Casual online games

[Olli]

Thanks to the ongoing plague, it can be pretty difficult to find ways to socialize with friends and coworkers. For example, we have a small monthly budget for team events at work, but we haven't used any of that in more than a year because, well, we're all sitting at home. The same goes with friends - you can maybe (depending on where you are) meet them outside if you maintain a safe distance, but...

Anyway! I assume there's a world of online games that I could be playing with people. The difficult part is: these games should be fairly easy to pick up, even for people who are not video games literate (is there a better word for this?) and who don't have a lot of time to spend regularly. And yeah, while I think console games are great, there should probably at the very least be cross-play available. I hear Among Us is pretty fun and could fit the bill, but what else is out there?

 

[narcodis]

Among Us definitely fits that bill.

I would also recommend the Jackbox party games. Only one person needs to own the game, and something like 6 to 8 people can all play online thru like a zoom call or whatever. Super casual fun.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

Gonna second the Jackbox series, they're great. The recent party pack (7) has a bunch of cool games, and you can never go wrong with Drawful or its sequel.

Last night I tried Nerts! Online, a free multiplayer solitaire game from Zachtronics. It seemed really fun, and it's pretty easy to learn since it's, you know, solitaire.

 

[gorha]

Came to recommend Nerts! Online, I had a blast playing it with some friends a few nights ago.

 

[lincolnic]

Thirding the Jackbox stuff, but it's worth noting that whoever is streaming the game to everyone else needs to have a way to share the game audio as well. I don't believe Zoom can do that on its own.

 

[Beowulf]

• https://www.horsepaste.com/
  • Codenames: The card-based spy game. It actually works better online than with cards, IMHO.​
• https://allbad.cards/
  • Cards Against Humanity. Some card packs are better than others.​
• https://drawception.com/
  • This is "telestrations", where people take turns drawing a picture and describing it, so you end up with a ridiculous sequence.
• https://fishbowl-game.com/
  • This is "Identity Crisis" aka variant "Names in a Hat", where you do it as Taboo, then Charades, then Password with the same set of names each time.
• https://kirk.is/joking/
  • Joking Hazard (Cards Against Humanity as comic strips) is fully online.
• https://colonist.io/
  • Online Settlers of Catan. Limited to 4 players.

Jackbox is indeed great. Note that it works better with Zoom than with Meet, because Meet won't let you share the sound from a program and Zoom will. (There's a ticky-box when you screen-share, @lincolnic )

 

[lincolnic]

(There's a ticky-box when you screen-share, @lincolnic )

Huh, so there is! In looking it up I see that you can't share audio when multiple people are sharing screens at once, which is something I do at work a lot. That's why I assumed it couldn't be done at all.

 

[jpfriction]

The children at this park I’m at are playing live action among us and it seems like a hoot, if a bit logistically unsound.