House of Games (credited as Richard Osman's House of Games for its first nine series) is a British quiz show produced by Banijay UK Productions subsidiary Remarkable Entertainment for the BBC. The show is played on a weekly basis, with four celebrities playing on five consecutive days to win daily prizes, and the weekly prize of being crowned as "House of Games" champion. Points are accrued depending on where each celebrity finishes on each day and the points are doubled on Friday's show.
Richard Osman hosted House of Games since its start in September 2017. In October 2026, he was replaced as host by actor Michael Sheen.
Format
Osman sits in a chair to the left of the screen, while the four celebrities sit in a line in individual chairs. Osman hits a "buzzer" on his table, activating a round generator, which is displayed on a big screen. He then explains what the round is about and in what format it will take place – for example, whether it is a buzzer round, a pairs round, or one in which the players require use of their tablet computers. Five rounds are played each day, with the second round being played in pairs, and the final round always being "Answer Smash". The first round is quick general knowledge questions with a comic twist, such as rhyming words. The fourth round is typically "slow", where the question takes several minutes to be answered, and only one contestant receives a single point each time. In most games a point is awarded for each correct answer, but in "Answer Smash", points are also deducted for incorrect answers.
At the end of each day, the scores are announced and the winner wins a daily prize, which is usually a normal everyday object of some description with the "House of Games" logo imprinted on it (the logo being a turquoise-blue background with a depiction of Osman's hair, eyebrows and glasses). The points are then converted to four points for the winner, three for second place, two for third place and one for fourth place onto the weekly leader board; in Friday's "Double Points Friday" edition, the points awarded double to eight, six, four and two. The weekly winner receives the "House of Games" trophy (a silver cup with the Osman depiction on it) from Osman. If there are two players tied for first place at the end of the week, both players are declared joint winners and win a trophy each. In more recent episodes, a tie for first place is resolved by a tie-break question; the first to buzz in wins if they answer correctly or their opponent wins if they answer incorrectly.
Beginning with Series 3, special "House of Champions" episodes aired featuring players who had previously won a daily or weekly edition of the show coming back for another week to fight for the Gold Champions Trophy. There were also daily prizes, which were similar to the prizes on the regular version of the show. However, these prizes were mainly gold, rather than the turquoise-blue colour. From series 6 onwards, there were also special "Redemption" weeks with four previous losing contestants who had never won a day prize.
A week's worth of shows is recorded on a single day, so the celebrities are booked for only one day, changing outfits between shows.
Contestants
Weekly winners in bold.
Series 1 Week 1 (4–8 September 2017): Nish Kumar, Anneka Rice, Clara Amfo and Al Murray Week 2 (11–15 September 2017): Angela Scanlon, Clive Myrie, Sara Pascoe and Rick Edwards Week 3 (18–22 September 2017): Anita Rani, Chris Ramsey, Janet Ellis and Jamie Theakston
Series 2 Week 1 (28 May–1 June 2018): Naga Munchetty, Jordan Stephens, Sally Lindsay and David O'Doherty Week 2 (4–8 June 2018): Ellie Taylor, Steve Pemberton, Fern Britton and Josh Widdicombe Week 3 (11–15 June 2018): Shappi Khorsandi, Michael Buerk, Amanda Abbington and Elis James Week 4 (18, 20, 20–22 June 2018): Beattie Edmondson, Amol Rajan, Gaby Roslin and Hugh Dennis Week 5 (25–29 June 2018): Chizzy Akudolu, Charlie Higson, Kate Williams and Tom Allen Week 6 (12–16 November 2018): Rachel Riley, JB Gill, Katie Derham and Richard Herring Week 7 (19–23 November 2018): Lolly Adefope, Dan Walker, Sarah Greene and Miles Jupp Week 8 (26–30 November 2018): Samantha Womack, Rory Reid, Anne Diamond and James Acaster Week 9 (3–6, 8 December 2018): Kelly Cates, Tyger Drew-Honey, Desiree Burch and Matt Allwright Week 10 (10–14 December 2018): Susie Dent, Nick Owen, Chemmy Alcott and Dane Baptiste
