Party games to play on a video call

Playing games over a video call is harder than it sounds. Everyone talks at once, someone's screen freezes, and the game nobody can see turns into ten minutes of "can you read that out again?". The fix is simple: let everyone play on their own phone, and use the call for the faces and the laughing.

The setup that works

1. Start the call as usual, on whatever video app your group already uses.
2. Start a room on Darecade, from a phone or a laptop.
3. Send the invite link in the call's chat, or show the QR code to the camera. Everyone joins on their own phone; no sign-up, nothing to download.
4. Keep the call on the big screen and the game in your hand.

A room holds up to eight people, which is about as many as a call can take before it turns into a crowd. Anyone in the room can suggest a game, and everyone is asked whether they're in before it starts, so nobody gets dragged into something mid-sentence.

Tip Mute when it isn't your turn. The person doing a dare should be the only one talking.

Games that play well through a camera

Imposter

The best online party game we know. Everyone gets the secret word on their own phone, except the imposter, whose phone never receives it, so no amount of squinting at a screen will help. Clues are typed, with 45 seconds each, and appear on every screen as they come in. The moment the last clue is in, the vote opens: you have a minute, votes can be changed right up until the last one's in, and the call is where the arguing happens. Our guide explains how to play Imposter in full.

Truth or Dare

In a room, the player whose turn it is chooses truth or dare on their phone, the card shows up on everyone's screen at the same time, and all eyes go to that person's video. When they're done, they tap Done or Skip and the turn moves on. Online there's no picking packs: the truths include our bolder Spill the Tea questions, so it suits a group of friends more than strangers, and the dares leave out anything that needs people in the same place, like "the person on your left".

Our Video Call Party pack is written for calls ("Show the strangest object within arm's reach and tell us its story"). To play it online, pick a few from the full list and add them to the room's own dares: Truth or Dare deals the room's dares first. One thing to know: once a room has its own dares, the loser of every game that has a loser takes one, so empty the list if you'd rather play just for fun.

Would You Rather and Never Have I Ever

Both are made for a call when they're played in a room: each phone picks an answer in private, everyone guesses how the group will split, and then only the count is shown, with no names on the answers. The closest guesses score, so there's something to play for besides the stories. Both need three players or more.

The Dare Wheel and Dare Dice

Both play in turns in a room: the spin or the roll happens on every phone at once, so the suspense is shared, and the dare that lands shows on every screen. The wheel spins the room's own dares (with our party mix filling any empty slices), and the dice roll them six to a round, so a group with in-jokes can make the whole game its own.

Quick head-to-heads

Connect 4, Rock-Paper-Scissors, Dice Duel and Battleships are two-player games inside the same room, with everyone else watching. When one is offered, the first person to say they're in plays. They're good while you wait for the last people to arrive, and the rest of the call can cheer on whoever's losing.

A race

Pair Rush online is a memory race that everyone plays at the same time, each on their own board: a three-second countdown, then 45 seconds to find as many pairs as you can. It's frantic in the best way, and a good one to start with while people are still finding their headphones.

What doesn't work so well

• Anything that needs people in the same room, like passing an object or whispering to your neighbour.
• Long turns. On a call, a two-minute turn feels like ten. Keep dares short.
• Games only one person can see. If someone has to read cards out to the camera, the game is mostly waiting.

Keeping a call game comfortable

• Have a host. One person starts the room, suggests the games and keeps the call moving.
• Mix it up. Switch between something everyone plays at once (Imposter, a race) and something that takes turns (Truth or Dare, the wheel).
• Know the safety features. The room chat turns away links, phone numbers and usernames for other apps, so nobody gets pulled off somewhere else. If friends-of-friends are joining, the host can lock the room once everyone's in, so nobody new can join even with the link, and anyone can report a player who spoils it (reporting takes you out of the room, too).
• Don't worry about tidying up. A room closes by itself after 30 quiet minutes, and after three hours at the most, with a ten-minute warning.

A 90-minute plan

If you're hosting a whole evening over a call, here's a running order that works:

1. 10 minutes: Pair Rush races while everyone arrives.
2. 20 minutes: Imposter, a few games in a row.
3. 20 minutes: Truth or Dare, with a handful of Video Call Party dares in the room's list.
4. 10 minutes: a break. Anyone who doesn't need one can play Connect 4 or Battleships.
5. 15 minutes: the Dare Wheel with the group's own dares.
6. 15 minutes: an encore of whatever got the biggest laugh.