THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
Try out these fun party pastimes during your next Zoom gathering
During lockdown, many of us are staying in touch with friends and family via phones and laptops. Sometimes talking isn’t enough. If you want to recapture some of the spirit of in-person interaction, there are numerous games involving cards, phones and boards to play together remotely.
HEADS UP!
A quick trivia-guessing game with a slew of categories.
What you need to play: Zoom and phones or tablets with the game. (Two or more players)
Heads Up! is a game of charades in which each player has to guess a person, place or thing with help from the audience.
Everyone needs to download the Heads Up! app on their phones. Players select a deck of cards from a category, like movies or celebrities. One person holds a phone to their forehead that displays the answer, showing everyone but the phone-holder. Zoom allows users to hide their own reflected video display.
You can play Heads Up! in teams or individually. The fun comes from thinking of witty hints. The goal is to correctly guess as many terms as possible in one minute.
BATTLESHIP
What you need to play: Any video call app and two boards of Battleship; or paper and a writing utensil. (Two players)
The objective is to find and sink all the vessels on your opponent’s board before they destroy yours. The catch is, neither of you know where the other has placed their battleships. It’s a guessing game with a bit of strategy.
If you’re crafty, all you need is a ruler, paper and markers.
The “battle stations” are laid out on grids, and at the start of each game, players place their five ships in various places on the grid. The two players guess where their opponents boats are — like “Go Fish” but with imaginary ships and torpedoes.
The first player to sink all their enemy’s ships wins.
OUTBURST
Family Feud, but it’s on Zoom instead of ABC.
What you need to play: Any video call app and at least one copy of the game.
Outburst is a timed party game from Hasbro that requires you to quickly name the top 10 terms in a category, such as “chores parents ask their kids to do.” There’s a lot of shouting in this game.
The game splits players into two teams who switch places every round between judging and guessing. The more terms you correctly name, the more points for your team.
QUIPLASH
For the people who love Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity.
What you need to play: A video conferencing app, like Zoom, where you can share screens and a version of Quiplash using Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Steam, Playstation 4 or Xbox One (and more).
Quiplash is a “Mad Libs” party game where players respond to prompts with the wittiest answers they can come up with. The entire group then votes on the best responses and players receive points for winning each round out of three.
Up to eight players can play the fill-in-the-blank game, which is built to be played with all participants watching one screen (typically a TV).
To play Quiplash remotely, the quickest solution will be to buy the game on Steam and play it from your computer to then share on Zoom, Google Hangouts, Twitch, Discord or any service that lets you communicate and share your screen. If you’re playing Quiplash on the Playstation or Xbox, screensharing gets a bit more complicated.
DRAWFUL 2
Like Pictionary, a game for those who are artistically inclined. What you need to play: A video conferencing app, like Zoom, where you can share screens and a version of Drawful 2 using Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Steam, Playstation 4 or Xbox One (and more).
Drawful 2 challenges players to use their fingers and some imagination to create art. Players must draw a given prompt and then guess what each piece of art is supposed to represent. Players can use their phones, tablets or computers to sketch out responses to the prompts, such as “tree surgeon” and “deadly hula hoop.”
The easiest solution for Zoom is buying the game on Steam and playing it from your computer.