My family loves board games – during holidays, we sit down and play two or three different ones every night.

Even though we’re now self-isolating separately (them in the States, me in the UK) during this Coronavirus pandemic, we’re still organizing game nights.

In this list, I rounded up some of the best board games that you can play over video chat (i.e. Skype, Google Hangouts, Zoom, Facetime, etc.) with your family and friends.

Trivia games

Trivia games are my jam, and luckily for me, they’re also some of the easiest board games to play on video calls. I ordered the ones below from my favorite to my least favorite.

Smartass

This trivia game gives three categories: who, what and where. The first player rolls a dice to see which category to read from, and grabs a card from that category.

They then read the clues on the card to the other players (clues go from harder to easier).

The other players each get one guess per card at the answer. They’re allowed to answer at any time, so if they think they have the answer after the first clue, go ahead and shout it out! But if you’re wrong, you have to be silent the rest of that round. 

The goal is to be the first person to guess the answer. If you get it right, you move forward on the board.

How to play Smartass on video chat

One person will control the board and cards and move players’ pieces forward. For reading the clues, the person with the cards can either take a picture of it and send it to the respective reader, or you nominate the person with the board to always be the reader.

Normally, you blurt out the answer as soon as you think you know it. On video chat, raising your hand when you think you know it is more effective. As soon as someone raises their hand, they’re allowed to give their answer. This keeps audio issues or delays from causing “I said it first!” “NO, I said it first!” arguments.

 

Smartish

Another great trivia game, teams or players choose four tiles that have categories listed on them. The categories include topics like “Science”, “Sports & Games”, “Art & Design”, “Communities”, and loads more (you have about 25 tile options).

You put your four category tiles in order from your least to most favorite, and then you go around and answer questions related to that category, and the other teams have the opportunity to steal.

Each round, you choose new tiles, so it keeps questions fresh.

How to play Smartish on video chat

While helpful if two groups have the game, you can get away with just one. Either way, one person controls the board and chooses tiles for all the teams. Each team can dictate the order in which they want their tiles. 

The person with the board and cards is also the reader for the other teams. When it comes to their turn, they can send a pic of the card to another team, or if a second group owns the game, they can use their own set of cards to read out. 

If a team wants to steal, instead of shouting it out, they have to raise their hand so the group can see they’re stealing.

 

Pub quiz

A good ol’ fashioned pub quiz is simple to orchestrate on a video call. You can buy an official game set (link below) or have one of your more clever friends or family members create a general trivia quiz of their own!

How to do a pub quiz over video chat

The creator of the quiz or a designated reader reads out the trivia questions to all the other players, who write their own answers on a sheet of paper in front of them.

At the end of each round, everyone will tally their own scores (so hopefully your crew is an honest one!) and report them to the group. The team or player with the most points at the end, wins!

 

Wikipedia: The Game About Everything

What better trivia game than one based on the ultimate internet source of answers?

Using various topics drawn from Wikipedia, each card in this game has three different sections. 

The first section asks players to answer three standard trivia questions. The second involves ordering several topics by which gets the most pageviews on Wikipedia. The third and final section requires players to complete a list based on a random topic and try to match their answers to those of the card’s reader (ex: List 5 rock bands with “The” in their name).

If you have members of your group who aren’t keen on trivia, this is a great board game option!

Because guessing pageviews and trying to match five random things to the reader’s list don’t require general trivia knowledge, the Wikipedia game is more accessible to those without a bank of random facts in their brains.

How to play the Wikipedia Game over video chat

Similar to all others in this list, you’ll either need one person to commit to being the reader, or have a way of sharing images of the cards without the picture-taker seeing the answers.

As far as scoring, you normally gain tiles for each correct answer, but over a video chat call, you can each keep your own scores (one right answer = one point).

 

Linkee

On each card of this trivia game are four clues. The answers to these four clues are related in some way (you might say they’re “linked”). 

One person reads out the four clues, and each player silently writes what they think the answers are to each of them. As soon as they’ve figured out the link between the answers, they shout, “LINKEE!” and are given one chance to give the link. 

If they’re incorrect, they’re out for that round. Everyone gets one chance to guess the link. The first player to get it right gets to keep that card.

How to play Linkee over video chat

The owner of the game either gets to be the reader permanently, or at the beginning of the game they can take pictures of several cards (being careful not to look at answers) and send them to other players, so they can take turns reading. 

When someone thinks they know the link, they should raise their hand so the other players can see it. The first person to raise their hand (in the event of close calls) gets to give their answer first. If it’s incorrect, the second person to raise their hand has to give an answer (even if it was going to be the same guess as the first person).

At the beginning of the game, decide how many rounds you want to play or if you want to go until someone gets a predetermined number of cards. The game ends when you reach that number of rounds, or someone gets enough right answers.

