6 Board Games You Can Play Over Zoom
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Welcome to day one million of the quarantine. We live here forever now. OK, maybe not, but sometimes it sure feels like it. The lack of social interaction is turning me into Willem Dafoe in The Lighthouse. I’m screaming at birds, about birds, cursing like an old-timey sailor, and wandering around mumbling to myself.
What’s the easiest way to keep yourself from becoming a 19th-century lighthouse keeper accursed by the unforgiving sea, you ask? Simple! Spend time with other humans over video chat services like Zoom, Skype, and Discord. Better yet, play some board games with your far-flung friends. Not every board game will work well over video chat though, so we’ve found a few of our favorites and outlined some ways to make them remote-play-friendly.
- Photograph: Mattel01Pictionary
Everyone's favorite "Oh my God, what are you drawing? Is that what I think it is?" game is perfectly suited for remote play. You can play like you usually would. Split into two teams. Each team takes turns having one person be responsible for drawing, while the rest of the team tries to guess what in the world they're trying to depict.
One person on each team should have a copy of the actual game and be responsible for drawing the cards and showing them (in secret) to the two artists each round. If you only have a single copy of the game, designate one person as a neutral observer who can show cards in secret to the other two. (Everyone but the person seeing the card must turn away from the camera.)
- Photograph: Do You Know Me?02Do You Know Me?
This one is a lot of fun to play with people you don't know very well. It's a card game, which is a little tricky. In each round, one player is put in the hot seat, where they are the subject of five questions someone draws from the deck. As each question is asked, other players lay down cards, guessing if that person will answer yes or no. The questions in the deck range from outrageous to outrageously personal, and it's a lot of fun.
To adapt it to remote play, each player just needs to DIY themself five cards labeled yes and five cards labeled no. You can just make these out of scraps of paper or notecards. The player who has the actual deck of questions will just draw for everyone.
- Photograph: Hasbro03Clue
In Clue, you and your fellow players are all suspects in a murder mystery. Together you explore a mansion filled with clues as you try to deduce which of you is the killer, what weapon they used to do the foul deed, and where the murder took place.
To adapt Clue to remote play, you just need one person to have the actual board game. Take turns like normal, and the person with the game will move everyone's pieces across the board and perform the initial setup. Easy peasy.
- Photograph: Hasbro04Yahtzee
This one needs very little adaptation to work over video chat. Most people have five six-sided dice somewhere in their home, right? Just rummage through other games you have at home.
To play remote, everyone will need five dice, a cup, and a notepad. If you want to make it all official-like, you can each print out Yahtzee scorecards. Otherwise, you just play as normal. Everyone takes turns rolling their dice, finding the best-scoring combinations of their roll, and recording them on their sheet. You should roll within view of the camera though, to discourage cheating.
- Photograph: Kickstarter05Bluebeard's Bride
Gamers have played Dungeons & Dragons over text-based and video chat for years, because tabletop role-playing games are uniquely suited to remote play. Bluebeard's Bride is less open ended than a traditional D&D-style game, which makes it an especially good fit for playing over Zoom or Skype.
Instead of taking on the role of a party of adventurers, you and other players each play the same character, but different parts of her psyche. Together you'll explore your new husband's dark and mysterious mansion, with horrors around every corner. This one is for mature audiences only—it deals with themes of trauma, assault, and sex.
For 3-5 players, 18 years old and up
- Photograph: Amazon06Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook
You might want to pick up a specific adventure to play, but Dungeons & Dragons is an excellent choice for remote play. Each player only needs to have a set of dice, a character sheet, and ideally a copy of the Player's Handbook, but you can use D&D Beyond for digital access.
Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop role-playing game in which each player takes on the role of a fantasy adventurer of your own creation. Guided by the Dungeon Master, you and your fellow players will embark on adventures large and small, pursuing riches and danger at every opportunity.
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