This social isolation is taking its toll on people. Work can get you down, especially since it is happening in your own home environment and you have nowhere else to go. That is why we have curated a list of games that you can play with your mates over a Zoom meeting.

Zoom does not have native support for third-party games like Houseparty and Bunch, but most of these games just require an app and your sense of humor! So, get your pals up on a group video call via a Zoom meeting and hit the game running!

Zoom will limit the calls to 40 minutes under the free version but if you know us, you would know we know how to crack and bypass the limit.

Ludo

Ok, this game can get pretty competitive. Try and get all 4 of your markers home safe and sound before your opponents do. Kill off any opponents in your way, but be sure to stay in the safe zone when they are near.

Number of players: 2 to 4

Set up:

Step 1: Have everyone download the Ludo King app from the app store and create an account. You can sign in with Facebook, to import all your contacts from your friendslist.

Step 2: Create a game and add your friends by their username.

Download: Ludo King

Rules:

  • Roll the dice to start the game. You can only move a pawn out of your home by rolling a 6.
  • Once you get a 6 you can move 1 pawn out and roll again.
  • The aim of the game is to get all your pawns to your centre home before your opponents.
  • If you land on another players pawn, you send them back home. (they must roll a 6 to get the pawn out)
  • If you land on any of the 8 safe spots on the board, you cannot be killed.
  • Double sixes roll again.

Connect 4

Use your skill and planning to try and get 4 of your tokens in a line. This game takes a bit of strategy to win. Thwart your opponent’s moves, while trying to build your own line. Papergames.io lets you create your own private room and play with your friends.

Number of players: 2

Set up:

Step 1: Head over to papergames.io and create an account.

Step 2: Select the ‘Play with a friend’ option. Now copy the invite link, and send it to your friends Don’t forget to send them the ‘secret code’ to get in as well.

Rules: 

  • One player places one token per turn.
  • The tokens fall from the top of the board and stack up.
  • The first player to get 4 of their token in a row wins. The rows can be vertical, horizontal or even diagonal.

Hangman

This is a fun guessing game that translates very neatly to a Zoom video call. Think up the name of a movie and have the other players guess what it is, one letter at a time. If they cannot guess it by the time you have drawn your hangman, they lose!

Number of players: 2 (or play as 2 teams)

Set up:

Step1: Host/ join a zoom call and share the Zoom Whiteboard.

Step 2: If you don’t feel like thinking up your own movie names, go ahead and use a title generator.

Rules:

  • Once you have your movie ready, write out the name of the movie only using blanks. (they have to be filled up by letters)
  • The opponent guesses one alphabet at a time. If the letter is a part of the name, you add it to its corresponding blank.
  • If the letter does not belong to the name, you must start to draw a hangman, one part at a time in 6 stages. (head, body, left leg, right leg, left hand, right hand). Each time the opponent guesses a wrong letter, you draw a part of the hangman, till the drawing is complete.

Cluedo

Cluedo is a classic mystery game that has players searching for clues to a gruesome murder. You can team up, or play individually.  This game will test your logical and deduction powers. Do you have what it take to be a detective?

Number of players: 2 to 6

Set up:

Step 1: Have all the players download the Cluedo game on Steam.

Step 2: Launch the game and invite your friends from the ‘Friends’ tab.

Rules:

  • Start by rolling the dice, and moving your player. Players can move forward, backward, and sideways; but not horizontally.
  • Each player must have a Room, weapon, and suspect card in their hand. Through the process of deduction, eliminate objects and suspects.
  • As a player enters a room, they make a guess about the suspect. For example, Colonel Mustard, in the kitchen, with an axe.
  • The player to the left must try and disprove the guess by producing any one of the cards mentioned. If they cannot do this, the next player to their left tries.
  • If you find this too confusing to follow, check out this wiki article on How to play Cluedo

Monopoly

This old game has people fighting over property and taxes. We are going to warn you right now, that monopoly is a LONG game. But at the same time, it is super fun. Buy up property on the board, to build houses and hotels in order to have other players pay you rent. But try and stay out of jail if you can.

Number of players: 2 to 6

Set up:

Step 1: Visit the Rento website, and scroll to the bottom. Here you will find different download options for different consoles. Or simply click on the corresponding links below:

Step 2: Select Play online > Create Room. Here you can choose the number of players as well as other settings for the game.

Step 3: Once the room is created, click the Invite Friends tab at the bottom to send invites via Whatsapp. Your friends simply have to click on the link to get connected to your room.

