Missing game night with friends? There are still ways to get together with friends to play games, even when trying to be socially distanced! Depending on the health and safety regulations for your area, along with your comfort levels, here are a few different ideas of ways to have fun while maintaining a safe social distance with other players.
Games Over Video Chat
For those of you who have never used video chat before, there are multiple ways of doing this; however, what we have been using for ours is Zoom. Zoom is free for group meetings of up to 40 minutes and up to 100 participants with unlimited one-on-one meetings. I prefer to use Zoom because it creates a link where anyone can join you without signing up for an account to join. You can upgrade to a Pro account for $14.99 a month to increase your group meetings’ time to be up to 30 hours per month. Other free options include Google Hangouts (which requires a google account) or Discord (which requires signing up on their platform).
Here are a few different ideas for games that can be played over video chat and how to make them work:
- Jackbox Games
- Jackbox has various games available (and most of them can be purchased in discounted party pack bundles). These games require the host to purchase this and run it off of their computer. We run our Jackbox sessions using Steam on our computer and simply doing a screen share once we have the game running. Anyone playing will need a device to access the jackbox.tv website to enter the room code and play along.
- Codenames Online
- The creators of the hit party game, Codenames, have made it super easy and fun to play their game online for free! Visit their site and create a room and you can set it up and share the link with your friends to get them to join.
- Just One
- This is a board game that is easy to play with friends online. Only one person needs to own the game, and they can show the card prompts to the camera for everyone to play along. Players will need something to write on and something to write with to play along by holding up their words to the camera. We love using a small cheap whiteboard, like this one, to play this game with.
- Wavelength
- This is another board game that only one person needs to own to play. We play this one by having a 2-camera set up for our game. This isn’t necessarily necessary, but we find it easier to have one camera that can be focused on the game the whole time so everyone can see the dial used for the game.
If you have friends who own the same board games as you, you can also make some of those work over video chat. I have heard of people having success playing games such as Dice Throne, Wingspan, and Disney’s Villanous.
Virtual Board Games over a Simulator
Another fun way of playing board games with friends online is through a simulator. One option is Tabletop Simulator (TTS), a simulator that can be purchased and played using Steam. The only downside of this is that to play with anyone, they must also own Tabletop Simulator to play. The regular cost to purchase this is a one-time fee of $19.99. However, you can occasionally find it on sale for 50% off, and you can also purchase a 4-pack bundle to share with friends at a discounted rate. There are various games to find and play within TTS, and this is also the platform that we currently run all of our virtual playtesting in for our own game.
Also, there is Board Game Arena, which is played entirely in a browser (and can even be played on your phone’s browser) and has a free-to-play ability, as well as a pretty affordable premium subscription available that allows you to play more games and opens up other features such as voice and video chatting and being able to play with other players in your same location.
Another option is Tabletopia, which is free has a free-to-play option with lots of available games (and can even be played in a browser without needing to download any software). It also has different monthly paid subscription options to unlock more content.
Outdoor Game Night
Another option for those who can safely meet in-person is to host an outdoor game night. Many outdoor games can be done safely from a distance at a local park, in your yard, or any other open outdoor area. Wearing a mask can also be done when you cannot stay at a safe social distance from other people. Here are some of the games that we have played that work well outdoors:
Indoor Game Night
This one is the higher-risk version of all of the options. Still, where it is safe enough to do so, you can meet up in person and make sure everyone is wearing masks, limit any food or beverage consumption, and have plenty of hand sanitizer available for people to use or an area where people can easily go to wash their hands. A bonus is if you have games that can also be easily sanitized after each game.
Have you been having any socially distanced game nights? Leave a comment letting us know how you did yours and what sort of games you played!