Beyond their basic functions as personal assistants, both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are capable of entertaining your group of party guests with a variety of voice-controlled games.
Now, it's worth going in with lower expectations because many of these games still feel like proofs of concept rather than full-fledged games. You won't want to plan your whole party around playing Alexa games, and you may want to keep a few handy multiplayer mobile games in your back pocket. But these best Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant party games can offer a quick hit of fun that pretty much anyone can jump in and play.
Amazon Alexa
Amazon's offerings are available as Alexa Skills, which need to be enabled in the Alexa app. This is good because it means that app developers can create their own games, but that also means you've got to do some digging to find the diamonds in the rough.
Turn on your Alexa device of choice and enjoy the best Alexa party games. Note that their availability is dependent on your location and language settings in your Echo speakers.
Heads Up
The smartphone version of Heads Up was popularized by Ellen Degeneres, and the Alexa version flips it on its head.
In this version, Alexa will try to get you to guess the words by giving you clues. The skill is free and comes with three free decks — Superstars, Blockbuster Movies, and Favorite Fictional Characters — but more decks are available for just $1 if you're an Amazon Prime subscriber.
You'll definitely want to try before buying and might ultimately be better off sticking with the phone version.
Would You Rather for Family
Would You Rather is a random and fun little time-waster that offers quick questions in the "would you rather" format. It's all pretty silly and lighthearted, and the family version we're recommending here is even more sanitized so as not to create controversies at your party.
You can keep asking for more and more questions and just go around the room, although there is also a multiplayer mode available.
Categories Game
Categories Game is essentially Scattegories, except everything is played and managed by Alexa. Each round starts with Alexa rolling the letter and then starts giving out categories. Shout out an answer that matches the letter and category, and you'll get points.
This is the sort of game where Alexa might have trouble hearing some of your answers, so it might be worth keeping track of scores with a pen and paper, too.
Twenty Questions
Twenty Questions is a classic party game that has been given the Alexa treatment. Someone at your party thinks of a thing (animal, vegetable, mineral), and Alexa will try and figure out what you're thinking about by asking you a series of questions.
It's a pretty standard game that works pretty well with Alexa. You might get the occasional weird question or deal with some wonkiness, but that sort of comes with the territory of playing Alexa games.
Trivial Pursuit Tap
The iconic trivia-based board game has an Alexa equivalent that also offers optional support for Echo Buttons that make it easier to buzz in to answer questions, but you can play without them.
Once again, you're going to find this to be a much more limited version than what you'd find from a physical copy of Trivial Pursuit, but it's still a fun game that requires little to no time to set up and play.
Song Quiz
This one is perfect for music fans of all ages. With Song Quiz, Alexa will play a snippet from a popular song, and you'll have to answer with the artist and song title. You're able to play against the people in your house or the scores of players around the world.
There are playlists available that cover decades from the 60s right up to the latest top-40 hits. Be sure to turn the volume up real high so everyone can get a chance to hear and guess along.
The Fake News Game
What's real and what's fake? It's harder and harder to tell these days, so train your brain back up to reality with The Fake News Game! Challenge yourself and your friends to determine which news headlines are bafflingly real and which ones are hilarious lies. You can play with up to 20 people in this wild game, so grab some friends and get guessing about this insane world we live in.
Google Assistant
Amazon's Skill store offers a staggering number of options — not all of which are worth your time. On the other hand, Google heavily curates its picks, and each is available without needing to be set up in advance. You just have to say, "Hey Google, play X!" and you've got yourself a game.
Are You Feeling Lucky?
This is the default trivia game that's pretty polished, supports multiple players, and is honestly good fun to play by yourself or with others.
Just tell Google "Talk to Are You Feeling Lucky?," and your Google Assistant will slip into game host mode — complete with corny jokes and audience applause.
Mad Libs
Who doesn't remember this childhood classic? Mad Libs lets you create a silly and fun story by filling in the blanks without knowing how they will be used in the story. You're asked to give a collection of nouns, adjectives, adverbs, or verbs to flesh out a story which is then read aloud to you.
This one can get a bit raunchy depending on the answers you give, and it's a great party game if you end up including the names of partygoers or inside jokes along the way.
SongPop
Google's version of Song Quiz lets you test your music knowledge across a wide range of genres. Google will play you a short clip of a song and ask you to name the artist and/or song title.
It works pretty well when playing alone and can be played with a group by either taking turns for each round or working together as a team to get a high score.
Absurd is the Word
This game is like a mishmash between Categories and Would You Rather. The first round has each player giving answers that fit in a specific category. The second round pits the answers from the first in a would you rather scenario.
For example, you might be asked to list a bunch of celebrities in the first round and then decide which you would rather save from a burning building in the second round. It's a pretty light-hearted game that might stir up some conversation at your next party.
Star Wars/Star Trek/Game of Thrones/Pokémon Trivia
If you love pop culture trivia, Google also offers a number of Trivia games based on specific topics, including Star Wars, Star Trek, Game of Thrones, and Pokémon.
Each game has three levels of difficulty to choose from and can be a great way of settling once and for all who is the bigger Trek fan amongst your group of friends.
Jeopardy!
Who doesn't love Jeopardy? It's one of the most iconic quiz shows of all time and an excellent addition to any home gaming system, especially when you mix in Google Assistant. Just shout, "Hey Google, play Jeopardy!" and you're off to the proverbial races. With all the categories you know and love, like sports, history, and pop culture, you and your family and friends can step up to the lectern and put your trivia muscles to the test.
New clues are added every weekday, but you can get six new clues in the Double Jeopardy! round. There are also Teen Jeopardy! and Sports Jeopardy! games available on Sundays to keep things interesting.
Last Updated July 2021: Added Jeopardy! and The Fake News Game to our list.
