Picolo Alternatives: The Best Party Game Apps for You

Picolo (listed as "Picolo · Party game") is a pass-the-phone party game from the French studio Marmelapp. You enter a few names, share one phone, and follow on-screen cards with dares, challenges and opinion questions. Whoever loses or declines a card takes a drink, in classic drinking-game fashion. It is free to download with a limited starter mode, and it is available on both iOS and Android in 14 languages, including English.

Picolo is also highly rated (around 4.7 out of 5 from about 45,000 ratings on the US App Store), so looking for an alternative is rarely about quality. The common reasons are different: you want sports content instead of random dares, you would rather avoid a subscription, you want something with no ads or accounts, or you want a game built around real sports culture. Picolo's premium content sits behind paid packs and a subscription, so much of the app requires payment beyond the free starter mode. Nothing wrong with that, but it is a frequent reason to keep looking.

If what drew you to Picolo was the party energy, but you and your group would rather argue about the Premier League and the NHL than "who is most likely to," Sportsup is the closest answer. It is a sports quiz built as a local party game for 2–10 players. Questions cover football, hockey, MMA, esports, golf and the Olympics, and you answer with simple 1/X/2 slips offering three options. Right answers score points. Wrong answers earn a penalty your group defines: a sip, push-ups, a dare, whatever you like. The mechanic does not require alcohol, and there is a drink-free option.

What makes Sportsup different is that the questions are fact-checked, and every answer carries a written explanation plus a source link. You actually learn something, and the table debate ends with a fact instead of a guess. The app is fully bilingual (English and Swedish, with hreflang), and it is made in Sweden with real sports culture in mind rather than a broad translation. There are no accounts, no tracking and no ads, and it works offline after the first load. It is rated 18+ with an age gate on first launch. If you want to see how it stacks up directly against Picolo, we have a dedicated Sportsup vs Picolo comparison.

If you want the traditional form, several familiar options exist. King's Cup (also known as Ring of Fire, Circle of Death or Kings) comes as several independent apps that digitize the card game: you draw cards and follow a rule tied to each card, often with the ability to add your own. The most visible iOS version is English-only and ad-supported, with a one-time in-app purchase to remove ads. These apps have no trivia or sports content. They are pure card-rule games.

Do or Drink is a dare-or-drink party game where you draw a card and either complete the challenge or take a drink, with content grouped into themed decks. The iOS app is free with in-app purchases (a Premium Bundle and individual decks), and it is English-only. Both formats are 18+ local party games, but neither scores right or wrong answers, which is the core difference from a quiz. To compare more titles side by side, see our guide to the best drinking game apps.

Another large category is spin-the-wheel and opinion games. Party Roulette (previously Drink Roulette) spins a wheel that picks a player for a challenge or a drink, with modes like Never Have I Ever, Would You Rather and reflex games. It is free with in-app purchases and rated 18+.

Most Likely To and Truth or Dare apps form their own crowded genre. Here the group points at whoever a statement best fits, or a player answers a personal question or performs a dare. TOZ is an all-in-one app that bundles many classic party games (such as Kings Cup, Truth or Dare and Most Likely To) with frequent content updates. What this whole group shares: the prompts are opinion-based, there is no objectively correct answer, and there is no sports vertical. That is the line between them and Sportsup, where a right answer actually scores. If you specifically want the sports feel, read our guide to drinking games for sports fans.

If you want breadth and random dares for a mixed crowd, Picolo is still a strong choice, and titles like TOZ or Party Roulette give a similar feel. If you want the classic deck, King's Cup handles that, and Do or Drink covers dare-or-drink decks.

But if sports is the glue in your group, the point is simple: most party apps have no sports knowledge, and most sports quizzes have no in-person party or penalty mechanic. Sportsup sits in the middle of those two. Fact-checked questions with explanations and sources, 2–10 players in the same room, a group-defined penalty on wrong answers, English and Swedish, no accounts, no ads, no tracking, and offline after the first load. For a sports night, it is the most specific fit.