Expat Life: Socially distanced game times

Everyone had to become more familiar with using the internet to stay present to family and friends during the year of the pandemic. For the longest time, we participated from the relative normalcy of Taiwan. We played games with friends and family overseas and then went on hikes to public parks or took a bus to the coast to go snorkeling. But a lockdown finally arrived, and we kicked socially distanced game time up to a whole new level.

So we decided to put together a list of online games that have worked well for us, both here in Taiwan with mixed English levels and with our our friends and families overseas. Some of these games also work really well for socially distanced language exchanges, too! A few of these selections offer their own chat system, but they are all more fun if you have another app or device running a video call.

Skribbl.io

The first entry is probably well known to people who have spent some time doing online group games. This is the rapid paced version of Pictionary that is easy to learn but takes some time to master. The point, however, is not how well you can draw a caterpillar. It’s really all about how many Oohs!, Aahs!, or Whats!? you get along the way, and the unstoppable laughter that can come from it. However, this game can be really frustrating if you forget if your “i” comes before or after “e.” There are no points for improperly spelled words. We have done a few multi-national Skribbl.io games with advanced level ESL speakers. And as long as everyone understands that native-speakers are sometimes poor spellers too, there is a lot of fun to be had by all.

• Logistics
  • Everyone needs a device to play
  • Larger devices (like tablets and computers) are easier to play on then phones. A large touch screen is best!
  • Not great for a mixed language level group
  • You can choose how many rounds you play and how much time everyone gets to guess.
  • Play with as few as 3 people or as many as…. well a lot!

• Website https://skribbl.io/

Among Us

It seems unfortunate to think of a game as a “pandemic classic,” but that’s how we came to know and love Among Us. If you haven’t tried the free iOS or Android app, it’s worth checking out with a few friends! Basically, it’s a group game where someone gets to run around and sabotage things on a spaceship or space station. Everyone else is charged with small tasks to fix your malfunctioning space vehicle. Along the way, if anyone notices suspicious or nefarious behaviors, you can all get together and decide who gets thrown out of the airlock. It’s a fun and funky version of something like Mafia or Werewolves but with a video game element thrown in.

This game is well worth trying out with a group of friends. It’s also great even if you all are at different language levels! And make sure that you are on a group video call. Seeing your friend’s expressions as the warning klaxons come on because someone cut the life support is priceless! (Just don’t forget to turn off your audio in between the discussions!)

• Logistics
  • Everyone needs a device to play
  • This game is free if played on your phone. You have to pay if you want to use your computer.
  • When inviting people into the game, make sure everyone’s game server is set to the same part of the world.
  • Each game takes about 10-15 minutes, and we think its best played with 5-8 players.

Fishbowl

This great party game combines elements of Charades, Password and Taboo into a fun game for larger groups. The online version makes hosting a game super easy. It seamlessly takes you through the process of inviting people into the game, creating teams, and then prompting each player to create their “fish” in the fishbowl (the terms or short phrases that you will have to get your teammates to guess through the three different phases of the game). The website explains each phase of the game as you go, so you don’t even have to know how to play before you start.

The best part about the game Fishbowl is that all the material for the game comes from your group. This allows you to really play on your shared interests, inside jokes, etc. And it also means that if you are thoughtful about it, it can be a great game to play with nonnative speakers or with kids. As the host, just remind people to take those things into consideration as they write down their words/phrases for the game (ie “remember there are kids playing!” or “please, no idioms or long phrases”!) . On the other hand, depending on the group you could make it more complicated or niche! For example you might ask everyone to only write down song titles or lines from movies. Or if everyone in the group shares more than one language in common, suggest that everyone write a mix of words from each language!

• Logistics
  • Every player will need their own device
  • This website works great on phones and computers. Technically, you don’t have to have the webpage and the video screen up at the same time, but its more fun that way. So a computer or tablet is nicer for that. Or if you have a few people playing in the same room, you might set up one computer with the video call going, and then have everyone use their phones to access the game’s site.
  • You can play with this game with as few as 5 people, but 6 or more is best. We’ve played with as many as 12 people before!
  • This is a longer game! The more people that play the game, the longer the game will last. When my family of 6 plays it usually takes us a little under an hour

• Website https://fishbowl-game.com/

CODENAMES

Josh bought me this board game for my birthday a few years back. Its one of my favorites to break out at parties and it turns out its equally fun online! If you don’t how to play this game already codenamesgame.com can teach you! On the other hand if you already know how to play and prefer a no frills, basic game experience horsepaste.com is for you.

