Games to play with friends on a call

The group chat has agreed: call tonight, 9 pm. Then everybody joins, says hi, and after ten minutes somebody asks, “so... what are we doing?” This list is the answer. These are games to play with friends on a call, whether that call is on Discord, Zoom, Google Meet, FaceTime or WhatsApp.

Facts about each game and app are checked and sourced at the bottom. Which ones are best is our opinion, and AJ Cities is our own game, described honestly.

Free in the browser: send a link, play

These need no download, so the friend on an old laptop and the one on a phone in a bus can both join.

skribbl.io

The drawing-and-guessing classic. It is free, the private room takes from two to twenty players, and you can load in your own words: friends’ names, old school jokes, that holiday nobody is allowed to mention. The room owner can kick a player, which you will need.

Gartic Phone

The telephone game with drawings: write a sentence, the next person draws it, the next describes the drawing, and by the end “my uncle at the wedding” has become a horse on fire. Free in the browser and best with four or more.

Codenames Online

The official online version from Czech Games Edition lives at codenames.game: make a room, share the link, split into two teams. Each team has a spymaster giving one-word clues. You need at least four people.

WorldGuessr

Guess where in the world a Street View image was taken. WorldGuessr says parties hold up to 200 players and every mode is free. Perfect for the friend who will not stop telling everybody they have travelled.

Board Game Arena

Board games in the browser, free to join, with private tables for your group. Some popular titles need a Premium member to open the table, and then free friends can join it.

Discord Activities

If your group lives on Discord, you already have a games shelf. Activities are games and apps that run inside a voice call: in a server’s voice channel or a DM call, click the rocket ship button next to the video and screen share buttons, and pick one. Friends in the channel can hover over it and click “Join Activity”. Discord says Activities work on desktop, web and mobile. Its list includes Watch Together, Gartic Phone, Poker Night, Putt Party, Chess in the Park, Sketch Heads, Blazing 8s and Bobble League.

Among Us

The social deduction game where one or more of you is secretly an impostor. Games take four to fifteen players, it is free on phones (with adverts and in-app purchases) and paid on PC, and it supports cross-platform play, so phone and PC players can share a game. Play with your voice call open, and see who really can keep a straight face. Tip: agree before you start whether you can talk during rounds, or the loudest friend wins every time.

Jackbox Games

The video-call game night standard. Jackbox games do not have online matchmaking: instead one person buys a party pack, starts it on a laptop and shares the screen on the call, and everybody plays on their own phone by going to jackbox.tv in a browser. Turn on the extended timers for remote players. On Steam, Remote Play Together lets the host invite friends without a screen share.

Ludo King

For the cousins’ call. Free on phones with in-app purchases, two to six players online, private rooms and voice chat built in.

AJ Cities: hang out somewhere, not just talk

Most call games are rounds: play, score, next. AJ Cities is a place. It is a free open-world game set on the edge of Ajegunle, Lagos, in the browser on a phone or a computer. In party mode each of you signs in, makes a character and picks the same world, and you turn up together at the estate. Each estate holds up to 60 players, so a whole group chat fits, and other real players will be around too.

• Get in together. Walk up to the gate police as a group and ask. Most nights about four in five guests who ask are let in free; watching who gets refused is a game in itself.
• Dress the group. The salon and clothes shop next to the main gate change your look for free. Matching outfits recommended.
• Go out. Walk June 12 Street, head down to the beach past the bush, or catch Joe-Izzy at Prizm from 9 pm Lagos time. The estate radio plays the same song at the same moment for everybody.
• Somebody’s mum calls? They pause, and stay in the world as “away” for up to ten minutes.

Keep your call running alongside it. The party and club are virtual, inside the game, with no real venue, date or ticket. Tickets are optional, from ₦250, and last 24 hours (every price). It is 18+.

Build a game night

1. Start with something quick so latecomers can join between rounds.
2. Have one person host and send the links.
3. Keep the game sound low so you can hear each other.
4. End with something slow: a walk round the estate, or just talking.

Just two of you? Try games to play over FaceTime and video calls.

What games can you play with friends on a Discord call?

Discord Activities run inside voice calls: start one from the rocket ship button. You can also open any browser game, such as skribbl.io, Gartic Phone, Codenames or AJ Cities, and keep talking on Discord.

What are good free games to play with friends on a call?

skribbl.io, Gartic Phone, WorldGuessr and AJ Cities are free in the browser, and Among Us is free on phones.

How many friends can play AJ Cities together?

Up to 60 players share each estate. Pick the same world and you usually join the same one.