The Best Games You Can Easily Play Over Video Chat
Is anyone else going crazy? Because I have been told it isn’t just the extroverts. So I know I am not the only one feeling a little nutty on “day too many” of quaritine.
Thank goodness for video chat. In these days of social distancing, it has become a lifesaver.
Video chat gives all of us the opportunity to enjoy a girl’s “night out”, participate in our book club discussion, and even play games with friends.
Yep, with a little creativity, we thought of plenty of games (even favorite board and card games) that we can play with friend through video chat.
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Best Games to Play Over Video Chat
You and your friends don’t have to give up game playing during quarintine. And you can help your kids gather with their friends online to enjoy laughter and games!
Classic Games Over Video Chat
There are so many classic games that don’t require a board, dice, or cards. These games are perfect to play online with friends and they don’t require anyone to own a game.
- Charades – Use this online charades idea generator to come up with topics you can act out.
- 20 Questions
- Last Letter – Pick a topic (food, movies, songs) and one person says a word on topic. The next person has to come up with a word in the same topic that starts with the last letter of the previously named word.
- Two Truths and a Lie
- Never Have I Ever – Everyone who has should stay in their screen while those who haven’t, should duck out.
- GHOST – The first person begins the game by stating a letter. The next person adds to the word with a second letter. Play continues around the circle as each person adds an additional letter. The goal is to add a letter WITHOUT spelling a word though you MUST have a word in mind. NOTE: We do not count three letter words, but that is up to you! (read more on #2 on Playing with Language)
- Make a Word – Choose a long word and everyone should make as many words as possible in 30-60 seconds using letters from the initial word.
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More Games With Video Chat
Extreme Spoons
In this version of the classic spoons game, everyone has their own spoon and their own deck of cards. Everyone should shuffle their own deck and deal themselves four cards. The goal is to get a four of a kind in your hand.
When the game begins, players should take the top card from their own deck and either keep or discard it. If they keep it, they should discard a different card so only four remain in their hand.
Players continue in this manner until they have a four of a kind. Then they take the spoon next to them and hold it up to their nose so other players can see it via video chat (when they look up). As soon as someone gets a four of a kind OR notices someone else holding a spoon, they should grab their spoon. The last person to grab a spoon receives a letter in the word S-P-O-O-N. The first person to spell S-P-O-O-N is the loser.
Yahtzee
This one is easy to play in the traditional manner. Each player will require 5 dice and their own score card. If your friends don’t own Yahtzee, they can print a scoresheet online.
Players should show their dice rolls using video chat so everyone can see what they are doing. Otherwise, play in the traditional manner.
Battleship
To play Battleship via videochat, both players will have to own this game to play together via video chat. Each person should set up their own board and proceed to play as normal.
Chess
Playing chess via video chat will require excellent communication skills. Players will both need their own chess board.
Both players will have to record every move on their own gameboard so each person has to communicate their move very clearly. This is easier on boards that have the grid labeled with numbers and letters. But even without a labeled grid, you can show your board to communicate your move.
Guess Who
Guess Who is another game played very easily through video chat if both players own the game. You will leave yourself open to the possiblity that you both selected the same person at the start, so don’t flip down your character at the start of the game.
Scattergories
Scattergories is a game that only one person needs to own for the whole group to play. If other players don’t own the game, you will have to text photos of the cattegories for them to use during play.
The game owner will have to roll the die, announce the letter, and start the timer for each round. After that, game proceeds as normal.
Mastermind
Mastermind is a game that you can play even if just one person owns it. It will just be a little tricky. If both people own it, you can play as usual but record the game on both boards.
If only one person owns it, the owner will always have to make the code and the other player will always have to try to crack it. The person who owns the game will have to record the other players guess and make sure the board
UNLESS, the player without the game uses the same 6 colors in colored pencils to make a secret code on paper. Then guesses and responses can be recorded by the player who owns the board.
QUIXX
Quixx is another game you can play online if both households own the game. The only modification you will need to be aware of it that you will have to call out the sum of the white dice every round to make sure everyone has the opporunity to use it.
Bring Your Own Book
Bring Your Own Book is a game the only requires each player to have their own book. The only difference between playing in person and via video chat is that only one person (the game owner) can read the categories and keep time. In this case, everyone should vote for a winner each round.
Professor Noggin Trivia Cards
Professor Noggin Trivia Cards requires at least two participants who own the trivia cards unless one person volunteers to always read the questions while other players take turns answering.
If more than one player owns the cards, they can take turn asking questions for the other players. Players will need their own die to roll for their question and paper/pencil to keep track of the cards they answer correctly.
Otherwise, one person can ask all of the questions to the other players. This is a great part for a parent to play.
Tenzi
Tenzi is easy to play in a group with video chat as long as everyone can gather 10 dice. When the time begins, everyone rolls their dice and continues to roll specific die until they have the same number on all 10 die. And there are TONS of variations to the Tenzi goal each time.
24 Math Game
The 24 Math Game is easy to play with video chat. Simply hold the card up to the screen and see who can make 24 first.
Ready for More?
Don’t miss Jessica’s ready to go printable pack of games you can play over video chat.
What games have you played with friends over FaceTime or some for of video chat?
For More Games and Resources, Head to My Amazon Storefront Where Collections of Ideas Abound!
She believes that creativity, laughter, and fun are the backbone for engaging and inspiring homeschools. You can find her encouragement and tips on this blog, Mary Hanna Wilson.
She is an enneagram 7 and an extrovert. She enjoys traveling, tea (iced or hot), good conversations, and books. You can connect with her on Instagram and Facebook.
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I don’t know if I understood Ghost correctly but I’ll be trying that game today.
We played Ghost in this way:
We had 5 participants. Every child provided a random letter and we wrote them all down on our sheets of papers. We did 4 rounds, so we had a 20 letter sequence. Once that was done, we had 2 minutes to circle words that appeared in the sequence.
We added a few extra rules though:
1 – Words can be forward or backwards (ex: WEF -> FEW)
2 – Words can be in English or in French
3 – We could skip a single letter in the sequence (ex: F E H W -> FEW)