Sinterklaas games for adults: eight games for a fun-filled surprise evening
13 oktober 2026 · Bijgewerkt 5 oktober 2026
The poems have been read out, your brother-in-law's surprise turns out to be a papier-mâché fridge and everyone has a glass in hand. Then there is always a moment of silence. That is exactly where a good Sinterklaas game for adults comes in: something you explain in five minutes that keeps the evening going for another hour or two.
Sinterklaas among adults is a different party from present evening with young children. There is more often a group of six to ten people at the table, not everyone likes playing games, and the humour can be a bit sharper. And a game also makes a perfectly good drawn-names gift: it is a present the recipient can enjoy that same evening.
Below are eight games that work well on an evening like that, with music, bluffing and a few wicked jokes. The last two go a bit deeper, for the group that still wants more after midnight. If there are children joining in, take a look at our games for present evening.
What makes a Sinterklaas game suitable for adults?
Not the age on the box. What counts on this evening is a short explanation, because nobody wants a rulebook read out to them between the pepernoten. Almost everything on this list can be explained in a few minutes.
The game also needs to handle a group. On a surprise evening you are rarely just four. Games that only run well from five players are actually an advantage here.
And it can be about the people rather than the game. The best Sinterklaas games for adults are games in which you get to know each other from a different side. Your colleague turns out to be a shameless liar, and your mother is the only one who recognises every song from 1979.
Hitster Battle of the Generations: who knows the most hits?
2 to 10 players, ages 16+, about 30 minutes. Dutch edition.
A music game that explains itself. You scan a card with the free Hitster app and a song plays. Then you place the card in your timeline where you think the year belongs. The first to have ten cards in the right place wins.
This edition has an extra layer that is worth its weight in gold on a mixed evening. The 420 cards are divided over three eras: the classics up to the mid-eighties, the hits from 1985 to 2004 and everything from 2005 to 2025. Each player or team chooses one. So your uncle with his cassette tapes plays against your niece who knows everything on Spotify. If you play in teams, ten people can easily join in. A paid streaming account is not needed; without one you hear a clip of each song.
View Hitster Battle of the Generations
Horrible Therapist: for the group with a dark streak
3 to 8 players, ages 16+, about 30 minutes. Dutch edition.
Each round there is a comic strip on the table of a patient with a problem. Everyone chooses an answer card at the same time to finish the strip, and one player decides which answer is funniest. That is all. You have the rules down before the first round is over.
The humour is dark and sometimes downright wrong, and that is the point. It comes from the makers of Exploding Kittens, but for an audience that is no longer made up of kids. If you know your group a bit, you will know whether this is a bullseye or an evening full of awkward silences. Unsure about your in-laws? Save it for your group of friends.
A Fake Artist Goes to New York: drawing when you do not know what
5 to 10 players, ages 8+, about 20 minutes.
One person is the game master and writes a subject on the cards, for example "reindeer". All players get to see that word, except one: the fake artist. Taking turns, everyone draws one line on the same sheet of paper, for two rounds. Then the group points out who was secretly just winging it.
Anyone who knows the subject is caught in a bind. Draw too clearly and the fake artist will know it too. Draw too vaguely and you become a suspect yourself. And even if the fake artist is unmasked, they can still win by guessing the subject. The box is in English, but because the game master writes the word down themselves, you will not notice that at the table. A small box from Oink Games, so it fits nicely into a surprise too.
View A Fake Artist Goes to New York
Ready Set Bet: betting on horses, live
2 to 9 players, ages 10+, about 45 minutes. English edition.
This is the loudest game on the list. Someone rolls the dice and the horses race down the track, and while that is happening, everyone throws their chips onto the board at the same time. To win, to place, on a crazy outcome. Nobody waits for their turn; whoever grabs a spot first gets it.
After the race the bets are settled, and then the cheering or the groaning begins. That happens four times, and whoever has the most money at the end wins. On BoardGameGeek it is in the top twenty party games. There is some English text on the cards, so seat someone next to the newcomers who can translate.
Rebel Princess: dodging marriage proposals
3 to 6 players, ages 8+, 30 to 45 minutes. English edition.
After all that shouting, things can calm down a little, but not get any tamer. In Rebel Princess everyone plays a princess at a party that lasts five days. Uninvited princes sneak in with a marriage proposal, and nobody at the table wants to get married. Whoever has the fewest proposals at the end wins.
If you have ever played Hearts, you will get it straight away. You follow suit, and the highest card takes the trick, along with all the princes in it. The enchanted frog even counts as five proposals. Every round has its own rule, and every princess has her own trick she may use once per round. With those tricks you can really get in each other's way, and that is exactly what an evening like this is about.
Risk it: the drawn-names gift that can go straight on the table
2 to 5 players, ages 10+, about 10 minutes. Dutch edition.
If you give a game as a drawn-names gift, you want something the recipient will open that same evening. Risk it is made for that. In three rounds you try to collect as many cards as possible, but each new card must have a higher number than the previous one. Do you take a face-up card and play it safe? Or do you flip a face-down card and hope for the right number?
That is all you need to know, and yet the whole table watches along with every gamble. Now and then a shiny special card turns up that turns everything upside down. A game is over in ten minutes, so it rarely stops at one. It comes from Big Potato Games, the box is in Dutch, and in the shop you will also find it among the shoe gifts.
Scout: short, but it keeps you thinking
2 to 5 players, ages 8+, about 20 minutes.
This is where the deeper stuff begins, although you only notice after a few rounds. In Scout you may not rearrange the cards in your hand. Each card has two numbers. On your turn you play a set that is stronger than what is on the table, or you take a card from the table and slide it somewhere into your hand. That one card might just complete the set you have been waiting for for three turns.
Kei Kajino made it in 2019 for Oink Games, and on BoardGameGeek it is in the top twenty family games. It is a game for a smaller group: the five people who are still hanging around the kitchen table after all the surprise fuss. As a gift for an adult who already has a few games, this is a safe bet. The box is small and the chance that it is already in their cupboard is smaller than with the well-known names.
Blood on the Clocktower: if your group loves lying
5 to 20 players plus a storyteller, ages 15+, over an hour. English edition.
Do not count on a quick game here. Do count on a game some groups keep talking about for years. There is a demon among the players, and nobody knows who. During the day everyone talks and whispers over each other, someone is accused and there is a vote. At night everyone closes their eyes and the storyteller wakes players one by one for their secret ability.
It resembles Werewolf, with one big difference: anyone who dies simply keeps talking and keeps one vote for the rest of the game. So nobody sits watching for an hour. Steven Medway designed it, and on BoardGameGeek it is number one of all party games. You do need a storyteller who reads the rules carefully beforehand, and all roles and rules are in English. For a group of eight or more who love bluffing, this is the game the evening revolves around.
Which game suits your evening?
A mixed crowd, from twenty-somethings to sixty-somethings? Grab Hitster Battle of the Generations. Everyone knows music, and the era you choose gives you a fair chance against the rest.
A group of friends who have known each other for years is better off starting with Horrible Therapist or A Fake Artist Goes to New York. The first for the wicked laughs, the second for the moment you see how well your best friend can lie. If you want some noise, Ready Set Bet is the choice. And if you like tripping each other up, put Rebel Princess on the table.
If you are looking for a drawn-names gift or something small for the shoe, Risk it and Scout are the handiest. In our Sinterklaas shoe gifts you will find more small games. And for the group that fancies a longer evening with more strategy after Sinterklaas, we gathered games for adults around Christmas.