 

The Logo Game

The Logo Game tests your knowledge of the thousands of logos we see everyday – from car brands to the “Golden Arches” to exercise equipment. 

Players move around a board, landing on different colored spaces. Each color represents a certain question on one of the cards. 

It’s straightforward and great for those who know a lot about brands and logos (any marketers out there will probably love this one). It’s not so great for young kids or teenagers, however, as many cards include brands they’ll never have seen in their lifetimes.

How to play The Logo Game over video chat

The person with the playing board is in control of the game. They will move other players’ pieces around the board, and be the primary reader. 

Then, it really just comes down to making sure everyone on the chat can see the logos on the cards. 

 

Trivial Pursuit

An absolute classic, Trivial Pursuit involves players attempting to correctly answer questions from six different categories: Geography, Entertainment, History, Arts & Literature, Science & Nature, and Sports & Leisure.

Player 1 rolls a dice to determine where they want to move on the board (each space correlates to a category). Whatever they land on, another player reads the corresponding question from that category to them. If they get it right, they get a colored token for that category and get to roll and answer again.

As soon as they get a question wrong, play moves on to the next person. The first one with a colored token from all six categories wins.

How to play Trivial Pursuit over video chat

The person who owns the Trivial Pursuit board automatically becomes the reader, and also controls the board pieces.

If each player has their own dice, they can roll it, otherwise the reader will roll for them, ask where they want to move, and then read the question relating to the space they land on. Scoring-wise, colored tokens can be “given” or players can just write which categories they’ve gotten right or still need. 

Dice games

If everyone in your group can managed to round up at least six dice, you can spend hours playing these dice games.

Farkle

The rules of Farkle are simple: roll dice to gain various point values. 

The first person rolls six dice to start their turn. With each roll, they can keep dice based on scoring values (they must hold onto at least one dice). They can continue rolling the other dice as long as they continue scoring with and keeping at least one of the rolled dice.

If they roll and score no points in their roll, it’s a “Farkle” and they get 0 for that turn. Then play moves on to the second person.

You can see a more complete set of rules here, or you can buy the official Farkle set which comes with its own dice and rules from Amazon (link below).

How to play Farkle over video chat

Each person will need to secure six dice and a cup to shake them in. Then, you simply choose an order, and each person rolls their six in turn, dictating to the group what they’ve rolled and set aside for points.

 

Perudo (also known as Liar’s Dice)

In this simple dice game, players try to dupe each other into losing their dice by betting on how many of any number has been rolled.

All players start with five dice. They shake their dice, and hide their roll from the other players (usually by keeping it covered with the cup they use to shake them). They then go around in a circle betting on how many of any given number have been rolled among all players.

When betting, you have to constantly raise the bet either by the number being called (so, the first person may say “three 4’s!” and the next may say “three 5’s!”) or by the quantity (so, if someone then says “three 6’s!”, the next player has no choice but to say at least “four ___’s!”… they can choose the number).

This keeps the bet moving up, and forces someone to eventually call the person ahead of them’s bluff by saying “Perudo!”. 

When this is said, all players reveal their dice, and you see if the bet was correct. So, if a player said “seven 3’s” and there are only six 3’s, they lose one of their dice. If seven or more 3’s are revealed, the player who called the bluff by saying “Perudo” loses a dice. 

It’s also worthwhile to note that in this game, 1’s are wild and can act as any other number. 

How to play Perudo over video chat

Each player needs five dice and a cup for shaking them in. It’s helpful if one group owns the actual Perudo game (link below) and therefore has an official rule book.

Choose an order to go in and begin your betting, always keeping that same order.

When a bluff is called, take turns announcing how many of the needed number you have, to determine who loses a dice.

 

Yahtzee

The granddaddy of dice games, Yahtzee is an easy game to play over Zoom or Google Hangouts.

The goal of Yahtzee is to roll various combinations of numbers (for instance, a “Full House” is two of one number and three of another). Each player gets three rolls per turn.

The first player to make all 13 combos wins. Find the full online set of rules and a scorecard here.

How to play Yahtzee over video chat

Every group needs to secure five dice to begin the game. Then, it’s a simple case of going around in order and taking your turn of three rolls. 

You can each print out a scorecard and keep your own score, or if one person already owns the game and wants to keep score for everyone, that works as well.

 

Classic games

Some age-old classics adapt perfectly to modern video chat.

Charades

All you need to play Charades over video chat are a bit of imagination, a good internet connection, and some mildly decent miming skills. 

You can find websites that will randomly generate items to act out, so set up is easy, and anyone with a phone or laptop can play. Then, simply take turns acting out various films, books, plays, TV shows, phrases, or whatever you want! 

