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The short answer The best Thanksgiving games for adults are table games that get people talking after the meal: a Thanksgiving survey game, history trivia, This or That cards, a blind pie tasting and a dessert auction. Below are 18 games for family dinners and Friendsgiving, sorted by when to play them. The printable ones are free, and a few have optional grown-up twists.
Adults at Thanksgiving don’t need a game to keep them busy. They need one to steer the conversation somewhere better than politics, and to fill the long stretch between the main course and pie without anyone scrolling their phone.
A survey game does both. Two teams, one host, a board of hidden answers and a lot of shouting. It plays like the TV game show Family Feud, with our own Thanksgiving questions.
Thanksgiving Survey Game
How to play: Split into two teams and line them up. Two players face off: the host reads the question and the first to slap the table answers. The winning team guesses one player at a time until the board is clear or they get three strikes.
- Name something a guest brings to Thanksgiving dinner
- Name a food people fight over at Thanksgiving
- Name something people do after the big meal
- Name a topic you avoid at the Thanksgiving table
- Name something that can go wrong with the turkey
- Name a Thanksgiving leftover you eat the next day
- Name something people say they're thankful for
- Name something that makes Thanksgiving travel stressful
- Name a job the host gives a guest who asks to help
- Name something you'd find at a Friendsgiving that isn't at family Thanksgiving
- Name a question relatives ask at Thanksgiving that nobody wants to answer
- Name something people wear on Thanksgiving
+ 2 more in the printable.
Games for the table after dinner
Nobody wants to move after the meal. These all work from your chair, with a plate of pie within reach.
1. Thanksgiving survey game (free printable)
Fourteen questions written for grown-ups: name a topic you avoid at the Thanksgiving table, name something that can go wrong with the turkey, name a question relatives ask that nobody wants to answer. Each has five or six hidden answers with points. The point values are our editors’ best guess at the most common answers, not a real poll, so feel free to argue. Split into two teams, run the board from the printout or on a TV, and play to 300. Plan on 30 to 45 minutes for 6 to 30 players.
2. Thanksgiving trivia (free printable)
Twenty-six questions about the 1621 harvest celebration, the Mayflower, Sarah Josepha Hale, “Franksgiving,” the parade and the football games, with the answers on a separate sheet. It’s pitched at adults, so expect a few groans. Play in teams of three or four with one answer sheet each. For more questions, our Thanksgiving trivia questions and answers explain where each answer comes from.
Thanksgiving Trivia
How to play: Hand each player or team a question sheet and a pen. Read each question aloud, or let everyone work through the sheet at their own pace. Circle one answer per question. No phones at the table.
- In what year did the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag share the three-day harvest celebration now called the first Thanksgiving?
- Where did the Mayflower first drop anchor in November 1620?
- About how many passengers sailed on the Mayflower?
- Which Native nation's people joined the 1621 harvest celebration?
- What was the name of the Wampanoag leader who came to the celebration?
- According to Edward Winslow's letter, about how many men came with the Wampanoag leader?
- How many days did the 1621 celebration last?
- What did the Wampanoag hunters bring to the feast, according to Winslow?
- Which Patuxet man, who had learned English, helped the colonists plant corn and served as a translator?
- Which colonist wrote the only surviving eyewitness account of the 1621 celebration?
- Which of these was almost certainly NOT served at the 1621 feast?
- Which president issued the first national Thanksgiving proclamation under the Constitution, in 1789?
+ 14 more in the printable.
3. This or That cards (free printable)
Turkey or ham? Canned cranberry sauce or homemade? Draw a card, everyone points to their pick at once, and the smallest group defends their answer. The deck has 45 cards and runs as long as the table wants. It’s the easiest game here to start, since there’s nothing to explain.
Thanksgiving This or That
How to play: Cut the cards apart and put them in a basket at the table. Take turns drawing a card and reading both choices aloud. Everyone answers at once by pointing: left hand for the first choice, right hand for the second.
- Turkey or ham?
- Pumpkin pie or apple pie?
- Stuffing or mashed potatoes?
- White meat or dark meat?
- Canned cranberry sauce or homemade?
- Gravy on everything or gravy on nothing?
- Pie or cake?
- Whipped cream or ice cream on pie?
- Parade or football?
- Nap after dinner or a walk after dinner?
- Cook the meal or clean up after?
- Leftover sandwich or leftover plate?
+ 33 more in the printable.
4. Gratitude guessing game
Everyone writes one thing they’re grateful for this year on a slip of paper, anonymously. Mix them in a bowl, read them aloud, and the table guesses who wrote each one. With adults, the answers swing from genuinely touching to “the dishwasher finally works.” Ten to 15 minutes.
5. Most likely to
Read a prompt like “Who’s most likely to fall asleep before pie?” and on three, everyone points at a person. Whoever gets the most fingers takes the title. Keep the prompts affectionate (who’d win a baking show, who’d get lost in a corn maze, who’s already planning Christmas) and skip anything about money, weight or relationships.
6. Two truths and a lie, holiday edition
Each person shares three things that happened to them this year, and one isn’t true. It’s a quick way to catch up with relatives you see once a year, and more fun than going around the table with updates.
Games with food and drink
It’s Thanksgiving. The food should be part of the game.
