Ah, lockdown. Staying cooped up inside, in the exact same spot, waking up at unusual times, having no real routine… The list goes on. Whether you’re in your first lockdown or second, we’ve all experienced the bitter effects it can have on our everyday lives. However, one of the unexpected silver linings of spending more time at home is being able to pick up the phone to call our loved ones. With so many video chat options such as Zoom, Skype and Facetime, we are connected with each other now, more than ever. With this, also comes an increase in competition and games to help pass the time. To help out, we have listed the Top 10 Virtual Games (links included) which can be played from anywhere and can be played to keep you connected with your friends and family during lockdown.
1. Snapchat Games
With over 1 billion downloads on App and Play store, Snapchat is one of the most used social platforms in the world. Snap lets you capture moments and share them, not forgetting about the ever-changing selection of filters. Yet, Snapchat can also be used to play various, different games such as Snake Squad, Bitmoji Party and Ready, Set, Golf. You can place your friends and family into a group chat and press the game console button at the bottom right of the screen. And Hey-Presto. Pick a game, and you’re in.
2. Fortnite
Now Fortnite is one of the few popular games that didn’t see a rise in players during lockdown. Why not you may ask? It’s because from the moment it was first launched in 2017 it became horribly popular. Many celebrities such as hockey play JT Brown, world-famous rapper Drake and even our childhood crush Joe Jonas have been known to play Fortnite. Fortnite is a fantastic virtual game to play in your spare time with your loved ones. Simply sign up and create your avatar. That avatar (i.e. you) is flown and dropped into a desert with 99 other, including your friends. As always, there’s a catch. The 99 players have food to survive. You and your friends don’t. Playing Fortnite on a video call is a perfect way to let out your frustration on your friends, who like you are also struggling to survive. Use your friends to help locate food and weapons. And then because of your evil, take your friends’ food and kill their avatar. It’s a bit like the Hunger Games. Last one to survive wins.
3. Cards Against Humanity
Cards Against Humanity is another immaculate game to play virtually with your loved ones. As we all know, due to the current circumstances, Cards Against Humanity can no longer be player around the table, with a glass of wine. Instead, it can now be played online and is the best game to turn your mediocre personality into hours upon hours of fun. The rules are as follow:
- One player picks a black card from the deck on screen and reads it aloud.
- Everyone else picks their funniest answers with their white card
The one with the greatest sense of humour wins.
4. Never Have I Ever
The title of this game says it all. Lockdown has meant that we haven’t been able to see our loved ones as much as we would normally do. Which also means that we miss out on moments of their lives, some which they may not care to share (this is usually out of pure embarrassment). For this game, each person will take it in turns to read out a sentence. For example, “Never have I ever partied for more than 24 hours straight”. For those players, who in this case are irresponsible, have done it would take a shot. Each player would then take it in turns to read a question. A great way to stay connected with each other, I’d say. And also to expose yourself. All in a days work.
5. Charades
Charades is one of the energetic and livelier virtual games that can be played with friends during lockdown. For those who haven’t done any physical activities during this time, Charades is the perfect game to get your heart pumping. Each player will get given a random word, e.g. cow. The player will then have to act this out on screen whilst the other players try to guess the word. Each correct answer given by the team player gets a point for their team.
6. Uno
A wise man once said, “You have to be odd to be number one”, and that is exactly what Uno is about. Just like the non-online version, the aim of this game is to get rid of all your cards before the other players. You do this by matching the colours of numbers of the card before anyone else does. In other words, you need speed. Usain Bolt. But remember, if you don’t have a drawable card, you must dig from your pile until you do. Key tip- when you have one card left, press the ‘I’ button or like I painfully found out, you get two penalties. Best of luck!
7. Pictionary
If you thought that the paper version of Pictionary was hard (because like me you can’t draw to save your life), then Pictionary is the game for you. Video- chat apps such as Zoom, and Microsoft Teams have interactive whiteboards which let you draw and share it in real-time with your friends and family. Using a random word generator, each person will take it in turns and will receive a word (e.g. rabbit) which they will have to draw out whilst everyone else tries to hazard a guess as to what it is. A point is rewarded to each correct answer. Remember, no words or phrases are allowed—just art.
8. Trivia
Whether you’re on Skype, Zoom or any other video-chat app, nothing will beat a casual game of Trivia. The game is not only educational; it’s competitive and gets your brain working. The game is super easy to play virtually, and the rules are simple. The game has 20 questions divided into two halves. You can take it in turns to read a question out loud. Each player will then place the answer into the chat. The quickest and most accurate answers are rewarded points. And please, no shouting or secretly opening Google Chrome to search up the answer. Thank you.
9. Scrabble
Scrabble is great brain-trainer of a game which is perfect for playing virtually with your friends and family. Again, the rules for this game are very simple. You are given one letter and up to five categories (for example, ‘clothing’). Each player has 60 seconds to come up with a word that fits in each category and starts with the given letter. Obviously, the word you come up with must be a real word and can be found in the Oxford Dictionary. The more unique your answer is, the more points you are rewarded.
10. Among Us
If you’ve spent an hour on the web in the last couple of days, then chances are you have seen the colourful little astronauts of Among Us. While this game allows you to play with a group of strangers online, it’s 100% more fun to play this game with your friends across a video call. In the game, players are given one of two possible jobs; your either a crewmate or an imposter. If you’re an imposter, you will have to kill the other crewmates without them knowing it’s you. If you’re a crewmate, it’s your job to figure out who the imposter is and complete tasks. Crewmates are also given the option to host an ‘emergency meeting’ where they put down who they think the impostor is and have them voted out. A Great Evil is Among Us.
And there we have it. 10 virtual games which can keep you connected with your loved ones during lockdown. Nothing like a good game to lift the glum lockdown atmosphere. And if you want to know more about keeping connected, have a look at our ‘Apps to Keep you entertained during lockdown’ here.
