That fumble laid the seeds for the Williamsburg QuestNight, where the Spades coach is low key the biggest draw. Once Trevor Noah finally lets him go, I sit for my very first Spades games amidst fellow newbs like Lupita Nyong'o and Jordan Howlett. As it turns out, Yvonne roasting Quest to feature Spades was, whether she knew it or not, in service of his greater theme -- bonding through competition, learning the game together while trying to learn faster than your team. Facing off against Nyong'o as we both played our first Spades game probably taught us more about each other than any small talk we might have made in passing at some more standard New York party.

To that point, the games are ultimately just a means to an end, a way of forcing everyone to just mingle, possibly without the help of Cavity Sam or Mr. Monopoly. Quest points to another California edition when most of the games were stationed outside until rain moved everyone in: "After 90 minutes, everyone stopped playing games and we just talked to each other. I felt that was the most successful one. For me, the most important part of this process is watching people meet each other. I want to see Tyler, The Creator trade numbers with that person and see Willow Smith laugh with everybody from podcast wives to basketball players or football players I've never heard of before."

Quest cites an unnamed, S-tier celebrity who attended a past QuestNight as proof positive that his experiment is working. "It was kind of a presidential situation, where security had to come and sweep the place beforehand, and wanted to know if we had a medic on standby. We were like, wait -- why do you need a medic? No, we're playing games. Monopoly, Clue. Seriously, just games. Dude, at the end of the night, after said person came and had the time of her life, the consensus was like, 'Yo, I never knew something so wholesome and innocent could be the best thing I've done this year.'"

Pharrell's post-Met UNO tournament is cooler and a bit less convivial; it's harder to build amicably when one well-placed Draw Four can determine if you'll win a Richard Mille watch. But at the same time, it's far and away the most distinct after-party of the evening, and an event admirably committed to its theme: Guests can partake in the tournament or they can spectate, but they can't ignore it. It kicks off around midnight, perfect timing within the after-party ecosystem -- this is likely everyone's second or third stop of the night, which means the attendees are just the right amount of buzzed, and just tired enough of standard mingling and socializing to welcome a scenario as refreshingly bizarre as high-stakes UNO. And even without stacks of poker chips that can be doubled or wiped out in one hand, the threat of elimination adds an element of sport that made it entertaining. While Quest's parties typically give guests the tools to make their own entertainment, Pharrell's event -- with its dealers, a leaderboard, and an MC announcing on a microphone -- features a more tightly-controlled run of show.