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Playing Games Over Zoom
Posted May 28, 2020
by Curt Price
During this period of social distancing and self-quarantine, people have been spending a lot more time at home.
Working from home... spending evenings at home... a lot.
Like a lot, a lot.
Zoom.us has been a popular way for people to see and communicate with friends and family who are also self-quarantined. But did you know that you can do a lot more on Zoom than just see and talk to people?
A fun way to pass the time is by playing games on Zoom.
Jackbox Games
Jackboxgames.com provides a number of games and game packs for a reasonable price and they are perfect for playing over Zoom.
How it works:
During a Zoom meeting, one person starts up the game and shares their screen with the group. Everyone goes to jackbox.tv on their smartphones or tablets. A code is displayed on screen in the game. Everyone enters that code on their device to join the game. And that's it. You'll use your smart device to enter answers, draw pictures, etc within the game.
Quiplash is one of their most popular games. Some of my other favorites are Trivia Murder Party, Fibbage, & You Don't Know Jack. But they're all pretty different, so checking out reviews & demos on YouTube might be a good route to go before you buy.
The Jackbox games are actually on sale right now, ranging from $14.99 to $22.49 for the party packs (each pack contains 5 different games), so if you want to check it out, now might be a good time. Some individual games are $6, but others are about as much as the party packs. I've bought a few packs and played over Zoom a few times. It's pretty fun!
Of course, these games DO NOT HAVE TO BE PLAYED on Zoom. You can play with everyone in the same room (after social distancing is no longer necessary of course) by casting Jackbox from your Chrome browser's options area (upper right of browser, three dots, 'cast', choose your source and where you want to cast it) to your tv, then have everyone join on their smart devices.
I've found that most Jackbox games have family friendly settings, but some do not.
Also, if you buy the Steam Code, and you have friends who use Steam, you can share the games over Steam. (you just can't be using the same game at the same time). That's a nice way to play a few different party packs without having to buy them all.
Here are a couple other game sites that allow you to play over Zoom.
A quick Google search can find you many, many more. Some are free, and some are not. Have fun!