Rules:

  • Each player selects a token to represent themselves on the board.
  • Each player rolls the dice. The player with the highest number starts the game. The rest of the players follow in a clockwise direction.
  • When a player lands on a property, they may choose to purchase it. Each property has a different market value. Once purchased, any player that lands on another players’ property must pay them the corresponding rent.
  • If a player lands on a community chest or chance slot, they must draw the respective card.
  • If a player lands in jail, they must miss a turn.
  • Every time a player passes GO, they must collect $200 from the bank.
  • The aim of the game is to bankrupt all the other players. The winner is the last person standing.

Note: If all the players have the board game, there is a way to play Monopoly virtually without an app. Check out our link to learn how.

► How to play Monopoly on Zoom and online

Battleship

Battleship is a game of guessing where each player tries to sink the other player’s ships. Since the players cannot see each other’s boards, they must make wild guesses as to where they think the opponents’ ships may be placed. Sink all your opponents’ ships, before they sink yours to win the game.

Number of players: 2

Set up:

Step 1: Head over to papergames.io and create an account.

Step 2: Select the ‘Play with a friend’ option. Now copy the invite link, and send it to your friends Don’t forget to send them the ‘secret code’ to get in as well.

Rules:

  • Each player has 5 ships and each ship occupies a certain number of blocks: 1 ship of 5 blocks, 1 ship of 4 blocks, 2 ship of 3 blocks, 1 ship of 2 blocks.
  • The objective of the game is to guess where the opponents’ ships are placed.
  • The winner is the player that sinks all the opponents’ ships first.

Remote insensitivity (Cards against humanity)

If you’ve played this game before, you’re definitely waiting to play it again! Get out your raunchy jokes and out of character quotes to see who has the funniest answer!

Number of players: No limit

Set up:

Step 1: Head over to the Remote Insensitivity website.

Step 2: Click Start Game and copy the room link provided on the next page.

Step 3: Send the room link to your friends over any messaging app. (playingcards.io does not have a chat option yet.)

Step 4: Launch your Zoom video chat and start the game!

Rules:

  • Distribute the deck of cards giving 10 to each player.
  • Each player’s cards are only visible to them on their deck.
  • The round leader draws a question card, and all the players chose a response card that they think is the wittiest.
  • The winner is the player who is chosen by the leader as having the funniest response.

Pictionary

This is a classic night game. Hilarity ensues as people mistake your terrible drawing of a bird for a squished tomato. Don’t forget that you can use the Zoom whiteboard!

Number of players: No limit

Set up:

Step 1: Launch your Zoom meeting and invite your friends.

Step 2: Use a random word generator to select a word to draw.

Step 3: Once all the players have joined, use Zoom’s Share screen option located at the bottom of the screen and select Whiteboard to bring up a drawing space. (Note: only one user at a time can share their screen, so this would be a good time to decide who the ‘denner’ is.)

Step 4: You can either use the inbuilt stopwatch feature on your computer or designate a player to keep time on their phone.

Rules:

  • Select a player to start off the game. Only the person drawing will share their screen.
  • Set a time limit; it could be 30 seconds, 1 minute, whatever everyone decides on.
  • Once the timer starts, the player has to draw the randomly selected word as accurately as they can on the whiteboard so that the others can guess what it is.
  • Alternatively, players can break off into groups. One team selects a word that the other team’s denner has to draw. If the denners team guesses the word within the time limit they get a point!

Heads up!

This game involves a lot of shouting over each other in an attempt to make the person guess what’s on their head. The more players the more chaos!

Number of players: No limit

Set up:

Step 1: Have the players download the Heads up! game on their phones.

Step 2: Once all the players have joined your Zoom meeting, decide who is going to start off the game.

Rules:

  • The aim of the game is to try and make the ‘denner’ guess the word displayed on their forehead.
  • The denner starts the game and holds up the phone to their forehead, screen facing out. The rest of the participants shout out clues to help them guess the word before the timer runs out.
  • Depending on how many words the denner guesses, they get corresponding points.
  • The winner of the round is the person who guessed the most number of words.

Password

You get one shot per round to explain to your teammate what the password is. And the catch? You can only use one word!

Number of players: No limit (even number of players)

Set up:

Step 1: Launch your Zoom meeting and invite your friends.

Step 2: Have all players partner up to form teams of 2. Each group has a player A and player B.

Step 3: All player A’s (only) form a text chain.

Rules:

  • Use a random word generator to pick a password. The password is posted on the Player A’s text chain.
  • All the player B’s in the teams have to guess the password, and all the player A’s have to give their teammate a clue using only one word.
  • Decide the order in which the teams will play.

Example:

Let’s assume the password is ‘shrimp’. To start a game, Team 1’s player A says to their partner (Team 1 player B), let’s say: “shellfish”. Team 1’s player B guesses: “crab”?. Now we know that that’s a wrong answer (the correct answer is shrimp, remember?). So, now it’s the turn of  another team, let’s say Team 2.

