🏆 Scoring Systems and Mini-Tournaments That Keep a Game Night Moving
Four ways to turn twelve separate games into one competition — placings, chip pots, king of the table and a season league — plus how long each game really takes and what to do about ties.
The games on this site each keep their own score, and none of them knows about the others. That is fine for one round of bingo. It is a problem for a whole evening, because by ten o'clock nobody remembers who won what and the night dissolves into "well, I think I did best overall". A scoreboard fixes that in ten seconds a round. Here are four that work, and the timings you need to plan around them.
Format one: placings
After every game, award points by finishing position: five for first, three for second, two for third, and one point for everyone else who played. Add them up at the end.
This is the default because it is forgiving. A disastrous round of poker costs you two points against the winner, not the night. It also works with any mix of games, including ones where "second place" is a bit fuzzy — just agree a ranking and move on. Keep it on a piece of paper, or in a note on the phone that is sharing its screen.
Format two: chip pots
Everyone starts the night with an imaginary stack — twenty chips is a good number — and each game has a stake. Bingo might be one chip, poker three, the slots finale five. The winner of each game collects the stake from every other player.
This one is swingier and louder. It also has a natural end: when someone is out of chips they are out, or, more sociably, they can buy back in for a forfeit. It suits groups that like the casino games most, because it turns the whole evening into one long table.
Format three: king of the table
The winner of a game chooses the next game, and stays "king" until someone beats them. Count how many games each person held the crown for.
It is the simplest format and the least fair, because the king picks games they are good at. That is the fun of it. It also solves the "what shall we play next" problem, which is worth more than fairness at eleven at night.
Format four: a season
If the same group plays regularly, keep a running total across nights. Placings points carry over, and the season ends on an agreed date with a proper winner. Nothing keeps a monthly game night going like a spreadsheet with somebody two points ahead.
How long each game really takes
Planning the night depends on knowing the length of a round, and the twelve games here vary a lot. Roughly:
| Game | One round | Good number of rounds |
|---|---|---|
| Emoji Derby | Under a minute | Five or six |
| In-Between | Seconds per turn | A full pot, a few minutes |
| Emoji Bingo | Two to four minutes | Three |
| Emoji Roulette | About a minute per spin | Eight to ten spins |
| Emoji Blackjack | About a minute per hand | Ten hands |
| Slots Showdown | Ten spins each, two or three minutes | One, as a finale |
| Emoji Poker | A few minutes per hand | Three hands |
| Guess the Year | A minute per song | Ten songs |
| Newer or Older? | Ten songs, about three minutes | One run |
| Country Slots | A minute per country | Five or six |
| HitMoji | A minute per puzzle | Ten puzzles, or a full race |
| Spin the Wheel | Twenty to thirty minutes for a full game | One |
Two things follow from that table. Spin the Wheel is a whole slot on its own and should not be squeezed between two other games. And Derby, In-Between and Roulette are the fillers — reach for them when someone has gone to answer the door and you need three minutes of something.
Ties
They happen constantly in placings, because two people finish poker with the same hand or bingo with the same number of wins. Do not agonise. Split the points, or play one spin of the roulette wheel with both players on a colour and let the wheel decide. The second option is more fun and takes twenty seconds.
For a tied season, or a tied night with a real prize on the line, play a single round of Emoji Derby with only the tied players betting. Under a minute, and nobody can claim it was rigged.
Prizes
The chips in every game are play money — there is nothing to buy and nothing to cash out — so the prize for the night has to come from outside the games. The good ones cost nothing: the winner picks the film, the loser makes the coffee, the champion keeps a ridiculous trophy until the next night. The best one we have seen was a wooden spoon that had been passed between the same six people for three years. Whoever holds it has to bring it next time. See all twelve games →