Fun social games for the winter season 

Slots

Millions of people developed a passion for playing slots during their formative years, and this often stays with them into adulthood.

Modern incarnations of these games like Cleopatra slots are now hugely popular, providing players with endless hours of fun during winter and the rest of the year.

Operators such as Wink Slots offer access to hundreds of different titles to suit every budget level, making them a great way to spend your social time.

If you prefer to play slots in more traditional surroundings, many land-based amusement arcades in seaside towns remain open during the winter months.

Whichever your preferred method, playing slots is one of the most fun activities you can undertake, either on your own or with friends and family.

Bingo

Bingo was the main social activity for working-class people in the United Kingdom after the Second World War, and it remains hugely popular today.

Land-based venues such as bingo halls and social clubs still host games on a regular basis, although online play is now favoured by the majority of players.

Modern bingo sites provide a fun environment in which to play this iconic game, with players able to interact with other people via attached chatrooms.

Bingo is also a game that can be played ‘live’ with friends and family at home, and can even be adapted to incorporate a winter theme.

For instance, mini marshmallows make fun bingo card markers and have the bonus that you can eat them when the game finishes!

Poker

One of the best social games you can engage in over the winter season is poker, with online sites and in-person play both possible.

While the internet makes it easy to access a poker game, we much prefer the thought of organising a ‘poker night’ at home with friends and family.

The Texas Hold’em version is the easiest to understand, and you can set up a game that costs just a few pounds to enter.

A single game with five or six players can take two or three hours to complete, making it the perfect platform around which to build a social get-together.

Throw in some drinks and a few nibbles, and home poker games could soon become your ‘go-to’ entertainment activity during winter.

Rummy

Rummy remains a popular social game despite poker’s crossover into the mainstream during the 21st century.

Best played by a maximum of four players, the object of the game is to become the first player to create two hands – one containing four cards and one containing three.

These must be runs which are three or four cards of the same suit in a sequential row, or three or four cards of the same rank.

Each player places an ante in the pot before the start of each game and whoever is first to complete two hands scoops the cash.

Rummy is another excellent social game that doesn’t cost much to play and can help to make the cold winter months fly by.

Upwords

Upwords bears some similarities to Scrabble, with players required to build words using letter tiles on a gameboard grid.

The key difference is that in Upwords letters can be stacked on top of others already on the board to create new words.

The higher the stack of letters, the more points are scored, which typically makes words built later in the game more valuable.

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Upwords is suitable for players aged ten years and up, making it a game that friends and family can easily play together.

The game is also available to play on iOS and Android devices, meaning that you can challenge yourself against other players from around the world.

Ibble Dibble

This requires around four to six people and something you can use to make a mark on someone’s face, such as a lipstick. It is also best played with alcohol on tap!

The game starts by assigning a single number to each player around the table, and then the first person passes play onto somebody else with the following statement:

‘This is number 1 ibble dibble with no dibble ibbles calling number 3 ibble dibble with no dibble ibbles.’ Player 3 then must respond in similar fashion, passing the statement to who they choose. 

If a player hesitates in any way or gets any part of the statement wrong, they receive a mark with the lipstick on their face (a dibble ibble) and must take a drink.

Later statements could be along the lines of: ‘This is number 4 ibble dibble with 8 dibble ibbles calling number 2 ibble dibble with 4 dibble ibbles.’ This game can get messy!

Social Games for Winter – The Final Word

All the games we have mentioned provide a superb way to spend time during the winter season.

They all lend themselves perfectly to playing with friends and family, but if organising such get-togethers isn’t feasible, the internet provides an excellent alternative.

Visiting online sites to play slots, bingo or poker could help to make winter fly past, and each game is a fantastic form of entertainment.

If none of those float your boat, networking sites such as Facebook offer a plethora of different games you can play alone or with others.

Pirate Kings and Candy Crush are two of our favourites and are well worth checking out during the winter season.