Three families of games, and only one is a problem
The first family is built on sips. Take them away and nothing is left, because the sip was the only thing happening. Picolo, the reference drinking app in France, is the best-known example, and most party apps on the store work this way.
The second family uses the sip as currency. The game has a real mechanic, cards, bluffing, memory, and the sip is just what the loser pays. Swap it for a point or a dare and the game is intact. Card rituals like King's Cup are in this group.
The third family never needed alcohol. The tension comes from the game itself, unmasking an impostor, guessing a word, defending an absurd plan. Nobody notices who is drinking and who is not, which is exactly what you want for a mixed table.
On PlaySobr, seven games with nothing to do with alcohol
The Spy. Everyone gets the same secret word except the impostors. Each player describes it in turn without saying it, then the table votes. Unmasking is the reward, nothing needs adding. 3 to 12 players.
Werewolf. The hidden-roles classic with no moderator, the game runs the nights on each phone. By day, you debate and vote out loud. 5 to 12 players.
The Lost Sketch. A sentence, a drawing, a sentence, and a chain that derails from phone to phone. The laughter at the reveal owes nothing to what is in the glasses. 3 to 12 players.
Catastrophe. Ninety seconds to write a survival plan for an absurd scenario, then an AI reads the plans and delivers its verdict. Works even solo. Covert Words, the phone on your forehead and your team making you guess the word without the forbidden ones. The Assassin, a target and a secret mission per player, across a whole evening, up to 30. The Parcel, bluffing and memory around a package that changes hands.
An eighth, The Witnesses, a whodunit where everyone holds part of the truth, is temporarily unavailable as of this guide.
The three drinking games, and what really happens without
The Pyramid, The Circle and The Aperitif are written with sips, and this guide will not pretend otherwise. The text on screen talks about drinking, and no setting rewrites it. They belong to the second family, the sip is a currency there, not the mechanic.
In practice, tables playing them alcohol-free swap the sip for a point, a dare or a sip of water, and the game holds. The Pyramid is still a prediction and bluffing game, The Circle is still a rule draw. But that is a rule the table sets for itself, not a game option, and it is easier to know before launching it in front of teenagers.
Most Likely To plays on points. A question, a vote, and the most-picked player scores a point: the game never mentions sips, the table can add its own if it wants. It is a perfectly sober after-work game.
Which game for which situation
A mixed table, drinkers and non-drinkers together. Pick a third-family game, The Spy or Werewolf. Nobody has a special status, the driver plays exactly the same game as everyone else, and nothing on screen points to a difference.
A fully alcohol-free night, Dry January, pregnancy, conviction or simply the mood. The whole catalogue minus the three card rituals, with nothing to adapt. If the table insists on a card ritual, Most Likely To on points does the same social job.
A family night or teenagers. The Lost Sketch and Covert Words first, they take thirty seconds to grasp and contain nothing to filter. The Spy next, once everyone can bluff a little.
An after-work. Most Likely To on points, because the questions are about colleagues and that is what gets the laughs. The Assassin if the night runs long, it plays in the background while people talk.
No screen, no gear, on a terrace or on holiday. All these games play phones-only. The no-gear guide covers the situations.
Elsewhere, what exists without alcohol
Central-screen platforms, Soiro, La Stev' and Jackbox, are alcohol-free by nature. Their games are quizzes, drawing, music rounds, the question never comes up. Their constraint lies elsewhere, you need a TV or a projector, and for Jackbox a PC or a console.
For an alcohol-free night in front of a TV with more than twelve people, La Stev' is the right pick, PlaySobr stops at twelve except on The Assassin. For remote drawing, free and up to thirty, Gartic Phone remains the reference.
What PlaySobr brings specifically is phones-only play with no screen, and a single catalogue holding both alcohol-free games and card rituals. The same room can chain The Spy then The Pyramid on points, without switching apps.
Three rules for an alcohol-free night that holds
Pick a game where the tension is in the game. If the only thing that happens when you lose is a sip, the night collapses the moment you remove it. A vote, a reveal, a verdict stand on their own.
Give losing a value. A point, a short dare, a score on screen. Whatever replaces the sip has to be visible, otherwise nobody plays to win anymore.
Do not make non-drinkers a special case. The best alcohol-free night is the one where nobody notices. That is the reason to prefer bluffing and deduction games over adapted rituals.