The gist of the game is as follows. Two teams, lead by “codemasters”, try to read their leaders mind and pick the right words out of a list based on the leaders cryptic codes. It plays on word associations and maybe the personal connections you have with people on your team. (We actually especially love the picture variation of this game. It’s great for non-native speakers or as a language exchange game! But unfortunately, the online versions only facilitate the original word based version). Still, for native or advanced non-native English speakers, this game is super fun!

• Logistics
  • If you use the really basic horsepaste site, then not everyone needs a device to play. The two “codemasters” can easily share one screen.
  • Game time varies depending on how much thinking and over-analyzing is going on :P. But an average game is about 15 minutes
  • You need at least 4 people to play! And we suggest no more than 8 players

• Website (Basic version) https://www.horsepaste.com/
• Website (Fancy Version) https://codenamesgame.com/

Boardgamearena

The biggest gift Taiwan’s lockdown gave me was the discovery of boardgamearena. As an avid board game player, this site just delights me! It has a huge array of games, from classics board games like backgammon to world building games , like Carcassonne, dice games – like Yahtzee, and card games like Uno and Cribbage. I first got excited about this site because of the chance it offered me to play cribbage with my dad back in the states. Then I noticed that it has Can’t Stop – a much lesser known game but one I grew up playing with my family. Then a friend that I invited to play Can’t Stop with me, pointed out 6 Nimmt. She had just taught me how play that card game in person a few weeks back.

I had loved playing with her and already been thinking I should teach it to my family the next time I was back in the states. But thanks to boardgamearena, I didn’t have to wait! While you’re almost sure to recognize some of the games on this site, you’ll probably also discover many new games here. Josh and I have learned half a dozen new games on boardgamearena this year. It provides video tutorials as well as written instructions for most of their games, and the design of game play for most games is very intuitive and helpful for learning new games. Currently, our favorite new-to-us game on boardgamearena is Vulture Culture. Its super easy, fast and fun!

Sixes

You don’t always need fancy websites to help you facilitate an online game time with your loved ones. Sometimes the physical game itself is perfectly suitable to be played via video call. And no game is that more true for than Sixes.

Sixes is a delightfully simple game. Using prompts from cards, you come up with words associated with a topic or an idea. Depending on what phase of the game you are playing, you want your answers fit the topic AND either match someone else in the group or be completely unique. The brilliance of this game is how simple it is. Its easy to explain, quick to play and usually brings a lot of laughter.

There’s always that moment someone thinks they came up with the cleverest most unique word ever, only to find out someone else thought the same thing! Or you’ll be dumbfounded that your partner didn’t write down the same song, food, etc that you did. While many games can tend toward intense strategy and competition, Sixes is great lighthearted bonding. And I’ve found that even people who are normally hesitant about joining games will often get sucked into this game once they see how fun and easy it is.

The socially distant version is easy to play too. The people sponsoring the game of sixes just need a set of sixes cards. Everyone else just needs a pen and a piece of paper. The game master calls out the topic, for each phase of the game and off you go!

Logistics:

• For devices, all you need is to be able to hear (and ideally see) everyone on the video call
• 1 person needs the physical game. Everyone else just needs a piece of paper and something to write with.  And if you want to time the rounds someone will need to be in charge of that
• There is a special “lightning round” phase of the game that we modify by simply not setting a timer for that round. Instead, one person reads the card out loud, pausing between each line, so that everyone can write down their answer. Then once everyone agrees, the card holder reads out the next one.
• You can play with as few as 3 people. But the more the better. We’ve played with as many as 10 people!
• Length of game depends on how many people are playing and how much chatting you do about your answers :P. But average time is probably about 20-40 minutes.

Where to buy the game: https://www.eaglegames.net/SiXeS-p/101655.htm