Orders to stay at home might hinder everyone from physically seeing each other. But these can never stop humankind’s drive to find ways to get in touch with loved ones and friends, albeit remotely. Video calls through different web and mobile-based applications are now becoming the norm to keep relationships alive and avoid going crazy from the monotony. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the nation’s health protection agency, also recommends connecting with others to manage stress and anxiety caused by the pandemic.
While talking about concerns and summarizing your day are great ways to cope during this uncertain time, they can grow old and boring after a while. You can only have so much to report when you’re stuck in the four corners of your house. Sometimes, people need a fun distraction to give everyone a break from reality. So why not have an epic game night with friends in the relative comfort and safety of your homes? Exchange laughter and showcase your prowess through the following fun and easy-to-play online party games.
Jackbox Party Games
From classic drawing and guessing to testing friendships, Jackbox Party Games offers a rich menu of interactive and sidesplitting games that will keep everyone occupied for a good number of hours. You can flex your artistic skills or lack thereof in Drawful 2 in which each player is given a difficult draw prompt like engine head gasket or your mom’s Subaru stuck in a tree. Fibbage XL, on the other hand, breathes a new life to trivia games. Players must fill in the blanks of a trivia fact, trying to trick others into choosing their false answer instead of the real one. If acting innocent while being the villain sounds more exciting, Jackbox also has Fakin’ It and Push the Button for that extra dose of betrayal and broken promises.
Houseparty
Though marketed as a video-chatting app, Houseparty has entertaining minigames from trivia challenges to versions of Pictionary, Heads Up! and Apples to Apples. As the name suggests, the goal of Houseparty is to simulate a get-together with people in a virtual house. You can gather your friends in a room to talk or play and lock that room or leave it open for new people to join. The app will also notify you if your friends are “in the house” and open to hanging out, giving the vibe of a casual, spontaneous interaction unlike more business and school-oriented apps such as Zoom and Google Classroom. Games can easily be started, finished, and discarded reminiscent to a college house party.
Joking Hazard
Inspired by the hilarious results generated with their Random Comic Generator, creators of the hit webcomic Cyanide and Happiness turned this exercise of chance into a card game. Players compete with their friends to create a comic strip with the best punchline using 250 unique cards showing random panels from the webcomic. It was initially available as a physical card game. But the developers from the virtual tabletop website, PlayingCards.io, made the online version free to play for a limited time during the quarantine. You can simply share the link of your game room, and you’re ready to create monstrosities with friends.
Social calendars don’t have to remain sad and empty while in quarantine. Making use of video chat applications and online game portals can bring the same amount of fun and camaraderie as a Friday night out.
