Games to play remotely for 4 players

May 19, 2021 8:55 AM

Seeking games I can play remotely (ie that have good online platforms available) with a group of four.

Two of the group are a pair living together so if the platform has support for multiple players on the same computer that would be nice, but not essential.

The game in question should run between 1-3 hours. We're semi-casual board game geeks, ie we've played things like Catan, Puerto Rico, Lords of Waterdeep, Pandemic...

This would be our first time playing remotely, hence me turning to you folks for advice what good games are available for remote play. Willing to pay nominal fee.

posted by Cozybee to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (6 answers total)

My favorite way to play board games online, is boardgamearena.com. These games have been shifted for online play, and some are more fun on this site than in person!

Some people may recommend a platform called tabletop simulator, but it has NOT aged well. It's a slog to get through, and takes all the fun out of trying to play something!

Another platform is Jackbox games. Only one person needs to own the game, and share their screen to the others. Discord is a good platform to do this on, and it's free.

The real thing to try, for remote gaming with friends, is video games:

There's a ton of games that are great with new players, aren't competitive or mean! Stardew Valley has local split screen co-op, is an amazing game for a new gamer. Having separate computers is slightly nicer, but playing on one isn't bad.

Rocket league is a crazy game that can be a blast. You use cars to knock a giant soccer ball into soccer goals. It's a fun party game - but it's interesting because the skill ceiling (how good you can get at the game) is incredibly, incredibly high. That means you guys can get better as a team! Split screen on local computers for that, too!

Golf With Friends and Golf It are fun minigolf games that you can play with friends.

If you want to get a bit more hardcore, Deep Rock Galactic is a little bit harder, but the teamwork and fun involved is next-to-none. It's a cooperative game, and starts off easy, and you can keep it there if you want. It's satisfying for 100 different ways, but there isn't split screen for it.

Overcooked (1, 2, combinations of them) is a cooperative cooking game, but it tries to stress you out as much as possible. Things from the ground being made of ice, to crowds, or aliens, stopping you from chopping the onions for the next batch of soup, while your first might be close to burning, is super intense! If that sounds like fun, it also has both local and online play.

Broforce is a cheap side scroller with local/online coop. It's a lot of fun, has aged pretty well, but it's a bit older so the tutorials aren't all they could be.

There's a ton more out there, too!
posted by bbqturtle at 9:28 AM on May 19, 2021 [6 favorites]

Second vote for Board Game Arena. There is a MeFi group if you're interested in trying things out with other people before you play with your friends, but it's nice in that it offers a way to play with friends OR with strangers. You can play many games for free and there's a small ($2/month or $24/year) fee for Premium games and the ability to video chat etc. Also worth noting that everyone can video chat if only ONE person is a Premium player. I'm definitely in favor of paying for things you find valuable, but you can try before you buy. I usually play the shorter=timed games so I may not be the best recommender in terms of pointing out games, but you can join the MeFi group and chat with the folks, some of whom I think are more experienced players who likelonger games.
posted by jessamyn at 10:21 AM on May 19, 2021

The Battle of Polytopia has mobile and desktop versions, and supports shorter game modes (like 1st to 10,000 points, and small game worlds)
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:49 AM on May 19, 2021

Another vote for BoardGameArena.com with a note... 2 people from the same household can play together if at least one of them has a Premium account. So, if your group goes that way, and you only plan to have 1 premium account (which you will need: that person can create a table for any game) it will need to be one of the 2 in the same household.
Another feature: they have the ability to make tables for live games, or turn-based. If you're playing with friends you can set them all to turn-based with no time-limits and if a session goes on too long you can always continue it the next night, etc.
posted by Laura in Canada at 11:06 AM on May 19, 2021

Are you looking for board games?

I can't tell, if not this houseful of board game and D & D folks has really loved the videogame Valheim.
posted by ReluctantViking at 11:46 AM on May 19, 2021

The highly reviewed boardgame Ticket to Ride is available for mulitple platforms and supports crossplay, meaning you have one player on Mac, one on Windows, one on an iOS device and one on Android device (including Kindle Fire tablets) and it just works.

You can play with 2-5 players, depending on the map. Access to extra maps comes via an additional purchases in app, but you’ll have at least two 4 player capable maps by default, if I recall correctly.

You will need one device per person to play remotely, there is a local pass-and-play option for multiple players on one device, but you can’t combine that with a remote game as far as I know.

This has been my family’s go to game during the pandemic, and we’ve had lots of fun.
posted by tiamat at 12:22 PM on May 20, 2021