Some of my favorites that have a higher frequency of “major upset” events. It really depends on your group, and how they like to play.
I stick with pretty quick and accessible games, because we frequently have to teach new people and I hate spending 3 hours on one playthrough of a huge game and then the newbie never gets a chance to try again with their new understanding.
Favorites:
Wizard reliably makes our whole table lose their minds
Love Letter takes sudden drastic turns and is so quick to play
Bang! (the dice version) has as much treachery as it does chaos
No Thanks! is an exercise in collective sadism
Nanuk has perhaps the best “oh shiiiiiiiiiiiii-” moments with a combination of hidden information, bluffing, push-your-luck, pleading for help, backstabbing, and high-stakes card flips
Bluffing games:
Coup
Skull
Cockroach Poker
Card games with sudden win conditions:
Five Crowns
Mahjong
LLAMA
Asymmetric information games:
Secret Hitler
Codenames
Mysterium Park
Not as frequent, but sometimes perfect for the right crowd:
Three Dragon Ante
Get Bit!
GUBS
Ca$h n Guns has foam guns that the whole table points at each other at once, Mexican Stand-off style
Some of my favorites that have a higher frequency of “major upset” events. It really depends on your group, and how they like to play.
I stick with pretty quick and accessible games, because we frequently have to teach new people and I hate spending 3 hours on one playthrough of a huge game and then the newbie never gets a chance to try again with their new understanding.
Favorites:
Bluffing games:
Card games with sudden win conditions:
Asymmetric information games:
Not as frequent, but sometimes perfect for the right crowd: