A list of games that can be played online with a group of friends.
Many of these games assume you are using a seperate tool to chat. Here are some free tools you can use:
- Discord - multiple text/voice channels that you can join and leave at any time
- Google Hangouts - a temporary video meeting with a shareable link, no need to install anything, but requires a google account to set up
- Jitsi - similar to Google Hangouts but no account required
- House party comes with a few games built in
- Zoom - a temporary video meeting, easy for other people to join without signing up, but you may need to restart the call every 40 minutes
These websites contain multiple games.
- Board Game Arena (freemium)
- Vassal (free)
- Boiteajeux (free)
- Yucata (free)
- Boardgame core (free)
- Super Duper Games (free)
- Netgames.io (free)
- BrettspielWelt (free)
- Free Board Games (free)
- Games by Email (free)
- BoardGamePlay
- Aso Brain Games
- Spiel by Web
- Sloth Ninja
- Happy Meeple
- MabiWeb
- WarGear
- It's your turn
- Board Games Online
- Mattle
- Triqqy
- Playoq
- Trickster Cards
- Boardgames
These simulate game pieces but not the rules of the game.
- Tabletop simulator (paid)
- Tabletopia (freemium)
- Deck of Cards
- Playingcards.io (allows customising the deck)
- Random Noun Generator
- Board game clock
- Abstract Games in Google Slides (Google Drawings can also be used this way)
These games are easy to understand even if nobody has played before.
- A Fake Artist Goes to New-York
- Insider
- Pretend you're Xyzzy or All Bad Cards or Massive Decks (Cards Against Humanity)
- Drawception
- Jackbox party games (instructions for playing remotely)
- Skribbl or Sketchful or Gartic (Guess the drawing)
- Scattergories or Scattergories or Categories with Friends
- Broken Picture Phone or Drawphone
- Quack Stanley
- Just 1 or One Word
- Uno
- Scrabble
- Skull
- Taboo or Taboo
- Anagram thief (anagrams)
- Taboo
- Fishbowl (taboo, charades, password)
These games are easy to explain but best if someone knows the game already.
- Epic Mafia or Werewolf Online or Town of Salem or Mafia.gg
- One Night Ultimate Werewolf
- Shadow Hunters
- Governer of Poker 3 or Blockchain Poker
- Keep talking and nobody explodes (one person plays the game at a time, the others just need the manual)
- Codenames or Codenames or Horsepaste or Kodenames or KodeNames or Codenames
- Codenames Pictures
- Spyfall or Spyfall
- Avalon or Avalon: The Resistance Online
- The Resistance
- Coup or Chicken Koup
- Spendee (Splendor)
- Telewave (Wavelength)
- Hanabi
- Conquer Club (Risk)
- Deception: Murder in Hong Kong
- Set
- Decrypto
These games have more complicated rules that will take some time to explain to new players.
- Secret Hitler or Secret Hitler
- Dominion.games
- The Iron Throne or Gemp LotR (Lord of the Rings Living Card Game)
- Colonist or Catan Universe (Settlers of Catan)
- The Crucible (Keyforge)
- 18xx or Board 18
- Play Agricola
- Roll20 (Dungeons & Dragons)
- Outpost 18
- Swords and Ravens (Game of Thrones Board Game)
- Online Terra Mystica
- Brass
- Diplomacy or Backstabbr
- Innovation
- Bridge
- Citadels of Achiles
- Azul
- Acquire
- Advanced Civilization
- Shadow Hunters
- Rojo (Azul)
- Chess with video chat or Chess.com
- Online Go Server
- Codenames Green (Cooperative version of codenames)
- Jinteki (Android: Netrunner)
- 7 Wonders Duel
- DailyGammon (Backgammon)
- Battleship
- Inhuman Conditions
- Jikogu (Legend of the Five Rings Living Card Game)
- Onitama
- Tak
- Yahtzee
- Protobowl
- QuizWitz
- Virtual Pub Quiz (create or play pub quizzes)
To adapt these games for remote play:
- use a camera to share publicly visible information (or hidden information before the game starts)
- the person with the camera can move pieces on behalf of the other players and read out information
- you can also share pictures/scans of things players need to read as part of the game in advance
- players may need to keep track of additional information themselves (e.g. on paper)
- you can label grids to make it easier for remote players to call out where they want to play
- Pandemic (Co-op)
- Santorini (rules)
- Welcome To...
- Seikatsu
- Shobu
- Love Letter
- Fog of Love
- Bring Your Own Book
- On Tour
- Ganz Schön Clever
- Karuba
- Camel Up
- Trails of Tucana
- Legacy of Dragonholt
- Concept
- Mysterium
- Coloretto
- Hive
- Chronicles of Crime
- Longhorn
- Incan Gold/Diamant
- Pluckin' Pairs
- Codenames
- Just One
- Onitama
- Wavelength
- Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale
- Corinth
- Deep Sea Adventure
- Azul
- Unmatched
- Magic: The Gathering (with Spell Table)
- Love Letter: Sender
- Dixit
- Bullfrogs
- Canvas (rules)
- Crypt (rules)
- Afternover (rules)
- Sinners
- Miyav
- RAMO
- Merkez
- KÖY
- Buddha
- Corinth
- Battle for Moscow
- The Fantasy Trip: Melee
- Rolling Realms
- Food Fighters (rules)
- Cards Against Humanity Family Edition
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