The jackbox games are always a good suggestion, your phone is your "controller"

Just dance it's always funny

boomerang fu and gang beasts are great! Overcooked games are neat too 😊

For controllers, there was this new super cheap wired HE stick gamepad released not long ago, I'll try find it.

E: here's a post on the controller (GameSir Tegenaria Lite)

https://www.notebookcheck.net/GameSir-Tegenaria-Lite-New-budget-retro-inspired-controller-released-with-Hall-effect-joysticks-for-19-99.1038111.0.html

I can buy one to see if it works on fedora 42.

I can personally recommend Duck Game. It supports 8 player local play.

It's a fighting game that plays on a single screen. Quite fast paced and not everyone's kind of game but so far in my experience it's been fun whenever guests come.

So far as I know, there aren't a lot of 8-player local multiplayer games. The only obvious answer is the Jackbox games, using your phones as controllers.

Beyond that, I did find this Steam curator, who seems to specialize in 8-player games. From thier list, I recognize Gang Beasts, and Pico Park: Classic Edition. Party Golf, Screen Cheat, and Cobalt also all looked interesting, but I've never seen anyone play them.

I'll throw in a recommendation for PlateUp!

Great little coop game like overcooked but has you run the entire restaurant.

Base game supports 4 players but is easy to add mods to support more

8bitdo has a range of controllers that are great quality and cheaper than the console brands. I use ultimate wireless 2 which is on the pricier end but I use these over Xbox and dual shock 4.

For games, this is yet another 4ppl game that's quite a gem:

No heroes here: You're a bunch of princesses and princess who are defending a castle by platforming around to clean and load cannons, build cannonballs, haul gunpowder etc. Similar to overcooked but I think this is even more fun.

8bitdo makes awesome controllers.

You'll always return to playing heave ho.

Little fighter 2 just got a "remaster" released on steam. It has always been a blast. But it might be up to 4 local coop only.

Gang Beasts is a fun one and supports up to 8 players. Don’t use the native Linux version though. It’s pretty buggy but the Windows version works well with Proton.

Nidhogg is another fun one. It’s only two players at a time but you can do a tournament and it’s almost as fun to watch as it is to play. The sequel is good but I prefer the original for it’s simplicity.

I can't think of a single game other than maybe Monopoly or Worms or something else where only 1 controller is used snd just passed around in a turn-based game that would even support more than 4 people playing at once with a single machine.

Most games only support up to 4 players in split screen, and most of those wre going to be older cuz modern games tend to not have splitscreen multiplayer at all.