Quick answer
For a mixed-age Thanksgiving crowd, play team trivia, charades, hangman with your own words, a group guessing game and quick turn-taking games. On Apple TV, Pass the Remote! has all five, played by passing one Siri Remote. The table games below need nothing at all.
Thanksgiving games at a glance
| Game | Good for | Players | Prep | What you need |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trivia Battle | Everyone, in teams | 2–4 color teams of any size | None | Apple TV and its Siri Remote |
| Charades & More | The loud end of the table | One guesser, the room gives clues | None | Apple TV and its Siri Remote |
| Hangman | Family names and inside jokes | 2–4 colors | None | Apple TV and its Siri Remote |
| Read the Room | Teens and adults | 2–4 colors | None | Apple TV and its Siri Remote |
| Splat! | Quick turns before pie | 2–4 colors | None | Apple TV and its Siri Remote |
| Gratitude alphabet | The whole table | Any number | None | Nothing |
| Two Truths and a Lie | Older kids and adults | 3 or more | None | Nothing |
| Charades on paper | Any group | 4 or more | 5 minutes | Paper, a bowl and a timer |
Pass the Remote! is rated 9+ on the App Store.
Why do TV games work so well on Thanksgiving?
Everyone can see the screen from the couch, nobody has to download anything or hand over a phone, and color teams let kids and grandparents play on the same side.
The TV is often on anyway for the parade or the football. A game that needs only the remote means the person who's never used a game controller can play as easily as the teenager who has, and anyone who wanders in from the kitchen can join a team mid-game.
Which Pass the Remote! games are best for Thanksgiving?
Trivia Battle for team trivia after dinner, Charades & More for the loud part of the night, Hangman with your own words, Read the Room for the grown-ups, and Splat! or Stack It for quick turns while dessert is on its way.
There are no Thanksgiving-themed packs in the game. These are the regular games, and they work because of who's in the room.
Trivia Battle
Split the table into color teams and play five rounds. US History and Pro Football fit the day; they come with Unlock Everything, and Around the World, Wild Science and Odd One Out are free. Every answer shows a fun fact, which starts conversations on its own.
Charades & More
The guesser turns their back to the TV while everyone else shouts or acts out the clue. Snack Attack, one of the three free decks, is all food.
Hangman
Pick CREATE YOUR OWN WORD and spell out family names, the dog's name or anything that happened at dinner on the letter board. The free Food & Drink category works too.
Read the Room
One person sees where the target hides on the dial and gives a one-word clue; everyone else guesses. Great for the adults' end of the couch.
Splat!
Keep a falling item bouncing on a trampoline until it splats, then pass the remote. Three quick rounds while the pie's in the oven. The free Little Mess pack happens to include a turkey; it's in the game all year.
Stack It
Take turns dropping animals onto a narrow ledge. Knock one off and you're out. Short turns keep little ones in the game.
Is there a Thanksgiving trivia game for the TV?
Trivia Battle works for the whole table: split into color teams and pick from 27 categories, with a fun fact after every answer. It doesn't have a Thanksgiving pack; the regular categories carry the night.
Each color answers one question per round for five rounds, passing the remote between teams. There's no timer, so grandparents and kids can talk it over before they lock in. How Trivia Battle works · US history trivia questions · NFL trivia questions
No-prep Thanksgiving games for the table
The gratitude alphabet, Two Truths and a Lie, Name Five and charades on paper need little or nothing, and they work before dinner while the turkey rests.
Gratitude alphabet
Go around the table. The first person names something they're thankful for that starts with A, the next with B, and so on to Z. Stuck for more than five seconds? You're out of the round. Q, X and Z are where it gets fun.
Two Truths and a Lie
Each person says three things about themselves, one of them made up. Everyone else votes on the lie. It's a good way to learn something new about the relatives you see once a year.
Name Five
Someone calls a category (side dishes, pie flavors, things in a parade) and the next person has ten seconds to name five. Make the categories easier for the youngest players.
Charades on paper
Everyone writes three things on slips of paper: movies, animals or jobs. Fold them into a bowl, split into two teams, and act out as many as you can in 60 seconds.
Thanksgiving games for kids
Short turns and simple rules win: Splat!, Stack It and Memory on the TV, or the gratitude alphabet at the table.
Pair each child with a grown-up on a color team so nobody gets stuck on a hard question, and keep rounds short. Pass the Remote! is rated 9+, so grown-ups can decide which games suit the youngest kids.
Thanksgiving games for adults
Read the Room, Trivia Battle with categories like Classic Rock or 90s Nostalgia, and Two Truths and a Lie keep a grown-up crowd talking.
Read the Room is a clue-giving game where the fun is arguing about the answer, and Trivia Battle's Double Down lets a confident team bet big on a question.
Games grandparents and kids can play together
Team trivia, Hangman and Memory, played on color teams that mix the generations.
Grandparents tend to know the history and classic-movie questions; kids spot the pop-culture ones. In Memory, a sharp-eyed grandchild and a patient grandparent make a strong team. Everyone just needs to see the TV.
A 60-minute after-dinner game plan
Start at the table with the gratitude alphabet, move to the couch for team trivia, get loud with charades, and finish with family-made hangman words.
Printable game plan
Thanksgiving after dinner: 60 minutes
-
0:00–0:10
At the table: gratitude alphabet
Go around A to Z naming things you're thankful for. Great while dessert gets cut.
-
0:10–0:15
Make color teams
Up to four colors, each mixing kids, parents and grandparents. Give the teams names on the TV.
-
0:15–0:35
Team trivia: Trivia Battle
Five rounds, one question per color per round. Pick a category everyone can try; every answer ends with a fun fact.
-
0:35–0:50
Get loud: Charades & More
One guesser per round turns their back to the TV while the room shouts the clues. Try the Snack Attack deck.
-
0:50–1:00
Finale: Hangman with family words
CREATE YOUR OWN WORD: cousins' names, the pie that burned, the dog. Winner picks the leftovers first.
Need a breather? Swap in three rounds of Splat! between games.
Thanksgiving games: questions
What are good Thanksgiving games for a big family?
Team games that anyone can join halfway through: team trivia, charades and hangman. Split everyone into up to four color teams that mix kids, parents and grandparents, and pass one remote between the teams.
Are there Thanksgiving games you can play on the TV?
Yes. With an Apple TV, Pass the Remote! turns the TV into 11 party games played with one Siri Remote, including Trivia Battle, Charades & More and Hangman. It has no Thanksgiving-themed packs; the regular games work for a holiday crowd.
What Thanksgiving games need no prep?
The gratitude alphabet, Two Truths and a Lie and Name Five need nothing at all, and TV games like Pass the Remote! need only the remote. Charades on paper takes five minutes to write the slips.
What can we play after Thanksgiving dinner?
Something everyone can play from the couch. Team trivia on the TV works well while people are full, then charades once everyone's ready to move. Our 60-minute after-dinner plan below runs the whole evening.
