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.
| Platform | Type | Usability notes |
|---|---|---|
| Board Game Arena | Free to play (some games require the host to have a paid membership) | Starting a game is a bit unintuitive. |
| Mattle | Free to play | Iconography can be confusing on some games. |
| Happy Meeple | Free to play, with limits (you need in-game currency, but this is generated automatically at regular intervals) | Focuses on solo and 2 player games |
| Boiteajeux | Free to play | |
| Boardgame core | Free to play | |
| Super Duper Games | Free to play | Not recommended for real time play. |
| Netgames.io | Free to play | |
| Yucata | Free to play | |
| Boardgame core | Free to play | |
| BrettspielWelt | Free to play | |
| Free Board Games | Free to play | |
| Games by Email | Free to play | |
| BoardGamePlay | Free to play | |
| Aso Brain Games | Free to play | |
| Spiel by Web | Free to play | |
| Sloth Ninja | Free to play | |
| MabiWeb | Free to play | |
| WarGear | Free to play | |
| It's your turn | Free to play | |
| Board Games Online | Free to play | |
| Triqqy | Free to play | |
| Playoq | Free to play | |
| Trickster Cards | Free to play | |
| Games.horse | Free to play | |
| Vassal | Open source game engine | Requires a lot of setup |
| Tabletop simulator | Paid | Simulates game pieces, not rules. Controls are very fiddly. Supports VR headsets. |
| Tabletopia | Free to play | Simulates game pieces, not rules. Controls are a bit fiddly. |
| Deck of Cards | Free to play | Simulates a deck of cards without rules. |
| Playingcards.io | Free to play | Simulates a deck of cards without rules. Cards can be customised |
| Roll20 | Free to play | Simulates dice rolls, maps and character sheets for role playing games |
| Random Noun Generator | Free tool | |
| Board game clock | Free tool | |
| Google Slides (or Google Drawings) | Free collaboration tool | A low tech solution that can work if the game isn't available anywhere else. |
| Gidd.io | Free to play | Multiple Games like UNO, Yatzy, Categories and GeoGuess |
These games are easy to understand even if nobody has played before.
These games are best if at least one person knows the game already and can explain the rules.
- Protobowl
- QuizWitz
- Virtual Pub Quiz (create or play pub quizzes)
- Tabletop games that can be adapted for remote play
- Freeze-dried Game Pack - a collection of games that use common components and can be explained in less than 100 words
- Improv games for videoconferencing
- The Wiki Game
- Lies game
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