Games to play on a video call

What makes a good video call game?

• Everyone plays on their own device. Screen-sharing a game is laggy and hard to read. Games where each person opens a link on their phone or laptop work far better.
• No accounts or downloads. Every sign-up page loses you a player. The best games are one link and a name.
• Short rounds. Anything with a timer keeps the pace up and stops one person holding up the group.
• Something to react to. The fun on a call is the laughter, so games where everyone sees each other’s answers together beat games where you sit in silence.
• Works for any group size. Calls grow and shrink. Pick something that works from three people to a dozen.

How do you set up a game on a call?

1. Start the call first, then open the game in a browser tab on your own device.
2. Paste the invite link into the call chat or your group chat. People can join on a phone while keeping the call on their laptop.
3. Keep your microphones on. The reactions are half the game.
4. Play one short game to warm up, then let the group vote on another round.

What is Punchline?

Punchline is a free meme party game that runs in the browser. Everyone gets a random meme template and writes the funniest caption they can before the timer runs out. Then every meme is shown one at a time, without names, and the group votes thumbs up, meh or thumbs down and hands out Meme King crowns. The most points wins.

• 2 to 16 players, each on their own phone, tablet or computer
• No ads, no sign-up and nothing to install: one link or a 4-letter code
• A game takes around 15 minutes with the default settings, and the host can make it shorter or longer
• Over a thousand meme templates, from classics to this week’s trending ones, plus a ‘safe memes only’ switch
• Save every meme at the end to share in the group chat
• No group tonight? Play with strangers (beta) or against Punchline's computer players, who write their own jokes

What other games work on a video call?

Variety keeps game nights going. Drawing games like Gartic Phone and skribbl.io are great for groups who like to doodle, word games like Codenames work well for teams, and paid packs like Jackbox are a good choice if someone in the group already owns them and can screen-share.

Questions

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