How to host the perfect online game night (free, no download)

October 16, 2026 · 5 min read · guides game night party games

A good online game night needs three things: everyone in the same place quickly, games that are fun from the first minute, and a host who does not spend forty minutes troubleshooting. Party Night was built for exactly that. It runs in the browser, it is free, and nobody has to download anything or make an account.

Here is a step-by-step guide to hosting a game night your friends will talk about, plus the settings that make the biggest difference.

Step 1: Create a private room

Go to partynight.host, type your name and press Create room. Tick Private if you only want invited friends to get in. Private rooms do not show up in the public room list, so no strangers wander in halfway through your inside jokes.

Every room has up to 6 players. As the person who created it, you are the host: you choose the game, the settings and when to start.

Step 2: Invite your friends with the link or code

In the lobby you will see a box labelled Friends join here with a Copy button. That is your room link. Paste it into your group chat and anyone who opens it lands straight on the join screen with your room code filled in. They type a name and they are in.

Prefer reading it out on a call? Every room also has a short code. Friends enter it under Join code on the front page.

One tip that saves a lot of confusion: get everyone into the lobby before you start. A running match only lets people back in if they were already in it, so latecomers have to wait until the room returns to the lobby.

Step 3: Let everyone play on whatever they have

Party Night works on PC with keyboard and mouse, and on phones and tablets with touch controls. Nobody needs a console or a controller: on a phone, the phone is the controller, with on-screen sticks and buttons that change for every minigame, and a camera that follows your character on small screens.

Two small tips for phone players:

Turn the phone sideways. Landscape gives you a bigger arena. Portrait works too.
Left-handed? Menu, then Your controls, has a Swap thumb controls option.

Step 4: Turn on voice chat (or bring your own)

Every room has built-in voice chat. Each player presses the voice button and allows their microphone, and that is it: everyone in voice can hear each other while they play. You can turn individual people down or mute them just for yourself, which is useful when one friend's cat has opinions.

Two things to know:

Use headphones. The game says it and so do we: speakers plus a microphone equals echo.
As host, you can switch voice chat off for the room if your group already has a call running somewhere else.

Step 5: Pick what you are playing

In the lobby, you pick what the room plays:

Marathon: minigames back to back. Choose Sprint (5), Standard (8) or Ultra (12). Every minigame pays placement points (10, 7, 5, 3, 2 and 1), and the most points at the end wins. Start here for a first game night.
Elimination: last place in every minigame is out, until one player remains. The eliminated float around as tomato-throwing ghosts and vote on the next game.
Quick play: any single minigame, on its own, and rematch as often as you like.

Both party formats end with a ceremony: a podium, and one silly award for every player.

Step 6: Curate the playlist (your ban list)

Open the minigame playlist in the lobby to see every minigame with a checkbox. Untick anything your group does not want. That is your ban list: Marathon and Elimination only pick from the games that are left on, least-played first. At least two games have to stay on.

Or use a preset:

All games: all 34 minigames.
Quick & silly: short, easy-to-learn games like Musical Chairs, Hot Potato, Headcount and Whack-an-Auditor.
No shooters: drops the gun games such as Meat Grinder, Instagib Arena and Ricochet Tanks.

For a mixed group of gamers and non-gamers, Quick & silly is the safe bet. Nothing loses a casual player faster than being sniped for three straight minutes.

Step 7: Decide on bots and chaos

Bots fill empty seats. Use Bots to add to pick how many, or Fill empty seats to always play with six. With four humans, two bots keep every minigame busy and the placements meaningful. The bots are called Tax Evasion, Overdraft, Late Fee, Landlord, The Auditor and Bad Credit, and they will not apologise.

Chaos modifiers stack random twists on minigames: big heads, ice floor, double speed, fog and everyone's a chicken. Normal spices up a party minigame now and then. Wild brings more of them, from the first game, in quick play too. Off is for purists.

Step 8: Ready up and start

Everyone presses Mark ready, and once the whole room is ready, the host starts the party. If a friend's connection drops, they have 60 seconds to come back to the same seat and score.

When the party ends, everyone can vote for a rematch or go back to the lobby. As host you can also remove a player, or close the room for everyone when the night is over.

Tips for a great online game night

Start with a Standard Marathon. Eight minigames show off plenty of the arcade, and the end ceremony (a podium plus one superlative per player) is a perfect ending.
Follow it with something dramatic. An Elimination or a few rounds of Quick Draw is a great nightcap.
Keep the playlist tight for newcomers. Ten well-chosen games beat 34 unknown ones.
Let the losers pick. In Elimination they literally do: the ghosts vote on every next game.
Screenshot the ceremony. Someone will get Peaked Too Early. It must be preserved.

For the full rules of both party formats, read Marathon and Elimination. New to Party Night? Here is what it is.

FAQ

Is Party Night free?

Yes. Every minigame and mode is free to play in the browser, and levels, crates and most cosmetics are earned by playing. An optional shop sells cosmetic items for Confetti; they never affect play, and crates are never sold.

How many people can play?

Up to 6 players per room. Bots can fill any empty seats, so you can also play with just two people, or even one human and some bots.

No. Everyone opens the link in a browser, types a name and joins. Progress is saved automatically to a guest profile in that browser.

Can we play on phones?

Yes. Phones get touch controls built for each minigame, and PC and phone players can share the same room.

What if someone disconnects?

Their seat and score are held for 60 seconds, so a quick refresh or a network hiccup does not knock them out of the party.

Invites ready, snacks acquired, grudges loaded. Start a party