If you’re looking to get the gang back together—and your family or friends are scattered all around the country—playing virtual games is the perfect way to have some fun and reconnect with your loved ones.
Fortunately, there are plenty of intriguing virtual game options out there to get you playing in no time, whether you want to immerse yourself in a different world, work together to escape a room, take a stab at a time-honored classic, or just have a laugh riot over some not-so-safe-for-work double entendres.
Ready to play? Here’s how to make your virtual game night a success.
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Best Virtual Games to Play
Jackbox has decades of experience creating crafty and fun games to play with friends online. Check through their dozens of game options, from trivia games to draw-and-judge games to get-to-know-you options. (Tee Fury, Trivia Murder Party, and Role Models are among our faves.)
You can buy many of the games separately, or opt for party packs that give you several options. Since most of the games take less than 20 minutes to play a round, you might want to have a few different options to liven up your virtual game night.
This find-the-imposter game was all the rage a few years back—but it’s still just as fun to play with friends now. You can connect with up to 15 people to try to complete tasks (or murder and sabotage your friends) in a space ship.
Scribble It! is a Pictionary-like game that shares the same (totally fun) premise: One person draws artwork to try to get others to guess the secret word. There’s a cool toolbar to help you with some shortcuts (perfect for…ahem, the more artistically challenged among us).
It’s free to play, but you can upgrade to the deluxe version ($5) to open up more gaming options for your private group of friends.
Play Name That Tune over the internet with the cute and colorful SongPop Party app that connects you and your crew to see who can guess the song or the artist the fastest (and most accurately). You can choose from an array of different playlists—including specific artists, decades, or genres—to ensure it’s a fair game.
Want a calmer, more relaxing game night? The charming strategy game Wingspan was adapted online, where up to five players can try to create the coziest little nest of a nature reserve to bring all the birds to their space. You can buy additional packs to add European birds or decorative options to your preserve.
Fans of the build-your-community strategy game Settlers of Catan can play with friends online for free via Colonist. Just set up a private game and send the link to your pals—and get started mapping out your strategy for building towns and roads.
This is the tech version of the classic game Heads Up, where you place a card with a word on your head and the rest of your team gives you clues to help you guess the word as quickly as possible. (You turn your phone toward the ground to switch to the next word when you solve one.)
There are a few free decks included, and you can purchase new decks to suit your group’s interests, whether they’re Star Wars fans or total foodies.
Love escape rooms but can’t get your crew in the same place? Escape Games’ virtual options allow you to turn your virtual game night into a big event, as you puzzle your way out of a selection of different rooms, with a host on hand to help you along the way. (This virtual option costs $30 a person and up.)
This simple (and free!) version of the classic Scattergories game is easy to play with a crowd. Have everyone grab a pad and paper (or another computer to type their answers), and one player shares their screen from the link above. Press play, and you’ll all get 2 minutes (or whatever time you choose) to try to find words that fit all the categories that start with the letter of choice.
Minecraft has always been fun for building whole worlds (and playing in survival mode to see how long you and your friends can last with hostile mobs of creepers after you). But there are other games you can play in the Minecraft universe, including Dungeons and Dragons-inspired and Overwatch-inspired options—or check around online for creative game setups like races and obstacle courses you can build in your own private universe.
If you want to indulge in a little wicked Cards Against Humanity while you’re apart, Bad Cards has a simple web-based interface to make it happen—along with similar games that let you try to mix and match prompts and cards for wild memes and song lyrics.
The party game of skips and reverses can be easily played with Uno Online as a multiplayer game. Just share your unique game room name and get started making everyone draw four!
From the silly minds of the Jackbox crew comes their latest game Survey Scramble, which takes data from thousands of players on categories like Dating Red Flags or Sandwich Ingredients, and has you battle all different ways for the best answer possible with up to 10 friends.
Turn your virtual game party into a multi-location scavenger hunt with Goosechase. You can set up your own challenges that can be done in the house (i.e. snap a pic of the weirdest thing in your junk drawer) or send them out scouting for a pic of the best bakery in their neighborhood. You can let the fastest or the best answer win. (It’s especially fun if you have small teams.)
Host your own virtual trivia night with Kahoot!, which gives you tons of different question categories to test your crew’s knowledge of everything from baby animals to celebrities. Or go ahead and personalize it to your family or friends to see who remembers the name of the band your sister started in high school or which of your friends set a Pop Tart ablaze.
Set up a furry fight club with your friends with the Party Animals’ all-too-adorable battle royale. Pit your cutie corgi against your pals’ bunnies and kittens in a slew of crazy scenarios to see which animals reign supreme.
Gather up to 15 friends in the creepy Town of Salem for a mysterious good time. Take on one of dozens of wild roles—serial killers, witches, sheriffs, doctors, mafioso, vampires, and more—as everyone tries to figure out whodunit and eliminate the evildoers from the town.
What gives? Titles have not yet been announced by Nintendo, but considering the long and colorful history of this franchise on the Switch, the first two titles that come to mind are probably Star Wars: The Force Unleashed or Jedi Knight II. Or maybe, something relatively newer, like Star Wars: Republic Commando? Well, for all fans wanting to swing lightsabers or blast some stormtroopers, this is pure good news.
This is not the first time Nintendo has given free game trials to its lucky members of Switch Online; they had large titles such as Splatoon 2 or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, letting the players taste the whole chunk of experience before actually thinking of dishing out the cash. Smart thinking if you ask me—a little free taste of the product just might be the best way to sell it.
But here is where the horrible part comes in; this trial is tight in terms of timing. You will get a week-long window to download and test these Star Wars games before they go poof in the gaming void. Set an alarm, put a circle on your calendar, or something—anything, because it would suck really badly to miss this on even a slight curiosity.
And yeah, this is just a scheme for keeping game content fresh during the Switch Online subscriptions. They know we like free stuff, and flashing a couple of games under the nose with Star Wars will keep a good amount of engagement. Not that we’re complaining—free games are just free games.
If you weren’t already pitched over it this could have been your final nudge. It costs $3.99 a month or $19.99 a year. Besides game trials, it also houses the NES and SNES classics library, Internet multiplayer, and cloud saves! That’s awesome for the price of one cup of coffee at Starbucks.
What are you talking about? If you are a Star Wars fan and have a Switch Online membership, clear out the next week. If you are not a member, well, it seems like the right time. The Force is calling—do not leave it on read.