Fun online group games for friends who live far apart, and a virtual party to meet at

Every friend group scatters eventually. Someone moves for a job, someone japas, someone goes back home. The group chat survives, but the nights out do not, and a call every few months is not quite the same as being together.

Online group games fill that gap better than most people expect, as long as you pick ones that cope with what a scattered group really looks like: different countries, different devices, different time zones and at least one friend who refuses to download anything. Here are our picks, with the facts about each checked in October 2026 and listed at the bottom.

What makes a group game work across distance

• Any device. Someone will be on a phone, someone on a work laptop, someone on a console. Browser games and cross-platform games save the night.
• Free for guests. Asking a friend in another country to buy something in their currency is a bad start.
• Easy to join late. In a group spread across time zones, people arrive at different times. Games with short rounds let latecomers jump in.
• Room to talk. The game is an excuse to catch up. Pick games that leave space for conversation.

Our picks

Codenames Online: catch up while you argue

Free in a browser, from the board game’s publisher, Czech Games Edition, and good for up to 64 players a session. Make a room, share the link, and use the call you already have. Codenames is slow enough between clues that the group can actually talk, which is what a scattered group needs most.

skribbl.io: no rules to explain

A free online drawing and guessing game in the browser. Private rooms take 2 to 20 players, and you can set the language of the words and add your own. Add custom words from your shared past (the old flat, the teacher everyone feared, the restaurant that closed) and it becomes a game about your friendship.

Gartic Phone: the reveal at the end

The telephone game with drawings, free on its website on computers, tablets and phones, and on Discord too. Everyone writes, draws and guesses in turn, then you watch the chains together. It is good for groups because everyone plays at once rather than waiting their turn.

Among Us: across phones, computers and consoles

For 4 to 15 players online, with cross-platform play between PC, console and mobile, which matters when your friends are on different devices. It is an app rather than a browser game: free on the App Store with in-app purchases, and a small price on Steam.

Board Game Arena: the old game night

Board games in a browser, free since 2010, with some Premium titles that a Premium member can open to free players. If your group used to play the same board game every Friday, this is how to bring it back.

Jackbox: if one of you owns it

Only the host needs a pack. Everyone else joins on a phone at jackbox.tv with the room code from the host’s shared screen. Quiplash 3 takes 3 to 8 players plus an audience of up to 10,000.

AJ Cities: somewhere to meet

Our game, and the one on the list that is a place rather than a round. AJ Cities is a free open-world browser game set on the edge of Ajegunle, Lagos. Its party mode is a live, virtual Lagos night: your group makes characters, meets at the gate of a walled estate and spends the evening there together, with other players around. To be clear, it is a virtual party inside the game, with no real venue, no real date and no real ticket.

Why it suits friends who live far apart:

• It runs anywhere. In a browser on a phone or a computer, with nothing to download.
• Everyone sees the same time. Each world (always day, always night or real Lagos time) shows the same time to every player in it, wherever they are.
• Same world, same estate. Pick the same world as your friends and you usually join the same estate. Each holds up to 60 players.
• The same music. The estate radio plays the same song at the same moment for every player.
• Free to get in. Ask the police at the main gate; most nights about four in five who ask get in free. Tickets are optional, from ₦250.
• Room to wander. The street, Prizm with Joe-Izzy from 9 pm to 1 am Lagos time, the bush and the beach party. Split up, catch up in twos and threes, meet again.

For friends who are part of the Nigerian diaspora, there is something extra: a Lagos street to stand on together, wherever you each are. For everyone else, it is a new place to explore as a group.

Handling time zones

The hardest part of a scattered group is the clock. A few things help:

• Fix one time and write it out for every city. “8 pm London, 3 pm New York” in the invite saves ten messages.
• Know where Lagos sits. Lagos is on West Africa Time, UTC+1, and Nigeria does not change its clocks.
• Use the always-night world. In AJ Cities, if the real Lagos night is at a bad hour for half the group, the always-night world is fixed at 10 pm, so the club is open whenever you meet.
• Weekends at midday in the Americas often land in the evening in Europe and Africa: one slot that works for most of a transatlantic group.

A regular group night

1. Same day, same time, every month. A fixed slot survives better than “we should do this again”.
2. One game to start. Rotate who picks.
3. Then meet up. Send the party link, agree a world and meet at the gate.
4. A group photo. A screenshot of your characters together, posted in the group chat.

Everyone signs in with an email and must be 18 or over for AJ Cities party mode. For more picks, see browser games to play with friends and games to play with friends on a call.

What online games can a group play from different countries?

Our picks: Codenames Online, skribbl.io and Gartic Phone in a browser, Among Us with cross-platform play, Board Game Arena, Jackbox if one person owns it, and a virtual night out in AJ Cities.

Can friends in Nigeria, the UK and the US join the same AJ Cities estate?

Yes. It runs in a browser anywhere. Pick the same world and you usually join the same estate, which holds up to 60 players.

Is the AJ Cities party a real-world event?

No. It is a virtual party inside the game, with no real venue, date or ticket.

What time zone is Lagos in?

West Africa Time, UTC+1, with no daylight saving.