Virtual Game Ideas for online meetings
Game nights, trivia nights, karaoke nights, all the nights. You gather with all your friends or co-workers, you laugh about the over-competitive (and kind of scary) individuals, and you pretend you do not care about the fact that you are losing when you really do care. Sound familiar? The great thing about the world shifting to the digital space is that almost all your favorite games can be found online, or a virtual version of it has been adapted.
However, these ideas are not exclusive to the workplace. Sure, they can help break up the monotony of daily Zoom meetings, but they can also be something to do outside of work hours with colleagues or friends just for the sake of it, to have fun, laugh, and enjoy yourself. While the world is slowly returning to normal (?), many may have to or may choose to still practice social distancing and limit their in-person interactions. So, why not suggest a game night for your next Zoom reunion?
Set up your Zoom call, ensure all mics and cameras are on so you can see and hear everyone’s reactions and go over some ground rules, we do not all play the same games in the same way. The internet is full of options, and there truly is something for every type of friend group. To make this list somewhat of a tidy mess, the game ideas fall under the following categories: words, guessing, party games, and lastly – social deduction.
Word Games
With so many enthusiasts of the English language, word games are a popular choice. For a classic game of Scrabble, ScrabbleGO is available on the App Store and Google Play, and ScrabbleGO on Facebook. If Facebook is your chosen method, you can also play Words with Friends – a little different than the traditional Scrabble but equally as fun. Just go over the rules as the board layout, letters per game, and differences in point value exist. Test them both out and see which you and your friends like best!
Many of us played Categories as children. You know, the one where you get a piece of paper and must write a name, an animal, a place, etc beginning with the chosen letter? Well, you can play this online too! While you can play the traditional way with pen and paper and a nice little grid, an alternative may be Scattegories – you can choose a select number of categories such as U.S cities, boy names, or even sports teams – or let the game choose the categories for you. It is a lot of fun and great for your vocabulary too!
Guessing
What is it about screaming your guess that gets people so riled up? Charades and Pictionary are some party classics – you are assigned a partner, you try and figure out what is it that your partner is trying to communicate and you hope your partner is eloquent enough so you can win. There are some very useful and handy Word Generators available online that can make your games that much easier with specific categories for Charades and Pictionary!
There are of course virtual alternatives. There are platforms where you can play virtually such as Drawize or Skribblwhere you can create private parties and invite your friends. The live chat is a great addition as it allows you to not only announce your guesses but comment on each other’s drawings! If you have ever played Taboo, where you must describe something without using the word there is also Taboo Online which even comes with a virtual scoreboard to keep track of who’s winning.
Party Games
Cards Against Humanity is a go-to party game. Who can make the boldest sentence? Will they pick your card? While Cards Against Humanity does not have an official online version, there are some options to get the same feel virtually. All Bad Cards is a great alternative that follows a very similar game structure (and some of the same risqué and offensive suggestions) as CAH. If you are however looking for a more work-appropriate version, there is also the family-friendly PG version Not All Bad Cards.
How about the classic UNO? Nothing sets people off quite like being handed a +4 Card after yelling UNO. Well, HouseParty now allows you to play online too with up to 7 friends, you must use the HouseParty app however, no Zoom meeting is available for this one!
Remember Heads Up? Heads Up! is such a fun way to get the team excited and requires minimal work. Since this one is already an app, it is very easy to customize to be a virtual game. Get everyone to download the Heads Up! App and the person doing the guessing can simply be hidden while you show everyone else the answer. Heads Up! Is a party favorite as people are wound up to say some pretty funny things to entice the correct answer, what is not to love?
Social Deduction
All the above are classic game ideas, Scrabble, Pictionary, and even UNO. But what if you wanted to change things up? There is a category called social deduction, all about catching out the infiltrated one in the room. So, why not do it virtually too? One option is Mafia, where different members are assigned the role of Mafia or Town people/Villagers and must navigate through night/day – it is simple: the town must work to figure out who the Mafia is and eliminate them before the Mafia commits one of their night-time murders. It can get a little intense, so beware!
A slightly more subtle version of this is Spyfall – the premise is as follows: you are an FBI detective looking to find the enemy spy who infiltrated your department. There is questioning and answering to try to find the spy and their location – the game ends when either the group indicts the correct player, there are spy guesses, or the clock runs out. If it does, just start over! The final winner is the one with the most points that tally up from guessing correctly/not being caught for being the spy.
The possibilities are endless – there really is something to cater to every group/team. Whether you want to sit back and laugh at each other's artistic attempts or solve a mystery together, it is the act of playing together that will build your team up and boost morale. What else could you want?
ABOUT KRAFTYLAB
KraftyLab is a leading corporate team building company providing live and online team games across the US & Canada. Our focus is on providing fun and engaging activities wherever your team may be!
If you are looking for hosted games for your next virtual event, KraftyLab offers classic games like Team Trivia and Scavenger Hunt, as well as non-traditional, but fun virtual game like Music Bingo, Murder Mystery.
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