Apartment Entertaining: Video Game Night

Having a video game night at your apartment can be a relatively inexpensive way to have fun with friends and family, but the best parties require a little planning. Remember that gaming can be an exciting solo activity, but to have an entertaining evening, everyone needs to get involved.

Think Multiplayer

Shelve all solo games for the night; the point of the video game night is to involve everyone and showing off your solo skills will leave your guests bored. The games you choose for the night should be tailored for multiplayer play-the more players the better. If you have more guests than controllers, take turns each round.

Evaluate Your Guests

Much of your game selection depends on the people who will be playing. If your friends are avid gamers, choose challenging games and games that you know will suit their tastes, such as shooters, racing games, sports games and fighting games.

If your friends are not heavily into gaming, you want to choose games and gaming experiences that are more suited for a general audience. The Wii is especially popular for playing in groups, particularly with people who don’t usually play video games. Playing interactive sports games, trivia challenges, party games, platformers, music/rhythm games and motion-controlled puzzles games and the like are great ideas for large groups who aren’t seriously into gaming.

Choose the Right Number of Games

It’s probably best to choose at least two games of two different genres so that you won’t be bored with playing the same game all night. At the same time, you don’t want to rush through playing games in order to cram a whole bunch into the evening. Two or three games should be plenty for any video game night.

Hold a Competition and Offer Prizes

Nothing encourages people to pay attention and try their best than a competition. Turn your video game night into a competition, offering small prizes for people who get the highest scores, the best times or who complete a level first. You don’t have to go all out, but even a $5 gift card, an extra beer, a special dessert or a waived share of the pizza bill can inspire everyone to participate. This means that all of your guests will be eagerly watching the games even when it’s not their turns because they’ll want to know who’s in the lead.

Don’t Forget the Food

No entertaining is complete without food. Make sure your guests are comfortable by providing ample refreshments. Buying a couple of cases of beer, ice tea and/or soda and ordering take-out or a pizza is an easy way to take care of the food, but you can also put together some simple meals and snacks to share with large groups, such as pasta, chips and salsa, and veggies and dip.

The perfect video game night involves everyone being comfortable and entertained. Don’t forget to account for the party atmosphere and encourage everyone to participate and enjoy the games even when it’s not their time to play.