Where to find fast multiplayer office games?

July 2, 2009 12:46 PM

Where can I find good mulitplayer games to play in the office against co-workers?

I have looked around the web and even searched here but haven't found exactly what I want. There is another post that resembles this one but it features mainly games you have to go physically buy (Tribes, GTA, Quake III).

I am thinking more along the lines of quick-hitters like Scrabble, Connect 4, and games of that nature. I'd even be up for a game that I can pause (think about having an all-day Monopoly session!). Just something fun to do during lunch or a five-minute break maybe. The two I just mentioned do seem to have online components but the pairing is random. I was looking for something that you can connect to certain users with or even download and insert an IP address.

I got the idea for something like this from the show Parks and Recreation on NBC where they play Scrabble in the office.

posted by jwfree to computers & internet (15 comments total)

Yahoo Games let's you have private games so you can kick people out or make it so they have to be invited IIRC (haven't played in years).

Also, certain emulators allow for netplay. There's always the ethical/moral questions with that one though.
posted by theichibun at 12:54 PM on July 2

You could try Quake Live. I haven't played it, but it's free.
posted by demiurge at 1:03 PM on July 2

weewar
new player's guide

There's a (limited) free version or you can buy a pro account to access more maps and units. You can play as solo players or form teams in game. Each player can make their move whenever they have 5 minutes to sit down and do so. It's all kinds of addictive.
posted by bowmaniac at 1:05 PM on July 2

Freeciv!
posted by Lemurrhea at 1:06 PM on July 2

The game you are looking for is Diplomacy. Great for team morale!
posted by Balna Watya at 1:13 PM on July 2

Conquer Club is an online implementation of Risk (with a ton of variants) that lets you have private games.
posted by mkultra at 1:14 PM on July 2

Lexulous is a scrabble clone and can be played in real-time or you can play a turn-based game. For either style, you can select players of your choice, you don't have to play with random people.

You can set up games on the site, or use the facebook application. Facebook has many game applications that can be played in the style you're looking for. Like lexulous, the developers might host off-facebook versions as well.
posted by necessitas at 1:26 PM on July 2

Soldat is a lot of fun, it's basically a 2D platformer version of Counter-Strike.
posted by joydrop at 1:28 PM on July 2

I think that BrettspeilWelt does most of what you want to do. Plus the available games are way more fun than Scrabble or Connect 4. The only potential problem is that the interface is partially in German.
posted by Johnny Assay at 1:39 PM on July 2

Balna Watya's suggestion of Diplomacy seconded, sarcasm and all.

But it would be a ton of fun (and not hard to manage using jDip) if your coworkers have the stomach for that sort of thing.
posted by doubleozaphod at 2:05 PM on July 2

Seconding BrettspeilWelt . Also iSketch, I think you can create private rooms there so you can play to yourselves.

Diplomacy would be fun, but would require you to have seven players (or seven teams), or to play some variant of the standard game, and would require some dedication on the part of the players. But if you've got that, it's a brilliant game.
posted by bjrn at 2:30 PM on July 2

Hedgewars! Its like worms!! But with hedgehogs!!! Over the LAN!!!!
posted by gergtreble at 3:13 PM on July 2

My office lost tangible productivity thanks to Age of Empires/Age of Kings. There might be more up to date selections, but I do recommend RTS games for an office environment.
posted by cj_ at 7:29 PM on July 2

Seconding Freeciv. Also try Risk and Settlers of Catan.
posted by movicont at 7:31 PM on July 2 [1 favorite]

Movicont has it right. And you don't even need computers to play settlers at work!
posted by billtron at 9:41 PM on July 2