Hosting a game night at your house can be fun, but it also comes with quite a few chores to complete so that everything goes off without a hitch.
Choosing playlist to set the mood and establish an atmosphere is an important part of a successful game night playlist, but what genres should you focus on and what tracks should you pick?
Let’s look at a few of your options, covering a number of different game types.
Gambling songs for poker games.
Getting a group of friends over to play poker together is a blast, and thankfully from a playlist perspective you’ve got a huge amount of choice, particularly if you want to stick to the same theme.
Some of the best poker songs in history include Ace of Spades by Motorhead, Deuces Are Wild by Aerosmith, Diamond Jack by Wishbone Ash and of course The Gambler by Kenny Rogers.
Putting together a playlist of these classics and keeping them ticking over in the background will set the tone for the night, and also give players who fold early in a hand something to listen to more actively.
Epic soundtracks for D&D games.
Dungeons & Dragons has been around for half a century, and even with the rise of video games and other forms of digital entertainment, the traditional tabletop experience is still a hit with millions worldwide.
To accompany your fantastical adventures, it’s a good idea to have a suitable soundtrack to provide texture to the narration of the DM, and to enhance your imaginations as well.
Your choices here are incredibly broad. You could stick on a playlist composed entirely of the official soundtrack for the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. You could opt for a video game soundtrack which has suitably dark fantasy-focused themes, such as that of mega-hit action RPG Elden Ring.
If your tastes lean more towards the classical end of the spectrum, the rousing pomp of composers like Elgar and Beethoven could strike the right chord for D&D sessions.
Ambient tunes for trivia nights.
Everyone loves a quiz, and when you are playing a game which requires you to engage your brain, it’s not all that wise to choose music as an accompaniment that features lyrics or melodies that are going to distract you.
Enter the genre of ambient music, which can accompany even the most taxing trivia games without frustrating any of the participants.
There’s nothing wrong with sticking to tried and tested artists like Brian Eno, especially if you want tunes that are totally unobtrusive if you’re trying to concentrate, and hauntingly beautiful if you aren’t currently taking a turn.
Other options include the likes of The Orb, Biosphere, Celer and Slowdive, to name but a few. If you’re a bit bewildered by the choice here, search up an ambient playlist on your streaming platform of choice and it should solve your problem.
Hip hop for video game get-togethers
While it’s possible for friends to play remotely for modern multiplayer experiences, there’s still something special about lugging your PCs or hauling your consoles to the same physical space for a good old-fashioned LAN party.
If this is something you plan to do, it makes sense to choose a playlist with music that suits the tastes of the group. If there’s a mixture of people attending, then hip hop is a safe choice, if only because of the variety that this genre represents.
If you want a combination of lyrical complexity and beats that won’t overwhelm the room, MF Doom is your man. If trap is more your speed, you’re really spoilt for choice today, and there are tons of hot playlists of this kind on Spotify and similar platforms.
All that remains is for you to get input from your guests and see whether this will influence your choice of game night playlist.
