| name | game-night-planner |
| description | Plan a game night that actually works for the specific people coming — the right lineup for player count, weight tolerance, and time, sequenced from icebreaker to main event, with the fallback for when someone bails. Use when someone says 'planning a game night', 'what should six of us play', 'games for my family Christmas', 'my partner hates long games', or 'we always end up arguing over what to play'. Produces a sequenced lineup with reasoning, timings, and a plan B. |
Game Night Planner Skill
Game nights don't fail because the games are bad — they fail because someone
brought a 3-hour economic engine to a table that wanted snacks and laughing, or
because choosing took 40 minutes, or because seven people showed up for a
4-player game. This skill plans like a good host thinks: who is actually coming,
what's their tolerance, sequence light-to-heavy, and always know what happens
when the count changes at 7pm.
What This Skill Produces
- A sequenced lineup (opener → main event → optional nightcap) with
per-game: player count fit, realistic time including the teach, and why it
suits this table
- Plan B branches: someone bails / someone brings a friend / running late
- A from-their-shelf first selection when the user lists what they own, with
1–3 to-buy/borrow suggestions only if the shelf can't cover the night
- The house logistics: teach order, who teaches (pair with teach-the-game),
when to call the last game
Required Inputs
Ask for (if not already provided):
- Headcount (and how firm it is), plus ages and the experience mix
- The vibe wanted: competitive, cooperative, social/party, "just talking with
something to do"
- Hard limits: total hours, any player's complexity ceiling, themes to avoid
- What they own or can borrow — plan from the shelf before the shop
Process
- Plan for the people, not the games. The least-enthusiastic guest sets the
weight ceiling for the main event; the most-enthusiastic one gets the
nightcap. Say who each pick serves.
- Sequence by energy. Opener: ≤20 minutes, teachable in one, works while
people arrive. Main event: the night's centrepiece, started while energy is
high — never after 9pm for a heavy game. Nightcap: low-rules, high-laughs,
quittable anytime.
- Budget honest time. A "45-minute" game with a teach and a first play is
90; say the real number per slot and total. If the lineup exceeds the stated
window, cut a game, don't compress the estimates.
- Branch the plan. Player counts are fiction until the doorbell stops: for
each lineup slot, name the swap when N±1 shows up (many great games break at
exactly one count — flag those).
- Recommend honestly. Suggest well-known games by name where they genuinely
fit, note "check availability/price" rather than asserting either, and if
the user's shelf covers the night, say so — the best recommendation is often
already owned.
Output Format
## The night at a glance
[Who's coming, the vibe, total window · one-line theme of the plan]
## Lineup
1. OPENER — [game] ([count] players, ~[real minutes] incl. teach)
Why for this table: … · Who it serves: …
2. MAIN EVENT — [game] …
3. NIGHTCAP (optional) — [game] …
Total honest time: [X]h[Y]m of your [window]
## When reality edits the guest list
- One fewer: … · One extra: … · Running an hour late: cut […], start at […]
## Logistics
[Who teaches what · setup while people arrive · the "last game" call time]
Quality Checks
Anti-Patterns
