthur’s knights of the round table and Mordred’s minions. The minions know each other’s identities and work throughout the game to undermine the knights. The knights have Merlin on their side, and he knows the identity of the minions. The twist: if Mordred’s minions figure out who Merlin is, the knights of the round table fail at their quest. The game is quick and deception is key. The fate of Britain rests in your hands! A newer addition to our best camping games list, it’s sure to stand the test of time.
Buy Avalon on Amazon
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Favorite game to play in a dark scary cabin
Cutthroat
Number of players: 5+
Ages: 12 and up
Set up time: 10+ minutes
Playtime: 15 to 60 minutes
Items you need to play:
- A house or cabin of some sort and it needs to be pitch black (see photo above). Like not-able-to-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face black. Cover windows with blankets if you need to, even cover the stove clock, as any amount of light can ruin the game.
- A deck of cards (or some way to secretly and randomly hand out identities)
Setup:
Take out as many cards as there are people. Define some type of card as being mafia (e.g. any cards in the suit of Spades), and the rest are villagers. There should be about one mafia for every five villagers. Hand them out randomly and have people keep the cards hidden after looking at them. If there is more than one mafioso, have everyone except the mafia close their eyes so they can see each other.
Game play:
The lights go out and people walk around. The mafia’s goal is to kill all the villagers (usually over multiple rounds). The villages goal is to find out who the mafia is. The mafia kill people by sliding their finger (gently) across someone’s neck. That person waits a moment, then drops to the floor, or the mafia can move them to another location (the “dead” person must follow and comply). If a villager finds someone who appears to be dead, they ask “Are you dead?” If the dead person answer yes, that villager yells “Dead body!” and everyone races to turn on a light.
As long as the lights are off, mafia can continue to kill. Once the lights are on, everyone gathers to have a counsel and takes a vote on who they think is the mafia. Any dead people are not allowed to talk about their experience and don’t get to vote. Once someone is voted for by a majority, they show their card and are out of the game. If there’s still at least one mafia after the vote, the game continues. It ends either when either all the mafia have been voted off, or they’ve successfully killed all the villagers. Cutthroat’s probably the most thrilling of our best camping games, it can actually be pretty scary!
Some notes about game play:
- Mafia cannot kill the other mafia, or find and announce dead body.
- Mafia can kill as many villagers as they want in one round.
- Dead bodies must drop silently and cannot give away that they are dead unless explicitly asked by someone who is right next to them. People can talk as much as they want until they are dead and then they must be silent for the rest of the game, especially during the council. It quickly ruins a game if a dead person gives away something.
- Some people play using a rule where multiple people can be voted off at each counsel. In our opinion that means more arguing and debating and less lights-out scary fun. It also adds more weight and significance to voting someone off since you only get one chance per counsel.
Favorite two-person strategy game
Splendor
Number of players: 2 to 4
Ages: 10 and up
Set up time: 10 minutes
Playtime: 30 to 60 minutes
Description
Sometimes there are only two of you, and these large group games don’t work. Splendor is an easy-to-learn game that involves lots of planning and strategy. The idea is to accumulate prestige points by collecting gemstones that you can then use to buy cards. With enough cards, you get visited by a noble, giving you further prestige points. While simple in setup, the strategy is complex and the game is constantly changing. A fantastic choice for a small group who love strategy, Splendor’s a clear choice for our best camping games list.
Buy Splendor on Amazon
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Favorite wild west themed game
BANG
Number of players: 4 to 7 (standard) 3 to 8 (expansion pack)
Ages: 8 and up
Set up time: 10 minutes
Playtime: 20 to 60 minutes
Description
A spaghetti western-inspired card game where the Sheriff and outlaws battle it out for supremacy. Every player has a role (Sheriff, Deputy, Outlaw, or Renegade) and also an identity that grants them a special power (characters like Willy the Kid, Calamity Janet, and Slab the Killer). Using various cards, players gather guns and other weapons as well as defensive measures to try and kill the opposing team. The twist: only the Sheriff shows his identity, the rest are secret. So while the shooting might start immediately, you may not know who’s on your team until it’s too late.
Multiple expansions are available with more characters, items, and scenarios to keep it fun. We recommend buying BANG: The Bullet! which includes the original game plus two of the most popular expansions. We started played BANG in college, and haven’t stopped since. It continues to be one of the best camping games year after year.
Buy BANG: The Bullet on Amazon
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Favorite game involving deception and bluffing
Coup
Number of players: 2 to 6
Ages: 9 and up
Set up time: 5 minutes
Playtime: 15 to 20 minutes
Description
Coup is the ultimate game of lying and deception. It’s brilliant because the simple gameplay combined with the complexity involved in bluffing and lying–it keeps everyone on their toes. The games go quickly–a moment’s hesitation, or one wrong word can be your downfall. Everyone starts with two “influences”, each represented by a character card with a special power. During your turn you perform certain actions based on what cards you have. The twist: you can actually perform any action, even if you don’t have the necessary “influence” card to do so. But if you get caught lying, you lose an influence. Or, if you call someone out, and they weren’t lying, you lose an influence. The last one with an influence completes the Coup and wins.
Wrapping your head around this game takes a few rounds, and everyone needs to be focused and committed to the game. But once you get it, the games go quickly and it’s a ton of fun! Who’s the subtle mastermind of the group? You’ll find out! We only started playing Coup last year, yet it instantly became one of the best camping games we’ve ever played. Or check out a similar game of deception and bluffing and one of our newest favorite games: Skull!
Buy Coup on Amazon
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Favorite game that involves cute animals’ untimely death
Exploding Kittens
Number of players: 2 to 5
Ages: 8 and up
Set up time: 5 minutes
Playtime: 15 to 20 minutes
Description
CNN described Exploding Kittens like this: “It’s like UNO, except there are goats, magical enchiladas and kittens that can kill you.” What more needs to be said? It’s a simple, hysterical game. The concept and artwork were created by the online comic The Oatmeal. If you aren’t familiar, you definitely should check it out. Whether you’re a fan of The Oatmeal or just a fan of the hilariously bizarre and nonsensical, Exploding Kittens is one of the best camping games for you.
Buy Exploding Kittens on Amazon
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Favorite game to play while drinking
Dirty Fishbowl
Number of players: 4 to 50
Ages: 21 and up
Set up time: 5 minutes
Playtime: 30 to 60 minutes
Description
So you’ve played Fishbowl (see above). And you own Cards Against Humanity. It’s really very simple, just combine the two, add drinks (preferably alcoholic ones) and you have yourself a fantastic camping game. The basic idea is instead of writing your own words and phrases for Fishbowl, everyone chooses three Cards Against Humanity white cards. If you know CAH cards, this leads to things like having to act out “Sad handjob” and “Micropenis”, or having to describe “The primal ball-slapping sex your parents are having right now.” This game’s definitely not for the fainthearted, shy, or easily offended. And this is why you’ll need the alcohol–because you’re going to have to do more pelvic thrusting and miming sexual positions than you’re used to. But with the right people, drinks, and attitude, it’s a hilariously good time and obviously one of the best camping games around.
Which of your favorites did we leave out of our best camping games list? Let us know in the comments.