5 Best Games to Play After Thanksgiving Dinner With Your Family

So, picture this. You’ve just devoured a gorgeous turkey on Thanksgiving. You’ve pushed yourself further to have dessert and couldn’t possibly eat another bite. The family is sat around – silent. You’re all on your phones, there’s nothing on the television and you’re at a loss of what to do to burn off those calories you’ve just indulged yourself in.

Why not just succumb to it all, not move and immerse yourself and your family in an afternoon of video games? Or do you want to get away from the family because they’re arguing over whether Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a cinematic masterpiece or a diabolical take on the franchise? Well, there’s plenty of games you can play alone or in a group that will soak up the afternoon like the bread for the Thanksgiving leftover gravy.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

You’re at the Thanksgiving dinner table and your cousin has just revealed they’re a vegan as everything is dished up. Panic ensues. The table quickly becomes a minefield of anger and insults. How do you break away from all of this? Super Smash Bros Ultimate, of course!

The cathartic release of pounding your family members out of the map will soon distill any of those emotions as you’re all laughing, shouting and screaming at the television.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is simple.

Pick from a wide array of game characters and fight your way to victory by eliminating other players. The simple satisfaction of prevailing among your family is a feeling like no other and will no doubt get that adrenaline pumping on a late Thanksgiving afternoon.

Man of Medan

The days are short and the nights are long, so how do you use this to your advantage? Man of Medan will surely give you some Thanksgiving spooks and allow the rest of the family to join in too.

Playing out like a ‘choose your own adventure’ game in the same vein as Until Dawn, Man of Medan allows multiple players to play as different characters and you don’t even need to use another controller.

You know how your mom HATES anything horror related? Now you can watch her squirm as she’s forced to explore the decrepit ship known as the Man of Medan, filled with supernatural horrors and entities.

Will you all make it out alive? That’s for you to find out as the game allows for multiple choices which can affect your outcomes later on. It’s the butterfly effect but bottled up into a video game.

Man of Medan can be completed in a single evening. So grab the blankets, turn off the lights and make sure your mom indulges in the scariest moments.

Overcooked 2

Want to test the true limits of how strong your family is? You’ve just dodged having the stuffing inserted into you by attempting to help cook the Thanksgiving meal, but surely Overcooked 2 can’t be as bad, right? Wrong! This game will test your family to breaking point and show everyone’s true colors – it’s tremendous fun.

Levels become increasingly more difficult as your tasked to work together to comply to a series of recipes. It may sound simple, but levels use inventive ways to make this harder for you. You might be split away from the other players, the whole layout may move around or obstacles may be in your path to prevent you from completing your order.

Strong communication is key to pushing through each level and attaining the highest ranking, so a strong leader is needed. But be prepared to have the controller shoved where the sun doesn‘t shine when you’re mere points away from those juicy three stars.

A Way Out

So there’s nothing on the television, right? That doesn’t stop you from having a cinematic evening on Thanksgiving and A Way Out is here to fill that void.

A Way Out is a very unique premise as the game can only be played in co-op. It’s an explosive adventure about two guys who decide they’re going to break out of prison. Imagine The Shawshank Redemption but if Morgan Freeman was able to engage in high-speed motorcycle chases.

Much like Overcooked 2, communication is paramount as you play through a variety of gameplay variations that constantly mix-up the game. One minute you might be playing stealthily together to navigate out of a prison, the next you could be engaging in a high-speed chase scene. It’s consistently blending new genres and keeping you on your toes.

Even those who aren’t playing will be sucked into its world and strong story that builds to an emotional conclusion. It will really put you through your paces on a Thanksgiving evening, but it’s so engaging that the whole family will be engrossed.

Super Mario Party

You couldn’t have a Thanksgiving party without this. Gone are the days of Monopoly and The Game of Life, Super Mario Party is the new party champion.

Filled with board-games and mini-games, this is the pinnacle of Thanksgiving entertainment as you fight to become the winner. With a high element of luck sprinkled in, this will no doubt cause hilarious shenanigans (or maybe a few fallouts).

Games can last upwards of two hours, so there’s a whole host of evening entertainment for the family to partake in. There’s even a variety of additional modes to test your strength such as a river survival mini-game, which will have you screaming at each other to coordinate your paddling.

Mario Party has always been the make or break of relationships and this installment is no different. But it’s a humorous way to craft memories of when your sister impaled the television with a Joy-Con or how your drunk uncle ripped his shirt off in victory as he was declared the winner.

Got any other great choices to indulge in this Thanksgiving? Let us know and drop your suggestions in the comments below!