Party games for 3 people

Read the side of most party game boxes and the player count starts at four. There are reasons for that, and they're worth knowing before you pick a game for three.

• Teams don't work. Three people can't split into two teams, so someone ends up on a team of one or gets made the permanent referee.
• Judging games get thin. When one player judges everyone else's answers, a table of three gives the judge exactly two to choose from. That's a coin toss with extra steps.
• Elimination leaves someone out. Knock one person out of a three-person game and the other two play a duel while the third watches.
• A narrator takes a third of the table. Mafia and Werewolf need someone to run the game who doesn't play. More on that in social deduction games for small groups.

The games that work at three tend to have one thing in common: everyone acts at the same time, or it's one against two.

• Games where everyone answers at once. Would you rather and this or that both work, since all three of you pick and then defend it. Three opinions is plenty for an argument. Start with would you rather questions.
• One against two. One player has a secret and the other two try to crack it. Two detectives against one liar is a fair fight.
• Card and word games that scale down. Check the box. If it says three, believe it. If it says "best with five," believe that too.
• Games on everyone's phone. When each phone is its own screen, the game doesn't care how many people sit around it. Here's what to look for in phone party games.

The Lobbyist starts at 3 players. Everyone picks a side of a question in secret, then one of you, the Lobbyist, is told to argue the side you didn't pick. You argue, you vote, and the phones show who was lying.

At three, one of you is the Lobbyist and two of you aren't. Only two votes count, because the Lobbyist's own vote never does. One vote can decide a round.

Sometimes all three of you end up arguing the same side. The game tells you when that happens, and then someone is definitely faking it. Good luck working out who.

Nobody sits out, and a new Lobbyist is drawn every round. If a fourth friend turns up halfway through, they join and play from the next round, up to 10 of you. The rest is on how to play.

Three is a normal size for this game. Of about 3,000 rounds of The Lobbyist played at real tables, 30% were played on exactly three phones.

That last number looks like a bug. It isn't. At three phones only two votes count. For the Lobbyist to get away in the usual sense, someone else needs more votes than they have, and with two votes that can't happen while the Lobbyist has one. So at three, the Lobbyist slips away one of two ways. Either the votes split one each, a tie, which happens in 30% of three-phone rounds. Or the two of you suspect each other and the Lobbyist gets no votes at all, which happens in 21%. Either way, they score 3 points.

Here's every table size, for comparison.

• Ask why. With only two of you hunting, you have time to question each other properly, and real opinions come with a story.
• Don't vote on vibes. One vote decides the round, so if you're torn, say so out loud and make the other two convince you.
• If you're the Lobbyist, start a fight. Accuse one of them. If the other two end up suspecting each other, nobody votes for you.
• Remember earlier rounds. With the same two people every round, contradictions stand out. Someone who hated pineapple on pizza in round one shouldn't love it in round four.

For keeping a straight face while you do it, read the bluffing tips.