 

Battleship

A great one for two players, you’ll both need to own the game to play Battleship over video chat. It’ll be like you’re in the same room (almost) as you attempt to sink each other’s ships.

You can buy this classic game on Amazon.

 

Puzzles

While you can’t obviously work together to complete one puzzle, you can still buy the same one and then each complete it while simply chatting on the phone.

For a competitive twist, buy a smaller puzzle and race to see who can complete it first.

 

Monopoly

If you really need to kill some quarantine time, bring out the longest board game ever invented (just a guess-timate). Also, make sure everyone’s got plenty of phone battery.

The downside is that one party will need to control pretty much everything, from moving the pieces around the board to counting out people’s money and properties. If you’re Monopoly diehards, it’s doable. If not, please refer to the rest of this list.

 

Word games

After trivia games, word games are my go-to. If you’re nerdy like me, these word games are easy to play over Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, or whatever video chat service you’re using.

Scattergories

To play, take a list from the card pack. This has 13 different topics listed on it, from “things that are red” to “boy’s names” to “types of fruit”. 

Each player numbers their piece of paper 1-13. Then, you roll a dice that has 20 common letters of the alphabet on it. 

Using whatever letter appears, players come up with items for each topic on the list beginning with that letter. So from my example, if the letter rolled was “C”, I’d write “Car“ for things that are red, “Connor” for boy’s names, and “Cherry” for fruit. 

Each player fills in as many of the topics as they can, until time is up.

You read through your answers. Anytime more than one person has the same answer, neither gets points for it (so if someone else had also written “cherry”, we both cross it off, but if I’m the only one with “Connor”, I get one point). 

Repeat for as many rounds as you like!

You can find the rules online here.

How to play Scattergories on video chat

Easy to set up and play, everyone involved simply needs a piece of paper and a pen. One group needs to own the official Scattergories game, which comes with a set of cards with lists on them, as well as a timer (though a phone timer would work just as well).

 

Codenames

This strategy game requires two teams to battle by connecting seemingly random words with a single clue. The goal is to have your team guess all the words for their side first, without hitting the “assassin” (aka a random word on the table that causes you to automatically lose).

The rules to Codenames are slightly complex, so make sure that you read them thoroughly before starting.

How to play Codenames on video chat

One group needs to own the game for this one. You can find it on Amazon with the link below. 

Lay out the word cards into a 5 x 5 grid.

At the very beginning, take photos of at least 10 of the square layout cards. Send them via text to the other group to use at a later time. 

Separate into two teams (red and blue). It’s usually best if people in the same room are on two different teams (for ease of clue giving). 

Point the camera at the word cards on the table, taking care to not show the layout card to the teammates who are guessing.

Once that is decided, one clue-giver from each team gives a clue to their teammates. Use the layout card to determine which words they need to give clues for (only the clue-givers look at the layout card).

If the layout card shows that the red team has the words “dinosaur” and “park” and “science”, they could give the clue “Jurassic, three” to their teammates, which means that three cards are related to the clue “Jurassic”. 

Their teammates then get to agree on their guesses. The first team to guess all their cards correctly and avoid hitting one forbidden “assassin” word (indicated on the layout card) wins.

 

Boggle

One of my favorite word games, Boggle is straightforward and easy to learn. 

You shake a set of 16 dice into a 4 x 4 square (a special box comes with the game when you buy it). Each side of these 16 dice have one letter of the alphabet on them. 

As soon as the dice have settled into place, turn over the provided timer. Each player then privately writes down as many words as they can make from the letters.

Words can be made from any letters that are touching, either along their sides or at their corners. You just can’t use the same letter twice in any one word. 

When the time is up, players read the words they have discovered. If more than one player has the same word, they must be crossed out and don’t count toward the player’s points. 

Any word that no one else has counts as one point. 

How to play Boggle on video chat

On video chat, you’ll simply need one person to own the game, and then they can point their camera top-down at the letters once they’re settled in the 4 x 4 shape.

 

Online games 

While not technically board games, I included some online apps for the heck of it.

Tabletop Simulator

A reader gave the super helpful tip to check out Tabletop Simulator. Friends and family download it from Steam and then everyone can play tons of different board games! This way, you can all see the board, and you can even flip it off the “table” if you’re losing.

Words with Friends

Basically an online Scrabble, you can challenge friends to a game and use the chat box beside it to talk smack as you play.

Catan

Strategy games are a hard one to play over video chat unless they have a specific app. Settlers of Catan fans are in luck, and can take over the word via the Catan app against friends or family. Here’s how one group did it over Zoom.

Chess & checkers

Want to challenge someone to a one-on-one game? Apps for chess and checkers abound. Choose a free one and get strategizing.

What games am I missing that you’ve played over video chat? I’d love to add them to this list, so please drop them in a comment for me.

Happy gaming, everyone!