For 35 years, Macmillan Coffee Morning has been a cornerstone of community fundraising. As well as raising vital cash to support people living with cancer, it’s a great opportunity to spend time with your favourite people and have some fun. And what’s more fun than multiplayer party games?
This year’s fundraiser is officially on Friday 26 September, but you can host yours whenever and wherever suits you – just sign up and Macmillan Cancer Support will send over a free fundraising kit to get you started.
You might think Coffee Mornings are all about lemon drizzle cakes and sharing a brew, but think outside the box and you’ll find there are any number of different ways to add a unique spin to your get-together. A donate-as-you-play games event is a great way to gather friends and loved ones and raise money to help make sure make sure that more people with cancer get the best care the UK has to offer, whoever and wherever they are.
The best multiplayer party games bring people of all ages together, spark laughter and encourage donations. There’s also less washing up than a full-on bake-off, which is a nice bonus.
Want to be a Coffee Morning Host?
Whether you’re a seasoned gamer or a complete novice, many multiplayer party games are accessible and easy for anyone to pick up and play. You don’t necessarily need a fancy new console either – ask your guests to bring their games over for a lively (and competitive) fundraiser.
How we tested
These are games we’ve played extensively at parties with our friends and family. Nobody’s fallen out over them (yet), so we can heartily recommend any of them for your next get-together.
We’ve included bona-fide classics like Mario Kart, but if racing games aren’t quite your speed, you’ll find some more accessible options in the form of quickfire guessing games like Heads Up and trivia-based challenges like Jackbox.
Why you can trust us
Steve Hogarty is a technology journalist and gaming expert with more than a decade’s experience reporting on everything from phones to laptops. For this round-up, Steve focused on the best local multiplayer games for small groups that are easy to master and quick to pick up and play.
The best multiplayer games for 2025 are:
- Best overall – Mario Kart World: £74.99, Nintendo.co.uk
- Best for trivia fans – The Jackbox Party Starter: £16.75, Steampowered.com
- Best for quick fun – Heads Up: £1.99, Apple.com
- Best cooperative game – Overcooked 2: £19.99, Team17.com
- Best for teamwork – Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes: £12.79, Keeptalkinggame.com
Signing up to host your own Coffee Morning this year couldn’t be easier! Find out more today on the Macmillan website
Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity in England and Wales (261017), Scotland (SC039907) and the Isle of Man (604). Also operating in Northern Ireland.
The Jackbox Party Starter
Best: Overall
Platforms: PC, Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV
Players: 1-8
Why we love it
- Great mix of trivia, art and wordplay
- Funny voiceovers and challenges
Take note
- Extra games cost more
An eclectic collection of quizzes, wordplay games and drawing challenges, Jackbox is a party staple designed for up to eight players. Best of all, you don’t need to be a gamer to play – all you need is a laptop and your phone.
Everyone watches a shared screen where questions and challenge prompts appear, and then the whole party has a few seconds to write or draw their improvised answers.
Games include Trivia Murder Party, where players must answer trivia questions to avoid being bumped off by a maniacal quizmaster; Quiplash, where players compete to be the funniest; and Drawful, a twist on Pictionary that puts your doodling abilities to the test. For an extra fee, you can add more games from Jackbox’s huge library. There are lots of different games, so when you all tire of one, you can try another.
Buy now £16.75, Steampowered.com
Mario Kart World
Best: Multiplayer racing game
Platforms: Switch 2
Players: 1-4 (locally)
Why we love it
- Fun and frantic racing
- Endlessly replayable
Take note
- Extra controllers needed for four players
What party would be complete without a few friendly(ish) laps of Mario Kart? Nintendo’s classic racer is a cornerstone of multiplayer gaming, supporting up to four players on a single screen or more if you have enough consoles to go around. Suitable for people of all ages and skill levels, this endlessly entertaining kart racer is about as perfect as they come, packed with beloved characters, dazzlingly colourful tracks and frantic, fast-paced action.
The latest entry in the series is Mario Kart World for the Switch 2 – which we’ve highlighted here – but if you haven’t upgraded to Nintendo’s new console yet you’ll have just as much fun with older games in the series like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the original Switch.
Buy now £74.99, Nintendo.co.uk
Heads Up
Best: For quick fun
Platforms: iOS, Android
Players: No player limit
Why we love it
- Simple to play
- Requires just one phone
Take note
- Extra categories are expensive
A simple party game that’s easy to pick up and always an instant hit, Heads Up takes the classic parlour game of guessing whose name is written on your forehead and dials it way up. One player holds their phone to their head and tries to guess the word or phrase that appears on screen, using only the clues frantically bellowed at them by their teammates.
Games are quickfire and against the timer, with categories like celebrities, animals and movies to choose from. Heads Up is just £1.99 on the App Store and doesn’t require anything besides your smartphone to play.
Buy now £1.99, Apple.com
Overcooked 2
Best: Cooperative game
Platform: PC, MacOS, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox
Players: 1-4
Why we love it
- Hilarious co-operative fun
Take note
- Challenging for new players
A chaotic, co-operative cooking game, Overcooked 2 puts you and three other players in charge of running a busy kitchen. As the orders pile up, you have to work together to grab ingredients, wash dishes, put out fires, deal with demanding waiters and serve up perfectly cooked dishes every time.
Novice players might find it all a bit too stressful – imagine Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares with raccoons and crocodiles running around – but Overcooked 2 is easy to get to grips with and incredibly good fun with friends. The game is available for PCs, laptops and most consoles.
Buy now £19.99, Team17.com
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Best: For teamwork
Platforms: PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, Android, iOS
Players: 2-4
Why we love it
- Intense challenge
- Replayable with different bomb types
Take note
- Works best if you can print the manual
You know the classic action movie scene where the hero deactivates a ticking time bomb using instructions given to them over the phone? Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is essentially that, with friends. In this co-operative bomb defusal game, only one player can see the bomb, while everybody else gets a thick instruction manual (ideally printed out, but also viewable on a phone or tablet) that explains how to properly identify and safely deactivate it.
It sounds straightforward enough, but success requires concentration and impeccable communication skills between players as you frantically try to describe hieroglyphic symbols, the sequences of flashing lights and the colours of specific wires. It’s playable using just a phone, but we’d recommend the Switch or console versions, which are easier to control.
Buy now £12.79, Steampowered.com
The verdict: Multiplayer games
Choosing the best multiplayer game for a Macmillan Coffee Morning depends on the players as well as how competitive you want things to get.
If you don’t know your D-pad from your thumbstick, you’ll still have a riot with simple-but-fun party games like Heads Up. For a more challenging session, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is a truly unique challenge that demands fast-thinking and good communication skills. And for the ultimate in multiplayer games, you can’t go wrong with an impromptu Mario Kart tournament.
