Machine Party Guide Hub - Minigames, Players & What to Know Before Buying

Machine Party is a collection of 15 violent party minigames for 2-4 players, made by Mike Klubnika — the developer behind Buckshot Roulette — with GDeavid, and published by Oro Interactive. Think Mario Party run through an industrial-horror grinder: tile floors, duck hunts, eating contests and hide and seek, except losing a round kills your character, all in grimy PS1-era visuals over an industrial soundtrack by Alex Peipman. Launch press places it in the same universe as Buckshot Roulette.

Version note: Current as of the v2.0 patch (August 12, 2026), checked August 13. Assembled from the Steam store page, official screenshots and announcements, Steam achievement statistics, launch press coverage and launch-week community reports, linked inline.

Two things to settle before you buy, and one of them just changed. Couch co-op shipped in v2.0 on August 12 — up to four controllers, one of which can be keyboard and mouse, across Original, Custom and Arcade modes. That makes one copy of the game enough for a whole room. What has not changed: there is no matchmaking, and as of the v1.5 announcement that's final — the developers say in-game matchmaking is something they're "unable to support" given the friends-first design, and point players to an official 'Looking for group' Discord instead. So the buying question is now simply whether your players are in the room or on the internet.

The board: 15 minigames, one icon each — the crosshair picks what your group suffers next. (Screenshot: Oro Interactive)

Quick Facts

What a Session Looks Like

You and up to three friends load into a lobby as customisable test subjects, then play minigames picked off the 15-icon board: trench duck hunts, crumbling tile floors, gun-assembly races, a pea-eating contest, an escalator memory gauntlet, forklift logistics, a minefield.

Failure is lethal by design, and several games hand you "multiple devious ways of screwing your friends over" (official feature list). Throwing crates at people, infecting them with syringes and pushing them into hacksaws all have achievements attached.

Playing every minigame once runs about an hour. Treat it as a one-shot party session rather than a grind: short, cheap, and built for a full lobby of friends who like screaming at each other.

Start Here

• What are the 15 minigames and how do you win them? The Minigames Guide — the full roster with rules, win conditions and early tactics.
• Chasing 100%? The Achievements Guide — all 15 with global unlock rates, from the freebies to Full Pack (0.3%).
• Can't connect, can't join, or something's broken? Bugs & Fixes — the v1.5 graphics fix, join timeouts, the Steam Deck problem, and how playing with friends actually works.

FAQ

How many players do you need? Can you play solo? 2-4 players, and there's no single-player mode. The Steam category list has no single-player tag and the game is built around multiplayer sessions. A duo works — players confirm 2-player runs — but the sabotage minigames are livelier at 3-4. Since v2.0 those players can all be on one machine with controllers, which means one copy covers a full table locally; online still needs a copy each.

Is there local / couch co-op or splitscreen? Yes, since v2.0 on August 12. It wasn't originally planned — the developers started building it after the volume of requests. Connect up to four controllers, pick Local in the menu, choose Original, Custom or Arcade, and press any button on each pad at the lobby screen. One player can use keyboard and mouse, so four people need three controllers. Several simulations were reworked for it: Minefield and Duck Hunt use distance-based cameras, Chisel Gauntlet switches between one screen and split screen depending on the jumbotron, Duck Hunt splits runners and hunter down the middle, and Firearm Factory now shows the required part on every workbench instead of at the bottom of the factory. Setup detail in Bugs & Fixes.

Can you play with random people online? Not through the game. There's no matchmaking, no public lobby browser and no bots, and the v1.5 announcement calls matchmaking something the team is "unfortunately unable to support due to how we envisioned the game." Use the official 'Looking for group' Discord, linked from a pinned Steam thread. The improvised routes still work too: anyone with an 18-digit room code can join, so the Steam discussion board runs a constant stream of shared codes, and community "find players" Discords stay active (the largest now 1,600+ members). Full picture in Bugs & Fixes. Note that every player needs their own copy — there's no guest mode.

How long is it? A full pass over all 15 minigames is about an hour, per multiple launch reviews. Replay value comes from your group, not content volume — reviewers who wanted XP, unlocks or money systems note there aren't any.

Is it connected to Buckshot Roulette? Same developer, and per launch press coverage the same universe. It's a spiritual sibling in tone, not a sequel.

Is it worth it? Two weeks in it sits at 87.4% positive across 3,207 reviews, and the developers announced 1,000,000 copies sold on August 12 — double the 500,000 figure from six days earlier. Reviewers praise the inventive minigames, the aesthetic and soundtrack, and the price. Weigh the criticisms: no matchmaking (officially permanent), no in-game voice or text chat, and it's short. The couch co-op complaint is now resolved. The launch-window graphics problems got their real fix in v1.5 — see Bugs & Fixes. The most consistent buyer advice in reviews: get it if you have 2-3 people to play with, wait if you don't.