Series 3 Week 1 (7–11 October 2019): Miquita Oliver, Ed Gamble, Kate Thornton and Ade Edmondson Week 2 (14–18 October 2019): Scarlett Moffatt, Iain Stirling, Angellica Bell and Gyles Brandreth Week 3 (21–25 October 2019): Kate Humble, Ivo Graham, Andi Oliver and Phill Jupitus Week 4 (28 October–1 November 2019): June Sarpong, Dev Griffin, Debbie McGee and Alex Horne Week 5 (4–8 November 2019): Nina Wadia, Johnny Ball, Suzi Ruffell and Danny Wallace Week 6 (11–15 November 2019): Jay Blades, Rachel Parris, Shaun Keaveny and Jan Ravens (tie between Parris and Ravens) Week 7 (18–22 November 2019): Kate Bottley, John Thomson, YolanDa Brown and Joel Dommett Week 8 (25–29 November 2019): Charlene White, Gregg Wallace, Holly Walsh and Chris Hollins House of Champions Week 1 (2–5 and 7 December 2019): Scarlett Moffatt, Rick Edwards, Naga Munchetty and David O'Doherty House of Champions Week 2 (9–13 December 2019): June Sarpong, Richard Herring, Kate Williams and Dane Baptiste Week 9 (6–10 January 2020): Rose Matafeo, Rav Wilding, Valerie Singleton and Gary Delaney Week 10 (13–17 January 2020): Andrea McLean, Phil Wang, Rita Simons and Adil Ray Week 11 (20–24 January 2020): Michelle Ackerley, Matt Forde, Judy Murray and Fred MacAulay Week 12 (27–31 January 2020): Kerry Godliman, Radzi Chinyanganya, Ebony Rainford-Brent and Hal Cruttenden Week 13 (3–7 February 2020): Lou Sanders, Richard Coles, Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Stuart Maconie Week 14 (10–14 February 2020): Vick Hope, Gethin Jones, Nicki Chapman and Tim Vine Week 15 (17–21 February 2020): Gareth Malone, Jamelia, Paul Martin and Susan Calman Week 16 (24–28 February 2020): Samira Ahmed, John Robins, Angela Rippon and Dom Joly House of Champions Week 3 (2–6 March 2020): Chizzy Akudolu, Miles Jupp, Ellie Taylor and Amol Rajan House of Champions Week 4 (9–13 March 2020): Holly Walsh, Nish Kumar, Sarah Greene and Hugh Dennis.
Series 4 Week 1 (12–16 October 2020): Vikki Stone, Ade Adepitan, Jean Johansson and Stephen Mangan Week 2 (19–23 October 2020): Mike Bushell, Aisling Bea, Sunetra Sarker and Dion Dublin Week 3 (26–30 October 2020): Scott Mills, Josie d'Arby, Jayde Adams and Rufus Hound Week 4 (2–6 November 2020): AJ Odudu, Neil Delamere, Mark Billingham and Lucy Porter Week 5 (9–13 November 2020): Meera Syal, Steve Backshall, Catherine Bohart and Ranj Singh Week 6 (16–20 November 2020): Melvin Odoom,This person finished on a negative score during one episode this week. Denise Van Outen, Greg Rutherford and Angela BarnesThis person won all five episodes in the week.The equal highest (20) and equal second highest (19) single episode score. Week 7 (23–27 November 2020): Denise Lewis, Rhys James, Isy Suttie and David James Week 8 (30 November–4 December 2020): Sara Barron, Rickie Haywood-Williams, Jessica Fostekew and Anton Du Beke Week 9 (7–11 December 2020): Alex Jones, Karim Zeroual, Jessica Knappett and Robert Rinder Week 10 (14–17 and 20 December 2020): Steve Cram, Josie Long, Jeanette Kwakye and Lloyd Griffith Week 11 (4–8 January 2021): Gabby Logan, Tim Key, Gemma Cairney and Jeff Stelling Week 12 (11–15 January 2021): Alex Brooker, Sophie Duker, Charlotte Hawkins and David Baddiel Week 13 (18–22 January 2021): Maisie Adam, Rory Bremner, Michelle Gayle and James Cracknell Week 14 (25–29 January 2021): Charlie Brooks, Darren Harriott, Melinda Messenger and Les Dennis (tie between Messenger and Dennis, were both declared champions) Week 15 (1–5 February 2021): Josie Lawrence, Raj Bisram, Laura Whitmore and Mark Watson Week 16 (8–12 February 2021): Kae Kurd, Zoe Lyons, Andrew Hunter Murray and Kate RobbinsThis person finished on a negative score during one episode this week. Week 17 (15–19 February 2021): Sindhu Vee, Tom Rosenthal, Anna Richardson and Marcus Brigstocke Week 18 (22–26 February 2021): Colin Murray, Sally Phillips, Nathan Caton and Ronni Ancona Week 19 (1–5 March 2021): Mae Martin, Nihal Arthanayake, Patsy Kensit and Jake Humphrey Week 20 (8–12 March 2021): Glenn Moore, Mina Anwar, Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Shaun Williamson
