17 online party games for a video call

Shared-screen quiz board

Players

3 to 20, in two to four teams

Minutes

30 to 45

Ages

10 and up

You need

A laptop that can share its screen, and 25 questions in five categories

1. Build the board in the quiz board maker before the call, with harder questions worth more points.
2. Share your screen so everyone sees the board.
3. Teams take turns choosing a category and a value, talk it over, and give one answer by voice.
4. Reveal the answer and let the board keep the score.
5. For more than eight players, send teams to breakout rooms to agree on an answer, then bring them back.

Chat countdown trivia

Players

4 to 50

Minutes

20 to 40

Ages

10 and up

You need

A set of trivia questions and the call's chat

1. Read a question aloud and show it on screen.
2. Players type their answer in the chat but wait to press send.
3. Count down from three. Everyone sends at once, so nobody can copy.
4. Read out who got it right and keep the scores in a notes window.

Survey game on a call

Players

6 to 20, in two teams

Minutes

20 to 30

Ages

10 and up

You need

Prompts with ranked answers, and a shared document or a notepad for the host

1. Split the call into two teams and post each team's players in the chat.
2. Read a prompt, such as 'Name something taken on a train trip'. Team members answer in turn, each naming the next teammate to speak.
3. Reveal each answer as it is named, on the shared document or by reading it out.
4. Three misses hand the other team one chance to steal the points.

Open the material: Survey game questions and answers

Two truths and a lie on a call

Players

4 to 20

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

10 and up

You need

Nothing

1. Each player prepares three short statements about themselves: two true, one made up.
2. In turn, a player says them aloud.
3. Everyone votes in the chat or with a reaction for the one they think is the lie.
4. The player reveals it. Each right vote scores a point, and the player scores one for each person fooled.

Open the material: Two truths and a lie ideas

Would you rather with thumbs

Players

4 to 50

Minutes

10 to 15

Ages

All ages

You need

A list of would you rather questions

1. Read a question with two options.
2. Players hold a thumb up for the first option or a thumb down for the second.
3. Ask one player from each side to explain their pick.
4. On a big call, use a poll or the chat so everyone can be counted.

Open the material: Funny would you rather questions

Word association chain

Players

4 to 15

Minutes

10

Ages

8 and up

You need

A speaking order posted in the chat

1. Post the speaking order in the chat so nobody talks over each other.
2. The first player says a word. The next says a word linked to it within three seconds.
3. A player who pauses too long or repeats a word starts a new chain.
4. At the end of a chain, try to trace it back to the first word together.

Wolves and villagers over private messages

Players

7 to 16

Minutes

20 to 40

Ages

12 and up

You need

A host who does not play, and the call's private messages

1. The host secretly messages each player a role: two players are wolves, one is the detective, and the rest are villagers.
2. Night: everyone turns their camera off. The wolves message the host one player to remove, and the detective messages one name to check; the host replies wolf or villager.
3. Day: cameras on. The host says who was removed, and the group discusses and votes one player out.
4. The removed player's role is revealed, and night falls again.
5. Villagers win by removing both wolves. The wolves win if they equal the villagers.

Draw and guess on camera

Players

4 to 20

Minutes

20 to 30

Ages

8 and up

You need

Paper and a thick marker for each player, or the call app's whiteboard

1. The host sends the artist a word by private message.
2. The artist draws it on paper held up to the camera, or on the shared whiteboard.
3. Everyone else types guesses in the chat. The first right guess scores for the guesser and the artist.
4. The artist picks who draws next, until everyone has had a turn.

Open the material: Drawing game word generator

Camera charades

Players

4 to 20

Minutes

15 to 30

Ages

6 and up

You need

A camera for each actor, and prompts sent by private message

1. The host sends each actor a prompt by private message.
2. Everyone else switches to the view that shows the actor large on screen.
3. The actor acts without sound. Players call out or type their guesses.
4. Pick prompts with big movements, since small gestures are hard to see on a call.
5. A player who would rather stay off camera can describe the prompt without saying its words instead.

Draw your neighbor

Players

4 to 16

Minutes

10

Ages

8 and up

You need

Paper and a pen for each player

1. The host privately messages each player the name of someone else to draw. Keep the assignments secret.
2. Everyone has two minutes to draw that person's face from the screen, then privately sends a photo of the drawing to the host.
3. The host shows the drawings one at a time without naming the artists.
4. Each player guesses which drawing is of them and who drew it. The host reveals the assignments, then the group votes for the best likeness.

Fetch it fast

Players

4 to 30

Minutes

10 to 15

Ages

All ages

You need

A list of things most homes have

1. The host calls an item, such as something blue, a spoon or the oldest book on your shelf.
2. Players leave the camera, find it and hold it up.
3. The first player back with it scores a point.
4. After ten items, the most points wins. Keep items easy to reach, with no climbing.

Close-up guess

Players

4 to 30

Minutes

10 to 15

Ages

8 and up

You need

10 to 15 close-up photos of household objects, and a shared screen

1. Before the call, photograph ordinary objects from very close, such as a zipper, a sponge or the tip of a pencil.
2. Share one photo at a time.
3. Players type their guess in the chat.
4. Show a photo of the whole object, and give a point for each correct guess.

Three clues from home

Players

4 to 20

Minutes

15

Ages

6 and up

You need

One object from each player's home, kept out of sight of the camera

1. Each player picks an object from their room and keeps it below the camera.
2. In turn, each gives three clues without naming it: its size, what it is made of, and what it is for.
3. Others guess in the chat after each clue.
4. The player shows the object. A right guess after the first clue scores three points, after the second two, and after the third one.

Call bingo

Players

5 to 50

Minutes

Runs through the call

Ages

10 and up

You need

A different call bingo card for each player

1. Send each player a different card before the call, as a PDF or an image.
2. Players mark a word when someone says it or it happens on the call, such as mute, chat or connection.
3. The first full line calls bingo in the chat.
4. The host asks the group to confirm the words before naming a winner.

Without a printer: Players open the card on a phone and keep track on any paper, or copy nine words into a grid.

Open the material: Video call bingo

Whose desk is this

Players

6 to 40

Minutes

15

Ages

Adults

You need

A photo of each player's desk or work corner, sent to the host before the call

1. Ask colleagues who want to join to send a photo of their desk, with nothing private in view.
2. Number the photos and share them one at a time.
3. Players type in the chat whose desk they think it is.
4. Reveal each owner, who can say one thing about an object in the photo.

Riddle round for a class

Players

5 to 30

Minutes

10

Ages

6 to 11

You need

A list of riddles for kids

1. Share the riddle on screen and read it aloud twice.
2. Children think quietly for ten seconds, then use the raise-hand button.
3. Call on a child to answer and explain.
4. Show the answer before the next riddle, so the whole class hears why.

Freeze dance on camera

Players

4 to 30

Minutes

5 to 10

Ages

3 to 9

You need

Music shared through the call

1. Share music through the call, with sound sharing turned on.
2. Children dance in front of their cameras.
3. Pause the music. Everyone freezes like a statue.
4. Name the funniest freeze, then start the music again. Nobody is out.