7. Blind pie tasting
Cut small slivers of three or four pies, one homemade and the rest store-bought, and number the plates. Guests taste and guess which is which, then rank them. The homemade pie doesn’t always win, and that’s half the fun.
8. Dessert auction
Give every adult a stack of fake money or poker chips at dinner. After the meal, the host auctions off the desserts, one by one, to the highest bidder, who gets the first slice and chooses who gets the second. Hand out extra chips for helping with the dishes, and watch how fast the kitchen gets cleaned.
9. Friendsgiving potluck judging
At a potluck, everyone gets a ballot with categories: best side, best dessert, most creative, best use of leftovers from last year. Guests vote after dinner, and the winners get a paper crown or a wooden spoon trophy. Ask each cook to put a card by their dish listing the main ingredients and any common allergens.
10. Blind cider or wine tasting (optional)
For a grown-up crowd that drinks, pour three or four ciders or wines into numbered cups and let guests guess which is which, or just rank their favorites. Sparkling juices work just as well. Have a non-alcoholic option on the table and a sober-driver plan before the first pour.
Games for the living room
Once the table’s cleared, move to the couch for something a little louder.
11. Charades, Thanksgiving style
Write prompts on slips: carving the turkey, the parade, a turkey hiding from the farmer, falling asleep during the football game, a relative asking about your love life. Teams act them out against a one-minute timer. Adults get competitive at this one fast.
12. Drawing game
Same slips, but players draw instead of act, on a big pad of paper or a whiteboard. It’s a better pick for a group where half the people refuse to stand up and perform.
13. Category game
Someone names a category (side dishes, things in a junk drawer, things that are orange) and a letter. Everyone writes as many answers as they can in two minutes. Unique answers score; duplicates don’t. All you need is paper and a timer.
14. Football squares
If one of the afternoon NFL games is on anyway (the Detroit Lions have played on Thanksgiving almost every year since 1934, and the Dallas Cowboys since 1966), draw a 10-by-10 grid. Guests write their names in squares, then you draw numbers for each team’s row and column. At the end of each quarter, the square matching the last digit of each team’s score wins. Play for pie, not cash, to keep everyone relaxed.
15. Survey game, round two
If the first round of the survey game goes well, keep going with our survey game questions and answers, which cover more topics than Thanksgiving and come with point values ready to go.
Quiet games for the end of the night
16. Card games
Spoons, rummy, hearts and euchre need nothing but a standard deck. Euchre and hearts are best with four; spoons and rummy stretch to bigger tables. Spoons gets loud and grabby, which is sometimes exactly what a full, sleepy table needs.
17. Thankful toast round
Go around the table, and each person raises a glass (of anything) and names one person in the room they’re thankful for and why. It’s not a game exactly, but it’s the part people remember, and it takes five minutes.
18. Leftover sandwich challenge
Save this one for the next day if people are staying over. Everyone builds a sandwich from leftovers, names it, and the group votes. Best name and best sandwich are separate prizes.
- Printed survey game board, trivia sheets and This or That cards
- Pens, paper slips and a bowl
- Small plates and forks for the pie tasting
- Fake money or poker chips for the dessert auction
- Ballots and a paper crown or wooden spoon trophy
- Numbered cups for a cider or wine tasting
- A big drawing pad or whiteboard and markers
- A phone timer
- A deck or two of playing cards
How to plan a grown-up Thanksgiving game night
Thanksgiving falls on November 26 in 2026. Say you’re hosting 12 adults and dinner is at 4. A plan that fits:
- Before dinner: set the gratitude slips and a pen at each place setting, and hand out auction chips.
- During dinner: This or That cards and the gratitude guessing game.
- After dinner: the survey game, then the dessert auction when everyone’s ready for pie.
- Late: trivia or charades, depending on the energy in the room.
Two or three games is plenty for most tables. The best part of the night is usually the conversation between rounds.
Ask one guest to be the game host before the day arrives. You’ve been cooking since 7 a.m.; someone else can read the survey questions.
For a family dinner with kids nearby
Keep the alcohol version out, and pick games older kids can join: This or That, charades and the gratitude game. Our Thanksgiving games for family has 22 more for mixed ages.
For Friendsgiving
Friends tend to want more competition and a later night. Lead with the survey game and the potluck judging, and let the card games run as long as people stay. Our game night ideas for adults have more options if the party keeps going. You’ll find every Thanksgiving printable we make on the Thanksgiving games page.
Questions hosts ask
What games do adults play on Thanksgiving?
Table games work best: a survey game, Thanksgiving trivia, This or That cards, most likely to, a blind pie tasting and card games like spoons or rummy.
What are good Friendsgiving games?
Try a survey game with two teams, potluck judging with ballots for best dish, a dessert auction with fake money and a category game on scrap paper.
How do you keep Thanksgiving dinner conversation off politics?
Give the table something else to do. This or That cards, a gratitude guessing game or a survey game keeps people talking and laughing about lighter topics.
Are the survey game answers from a real poll?
No. The point values are our editors' best guess at the most common answers, which gives the table something to argue about.
By the Party Game Book editors. Every game here is free to print for personal, classroom and non-commercial use. How we make and check our games.
