Planning a game night with friends: online or on the sofa, without the faff

A good game night rarely fails because of the game. It fails because someone can't connect, one person has never played and gets lost, or forty minutes vanish in downloads and updates. A little planning fixes nearly all of it.

Start with the group, not the game

Ask three questions first:

• How many of you are there? Player limits differ a lot.
• Same room or online? Sharing one screen is a different kind of game from playing on separate machines.
• How experienced is everyone? One complete beginner should shape the choice more than one expert.

Games that suit different groups

For laughs and mixed experience: Human: Fall Flat is hard to beat. Wobbly characters, physics puzzles with many solutions and failure that is funnier than success. It supports up to eight online and two on one screen.

For a long shared adventure: Valheim lets up to ten friends build, sail and fight in one world over many evenings. It is best when someone volunteers to host and the group agrees on a regular night.

For building together: Terraria handles up to eight online, and on consoles up to four can share one screen. It works well when players drift between digging, building and fighting at their own pace.

For a story-driven campaign: Baldur's Gate 3 supports up to four online and two on one screen. Expect a slow, chatty pace; it suits a regular group better than a one-off evening.

Not sure which survival game fits? Our Subnautica, Valheim or Terraria comparison may help, and our puzzle game comparison includes Human: Fall Flat.

Copies and platforms

For online play, each person normally needs their own copy. For a local game on one screen, one copy is usually enough. On PC, Steam's Remote Play Together feature lets friends join a supported local multiplayer game over the internet while only the host owns it, which is handy for a one-off evening.

Cross-play, where players on different platforms or stores join the same game, is the most common cause of disappointment. Support varies between games and sometimes between versions of the same game, and it can change with updates. Check the game's store page and the developer's official information before assuming it works. Also check whether everyone is on the same version: one person on an older build can block the whole group.

Voice chat

Agree on one place to talk before the night begins. Many games have built-in voice chat, but a separate voice app gives you a group that stays the same from game to game. Use push-to-talk or a decent headset to keep keyboard clatter and echo out of everyone's ears, and do a quick sound check before you start.

The half-hour before

• Update everything earlier in the day. Game patches and system updates can be large.
• Agree who hosts. In survival games, the host's world is where the progress lives.
• Swap usernames or friend codes in advance.
• Charge controllers and find the spare one.

Keeping it fun

• Let the newest player set the pace. Nobody enjoys being dragged through a game they don't understand.
• Turn on accessibility and assist options where they help. Our accessibility settings guide covers the useful ones.
• Plan breaks. A pause every hour or so keeps tempers and snacks topped up.
• Stop on a high. End while everyone still wants to play; it makes the next game night easier to arrange.

And if the evening goes sideways, that is fine too. Some of the best game nights are remembered for the bridge that collapsed, not the boss that was beaten.