Series 5 Week 1 (16, 18–20, 20 August 2021): Gareth Thomas, Olga Koch, Reeta Chakrabarti and Andrew Maxwell Week 2 (23–27 August 2021): Jamali Maddix, Jodie Kidd, Suzi Perry and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Week 3 (30–31 August, 2–3, 3 September 2021): Joe Thomas, Lucy Beaumont, Jake Wood and Shazia Mirza Week 4 (6–8, 10, 10 September 2021): Kevin Clifton, Kemah Bob, Victoria Derbyshire and JJ Chalmers Week 5 (13–17 September 2021): Philip Glenister, Thanyia Moore, Mark Chapman and Kaye Adams Week 6 (20–24 September 2021): Matthew Pinsent, Ruby Bhogal, Ingrid Oliver and Ed Byrne Week 7 (27 September–1 October 2021): Cariad Lloyd, Dennis Taylor, Yasmine Akram and Geoff Norcott Week 8 (4–8 October 2021): Jo Brand, Roger Black, Tiff Stevenson and Sanjeev Kohli Week 9 (11–15 October 2021): Andy Hamilton, Sabrina Grant, Kirsty Wark and Matt Edmondson Week 10 (18–22 October 2021): Joanne McNally, Bill Turnbull, Michelle Collins and Reginald D. Hunter Week 11 (25–29 October 2021): Sean Fletcher, Kimberly Wyatt, Louise Minchin and Chris Washington Week 12 (1–5 November 2021): Sarah Millican, Nabil Abdulrashid, Philippa Perry and Luke Kempner Week 13 (8–12 November 2021): Mike Wozniak, Clare Balding, Mehreen Baig and Jamie Laing Week 14 (15–19 November 2021): Will Kirk, Edith Bowman, Fern Brady and Martin Lewis Week 15 (22–26 November 2021): Athena Kugblenu, Nick Helm, Nina Conti and Toby Tarrant Week 16 (29 November–3 December 2021): Jessie Cave, AJ Pritchard, Ayesha Hazarika and Simon Hickson House of Champions Week 1 (6–10 December 2021): Vikki Stone, Sally Phillips, Rickie Haywood-Williams and Dan Walker House of Champions Week 2 (13–17 December 2021): Maisie Adam, Dev Griffin, Ivo Graham and Zoe Lyons House of Champions Week 3 (21–25 February 2022): Beattie Edmondson, Adrian Edmondson, Kemah Bob and Angela Barnes House of Champions Week 4 (28 February–4 March 2022): Sara Barron, Gregg Wallace, Sanjeev Kohli and Josie Long Week 17 (7–11 March 2022): Jennie McAlpine, Felicity Ward, Joe Pasquale and Ugo Monye Week 18 (14–17, 19 March 2022): Jen Brister, Kelvin Fletcher, Zoe Williams and Ian Moore Week 19 (21–25 March 2022): Stephen Bailey, Crystelle Pereira, Amanda Lamb and Nick Moran Week 20 (28 March–1 April 2022): Carol Smillie, Babatunde Aléshé, Richie Anderson and Jo Caulfield Week 21 (4–8 April 2022): Briony May Williams, Milton Jones, Ria Lina and Martin Roberts Week 22 (11–15 April 2022): Martel Maxwell, Mathew Horne, Chloe Petts and Alex Beresford Week 23 (18–22 April 2022): Kimberley Nixon, Rachel Fairburn, Trevor Nelson and Des Clarke Week 24 (25–29 April 2022): Jay McGuiness, Linda Robson, Sarah Kendall and Bobby Seagull
Series 6 Week 1 (5–7 and 9–10 September 2022): Neil Morrissey, Hannah Cockroft, Rhys Stephenson and Penny Smith Week 2 (12 and 14–17 September 2022): Jayne Middlemiss, Katya Jones, Phil Tufnell and Rob Deering Week 3 (19–23 September 2022): Martin Offiah, Rebecca Lucy Taylor, Val McDermid and Charlie Baker Week 4 (26–30 September 2022): Natasha Raskin Sharp, Faye Tozer, Eddie Kadi and Charlie Stayt Week 5 (3–7 October 2022): Joe Sugg, Kerry Howard, Evelyn Mok and Toby Anstis Week 6 (10–14 October 2022): Roo Irvine, Claire Richards, John Kearns and Diarmuid Gavin Week 7 (17–21 October 2022): Louis Emerick, Helen George, Justin Moorhouse and Cally Beaton Redemption Week Week 1 (24–28 October 2022): Darren Harriott, Janet Ellis, Suzi Ruffell and Radzi Chinyanganya