13 Games To Play On Zoom This Christmas

Heads Up!

There’s no reason to allow long-distance to get in the way of this much-loved game. Great for adults and children, simply download the Head’s Up app before setting up a Zoom call. Once everyone’s online, simply kick the app into gear. For a seamless experience, the game is fully integrated into the House Party app, but we prefer the Zoom platform for a more stable experience with multiple players.
 
Download Head’s Up here

20 Questions

In a similar vein, ask your friends and family to think of a famous person, and try to guess their identity by asking a maximum of 20 questions over your Zoom call. The fewer questions needed to guess correctly, the better. The person with the most questions asked – i.e. points – loses. Great for kids of all ages, all you need to prepare in advance is a list of famous people you’d like the opposing team to try and guess. 

Pictionary

A Christmas classic, Pictionary is an easy one to play online with friends or family – and it’s kid friendly, too. Use a Pictionary word generator like this this one and choose a team to play first with a designated drawer. The drawer then has one minute to draw that word for their team to guess. If the team guesses the card correctly, they get a point. The best news? Zoom has its own whiteboard feature to make things even easier. To use it, click the ‘share screen’ button located in the meeting toolbar, select the whiteboard, and click share. You should then see a selection of annotation tools that will let you use your mouse to draw. 
 
Read more about the Zoom whiteboard feature here

Bingo

When it comes to simple games to keep the whole family entertained – especially older relatives – it doesn’t get much better than bingo. Use a website like this to play a traditional game with a virtual caller, or create your own custom game themed around a film or TV show you know your group are fans of. To make it more competitive, try playing for small prizes – like a future round of drinks when we’re all allowed out again.
 
Set up your virtual bingo games here

Just Dance Now

Missing those nights spent dancing with your colleagues at the annual Christmas party? Guaranteed to be an instant mood-lifter, try turning your living room into an at-home disco and inviting others to join in. Download Just Dance Now to your laptop or desktop or add the app to your phone. The phone then acts as the controller, while different households enter ‘party rooms’ over Zoom. With a huge range of music on offer – from Disney to classic disco – follow the virtual dancers on the screen to learn fun routines and beat other participants’ high scores.
 
Download Just Dance Now here

Cards Against Humanity

Fans will be pleased to know that the game’s creators have caught up with the times to produce a downloadable version of the of the dark-humoured card game. Simply head to the Cards Against Humanity website to download your single-use PDF, which includes game rules and printing instructions. There’s the option to take it to a professional printer, or simply print at home. From there, link up your Zoom call so everyone can take part, and mimic the same the same face-to-face experience.
 
Download your PDF here

Karaoke

Turn a typical karaoke night into something a little more competitive by scoring each other out of ten. With hundreds of free karaoke songs available on YouTube, each person or couple logs onto Zoom before taking it in turns to belt out a verse and a chorus (anything longer and you risk it becoming boring). From there, other viewers score the singers. With extra points up for grabs for appropriate costumes and/or dance moves, turn an adults-only session into a drinking game by making the lowest scorers down a shot at the end of each round.

Charades

Another family festive favourite, this is one of the easiest games to play virtually. If you haven’t had much time to prepare, simply come up with ideas in your head – be it a TV show, film or book – for other players to guess as you act it out. For a more sophisticated version, try using a charades idea generator like this one to keep the playing field even. Just remember to use the Zoom spotlight feature when it’s your turn to act and give the other teams a time restriction to guess the right answer.  
 
Read more about Zoom spotlight here

Most Likely To…

A classic drinking game, this one is strictly adults only – and probably best played without your parents, too. Take it in turns to read out a different statement starting with “Most likely to…”. The person who has read out the statement then writes someone’s name on a piece of paper before the other players follow suit. After everyone’s finished, the other players hold up their paper to the screen to see who’s won the most votes. If it matches the name written down by the statement reader, they win a point. If not, their forfeit is to finish their drink or take a shot.
 
In need of some inspiration for questions? Download this app

Scattergories

Scattergories is a fun game to play with Zoomers of all ages. To play, head to this free game generator and send each person a link to the game. The rules are simple: there is one letter and five categories. You then have 60 seconds to come up with a word that fits in each category and starts with the chosen letter. The more unique your answer is, the more points you get.

Trivial Pursuit

Don't have the board game and not in the same room? Don’t worry, it’s still perfectly possible to play this family classic over Zoom. Simply open this random trivia generator and start asking questions. Each household counts as a team – just remember to mute yourselves when you’re conferring. Have each person send their answer in the Zoom chat at the same time – first team to get there wins the point. 
 
Learn more about Zoom chat here

Psych

From the makers of Heads Up! and based on the idea of Would I Lie To You? the aim of Psych is to make up fake answers to real trivia questions, before one player is asked to choose what they believed to be the real answer. In the app, which needs downloading before you start, there’s even an "And the Truth Comes Out" deck that allows you to do the same thing with personal questions about each other.
 
Download Psych here

GeoGuessr

The aim of the game is simple: guess the exact spot or region of a place with nothing more than an obscure picture, which can be generated by using GeoGuessr. Scroll through famous landmarks and different areas of the world and test your ability to pinpoint exactly where it is you’ve landed. Divide your households into different teams, set up a Zoom call and take it in turns generating your picture before sharing your screen so everyone knows what you’re looking at.
 
Visit GeoGuessr.com

 
We can’t believe you haven’t yet, but just in case, you can download Zoom here.