Dinner-Table Dilemmas

What it feels like

Every family table has an argument waiting to happen. Tonight, we pick the ones worth having. Here's how it works. In a private turn, you each get a dilemma with a blank, and fill it so the room can't agree. Then, one dilemma at a time, everyone else votes on whether they'd take it. After that, argue about it, because that's the best part. A perfect half and half split scores three for the writer, and less the more lopsided the vote. If the whole room agrees, the writer scores nothing.

How to play

1. Take a private turn each: you get a dilemma with a blank. Fill it so the room can't agree.
2. One at a time, everyone else votes: would you take it? On phones, or hands up.
3. The closer to half and half, the better for whoever wrote it.
4. Then argue about it. That's the best part.

Scoring: A perfect split scores 3 for the writer, and less the more lopsided the vote. A unanimous room scores nothing.

You'll get prompts like

• “You never have to do the washing-up again, but you have to ___ at every family dinner.”
• “You get your favourite dish at every meal, but it's always served with ___.”

What you need

3 to 10 people and one phone, tablet or laptop to pass around — or everyone on their own phone in a room. Nothing to download, no accounts. The best lines can be sealed into your group's Almanac and come back in later games.

More games like this

• Recipe Relay
• Thank-You Round
• Grandma's Recipe