Now, Team 2 player A says to their partner (Team 2 player B): “sushi”. Player B of the Team 2, let’s suppose, answers: “tuna”? . Again, wrong. And on it goes till a teammate guesses the right password.

Killer

How good is your poker face? Can you trick all your friends into thinking that you aren’t the killer in the group? Also, can you pass it off on someone else!?

Number of players: No limit, but ideally 5 to 8.

Set up: No set up required. Simply launch your Zoom meeting and invite your friends.

Rules:

  • Choose a player to be the judge. The judge keeps time and gets to choose who the Killer is.
  • The judge privately messages one player letting them know that they are the Killer.
  • Each player (including the Killer) has to give a 10-second speech as to why they are NOT the Killer. Example: “I love everyone, and I have 2 dogs! I can’t be the killer!”
  • Once everyone has spoken, the judge takes a vote on who the group thinks the Killer actually is. The person with the most votes gets eliminated, and the next round begins.
  • Once the Killer gets eliminated, the judge stops the game. The Killer scores points depending on how many people they had eliminated.

Scrabble

This one is for the word geeks out there. Maybe you’re not looking for a loud party game? Just want to sit back, relax, and chat with a bestie, while having this game going on in the background? Hey, we get it!

Number of players: 2

Set up:

Step 1: Both players must install the Scrabble Go game on their phones.

Step 2: Enter the game and add the other player either through Facebook, or their mobile number (if they provided it to sign-in).

Rules:

  • Each player is given 7 letters to make a word with.
  • You must make a word that intersects with another word on the board.
  • Words can only be made in the vertical or horizontal direction. (Not diagonal or backward.)
  • Each letter has a numerical value and a word is the sum of those values.
  • The player with the highest score wins.

Charades

You probably remember this one from your childhood family vacations. Lots of animated yelling to try and guess the phrase that is being acted out. Keeps everyone on the call engaged!

Number of players: No limit

Set up:

Step 1: Divide the players into 2 groups.

Step 2: Use this site to generate a movie title/phrase to act out.

Rules:

  • One player from each team is chosen to act out the idea. They have to get their own team to guess the movie/phrase.
  • The actor cannot use words, instead must rely on actions and expressions to convey their message.
  • To make it a little more competitive, go ahead and add a time limit!

Truth or dare

Now you can play this game with or without a drink, but let’s be honest, it’s WAY more fun with a chilled beer in your hand. Make other players reveal their secrets while hoping you don’t have to do an embarrassing dare.

Number of players: No limit

Set up:

Step 1: Open chilled beer.

Step 2: Launch your Zoom meeting and send the psycatgames link to your friends.

Step 3: Choose your category: Kids/Classic/Party/Hot.

Rules:

  • Decide the order in which players will take turns beforehand.
  • Each player has to choose either to tell the truth or to do a dare.
  • If the player refuses their turn, they must drink!

Meld mind

This is a fun one. How in-sync are you with your friends?  Can you and your partner say the same word at the same time? This is a word association game.

Number of players: 6 to 8

Set up: No set up required. Simply launch your Zoom meeting and invite your friends.

Rules:

  • You basically have to go “around the room”. The first player looks to the player on their “right” and counts down from 3. Both players say a random word at the same time.
  • The second player now looks to the player on his/her right and counts down from 3. Both these players now say a word that the two previous words made them think of. And on it goes.
  • The game ends when a pair of players say the same word together. You’ve found your word-mate!

Fibbage

Can you guess who is lying and who isn’t? Try and guess the right answer, while avoiding your friends’ fibs!

Number of players: 2 to 8

Set up:

Step 1: Player 1 needs to install the Fibbage PC game, while the others can get the mobile version.

Step 2: Launch your Zoom meeting and invite your friends.

Step 3: Player 1 starts the game, and sends the room code to the rest of the players.

Step 4: The player with the PC version of the game must Share screen while the other players can log on using their phones and enter the room code.

Rules:

  • Player 1 selects a category, and a question pops up on the screen.
  • Each player has to type in an answer to the question. The aim is to trick the other players into clicking your answer.
  • The more players you trick the more points you get!

Most likely to

Fair warning, this one can get loud. Did you know that your friends think you are the most likely one to get eaten by a slug?

Number of players: No limit

Set up: No set up required. Simply launch your Zoom meeting and invite your friends.

Rules:

  • One player reads out questions starting with “who is most likely to…” using this website to complete the question.
  • All the players vote on who they think among the group is most likely to do the above-mentioned thing.
  • The player with the most votes has to take a big sip of their drink!

And that concludes our list of fun games for Zoom. Have you tried any of these? What are your favorites? Let us know in the comments below. And here’s hoping you’re not the one who is most likely to bark in public!