Games to play online remotely with friends?

October 11, 2022 12:21 PM

Looking for some online game suggestions to play with a group of friends (4-6 people) where we will also be video chatting. This is not going to be a regular gathering so something that is pretty lighthearted, casual, quick to learn would be great. I don't think we'd like to play anything scary either... just something fun to help take our minds off things.
posted by madonna of the unloved to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (12 answers total)

skribbl.io has always been more fun than it deserves to be.
posted by so fucking future at 12:42 PM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

Codenames is really fun.
posted by FencingGal at 12:50 PM on October 11, 2022 [2 favorites]

Broken Picturephone is exactly what you want.
Everyone types a phrase. Each phrase is passed to another player, who draws a picture of the phrase. Then each picture is passed to another player who writes a phrase describing the picture. And so on until everyone has contributed to each chain.
posted by meemzi at 12:57 PM on October 11, 2022

I’ve recently picked up Minecraft again to play with a distant friend (I live in Scotland, he lives in California). I pay for a “Realms” subscription, which is something like £6/mo., that gives us a permanent place to play around in and is so far free from hassle. I think 10 people can play together with the basic subscription, though I might be wrong about that.

It’s a simple game on its surface, and while it has gotten increasingly complex as the years have gone on, I have not; my friend and I generally concern ourselves with exploration and mining, making a fun base, and outfitting ourselves for damage protection (i.e., we are perma-n00bs). You and your friends might be smarter than we are, so there’s more there for y’all, I guess.

There’s been a recent (?) update, with another one on the horizon, and now the game has a marketplace as well. A broad variety of things to get into should you feel compelled to really lean into it, seems like.
posted by Pecinpah at 1:50 PM on October 11, 2022

Exploding Kittens is extremely silly and fast-paced. It's cheap and fun.
posted by theotherdurassister at 2:00 PM on October 11, 2022

We've played some of the Jackbox games to much hilarity.
posted by Runes at 2:08 PM on October 11, 2022 [5 favorites]

Among Us has largely become known as a kids’ game, but it’s just what you’re looking for if you want to enjoy some mild betrayal
posted by Countess Elena at 2:56 PM on October 11, 2022

Golf With Your Friends
posted by neckro23 at 3:22 PM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

Do you want the focus to be on the game or the chatting? I ask because among us, for example, actually has rules against talking during gameplay. Scribble.io on the other hand is super low stakes and easy to let your attention wander.

I will also throw codenames into the recommendation mix.
posted by dbx at 3:46 PM on October 11, 2022

There's plenty of good Jackbox games, and only one player needs to actually own the game. I would also recommend Just One, as a fully cooperative counterpart to Codenames. I've never played Paperback, but it sounds like a fun time, given the right group.
posted by CrunchyFrog at 5:11 PM on October 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

Jackbox is my group of friends' goto for this. We dabble in the non-core games but for the most part we mostly play the Drawful/Quiplash/Fibbage games. One nice thing about them is you don't have to be actively playing to get entertainment from them.
posted by Candleman at 9:12 PM on October 11, 2022

Seconding Among Us ඞ and the Jackbox games.
posted by MetaFilter World Peace at 4:10 AM on October 13, 2022