Many couples are going through long-distance relationships today because of the new coronavirus pandemic, and it really stinks. I totally feel you; I have been in a long distance relationship for four years now and I was going to see my boyfriend during the spring break holiday, but my flight got canceled due to the virus. But no worries! We have great technology today and you can video call with your partner, your family, or friends anytime you want to! And today, I would like to share with you seven fun games you can play on Zoom or Skype with your partner!
- Mad Libs
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Old-fashioned word games like Mad Libs can be a fun way to do something together on a video call. Mad Libs is a phrasal template speech game where one player prompts others for a list of words to replace filler words in a story before reading the final product aloud. Mad Libs may be invented for children, but let’s face it, they’re also entertaining for grown-ups Jimmy Fallon even has an entire recurring segment assigned to Mad Libs on his show!Here is how you play:
– One player reads out a prewritten story with blank spaces for nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
– The stories start pretty normally, but quickly go off the rails as other players throw out suggestions to fill in the blanks.
– It’s better to play with “dirtier and nastier words” if you play it with your partner or friends!
I’ve played this with my partner, and we ended up in tears laughing. Have fun! You can even play Mad Libs online!
- Skribbl.io
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Taking you back to the old-school days of Pictionary and doodling, Skribbl.io is an online alternative for these drawing-guessing games. Regardless of whether you’re the next Picasso or failed your art class, anyone can have a go.
Here is how you play:
– Go to this website , create a private room, and send the invite link to people who you are playing with.
– You can customize the number of rounds, time for drawing, and add custom words.
– If you’re the artist, attempt to draw the prompt given, if not, guess what the artist is trying to paint.
- 20 Questions
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Are you fond of quiz games? If so, 20 Questions is precisely the game for you! 20 Questions is easy to play over Skype or Facetime. Just ask or answer the questions. It is that simple, and there is no limit to the kind of questions you can ask as long as it’s phrased as a yes or no question.
Here is a simple run down of the game:
– The answerer will choose an object for the questioner to guess. As the questioner, you need to ask twenty questions, and your partner should answer truthfully with “yes” or “no.” This should allow the answerer to identify the object the person is thinking of based on the questions.
– Then you flip the roles.
But here is my advice: don’t pick an extremely hard one! When I played it with my friends the other day, I picked a hard word and they got very frustrated and almost killed me (just kidding)!
- Online Games like 8 Ball Pool, Golf Battle, and More!
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You can always play simple online phone games on your own, but you can also play with your partner to make it more fun! There are several online games you can find on the App Store or Google Play Store:
1) 8 Ball Pool™
2) Golf Battle
4) Brawl Stars
- Club Penguin
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Club Penguin is an online virtual world where players can talk and meet with each other in the most unique and cute way. This allows you to virtually hangout with your partner live and experience Club Penguin’s amazing mini-games and immersive world. Playing the minigames allows you to collect coins which you can then spend on clothes, pets, or in-game furniture. Every penguin gets their own house in the game, which is then customizable with the in-game currency. Club Penguin was first launched in 2005, and was shut down in 2017, however Club Penguin’s creators have relaunched the active internet community. Much like other online games like Habbo Hotel, Disney’s Club Penguin was a sign of the times in 2005, where players designed their avatar, which was an adorable penguin. The relaunched version of Club Penguin Online is more or less the same as the original. Since it was relaunched last month, already over 6 million people have signed up to play and escape the realities of coronavirus, social distancing, and lockdowns. Signing up is completely free, so you don’t have to pay anything to play any part of the game. If you’re feeling nostalgic or just that bored, why not give it a whirl?
- Would You Rather?
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This sort of game can be played with anyone. All you need is two or more people, and you do not need any set-up. Just bring your imagination and a bunch of interesting questions. If you don’t remember the rules, I will remind you:
– Connect with your partner or friends via Skype or Facetime. The more players, the merrier;
– Decide who will ask first. Create a question and provide two scenarios to choose from;
– If you are asked, choose one scenario. The choice is yours!
– You cannot select both or none of the answers.
– Try to create challenging scenarios. If you want to ask an inappropriate question, add some humor!
– Be creative!
Enjoy getting to know each other better with this game!
- Whisper Challenge
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Last but not least, The Whisper Challenge is my favorite game! It is actually a super fun challenge that can be done by many people of all ages. The simplest way to explain this game is it’s a “lip-reading game”.
Here is how you can play the Whisper Challenge:
– Your partner wears earphones/headphones with music playing loud enough that they can’t hear anything.
– Then you start to say a word or sentence, and your partner has to guess what you said.
– You and your partner can then switch roles.
– Here are some scoring systems before the game begins: Correct guess = one point, partially correct guess = half-point, wrong guess = zero points.
This game has no limit on the number of people that can play; so, you can play with as many people as you want. And to make it more fun, both players, on either side, which is guessing the phrase, or making the sentence can wear earphones. This, in turn, makes it a lot more challenging and it’s extra fun for people who are watching them!
When you play the whisper challenge, you do not want your partner to guess the word too quickly. So I would suggest playing it slightly differently. Instead of saying the sentence, phrase, or word, verbatim, you can describe each word individually with similar or related topics.
For example, “Tacos are super delicious”, you can explain tacos by saying “Mexico” and so on. It will be more fun if you come up with some difficult words or funny sentences that would be confusing to guess correctly.
The coronavirus pandemic has put many of us in stressful situations. College students are facing hard times with online classes and being sent back to their home countries. This has separated many of us from our learning environments, our families, our friends, our significant others. Difficult times become easier if you have people to support each other, whether that be friends, family, or your partner. We cannot see them in person, but we can still be there for each other by calling or video chatting. I hope my list of ideas can help make you happy and have fun with your loved ones!