Free Online Games to Play with Friends and Family During Quarantine

Currently, there are so many different online games that you can play with either bots, random players, or acquaintances. It's great! But, isn't it better if you can play games that are free, with only people you invite, and no download or registration required?

After spending a few days looking on the internet, I managed to find six different online games that you can play with friends and family by just using your browser. These games enabled me to have a good time playing with my loved ones especially during these times where most of us have to stay at home. Hopefully these six online games will make your remote game nights better too!

Let's get started.

1. Skribbl

Number of players: 2-12 players

Skribbl is very similar to the popular game of Pictionary. In this game, each person gets a turn to draw while the others have to guess the word.

How to play:

1. Create your avatar.
2. Once you have finished creating your avatar, click “Create Private Room”.
3. Configure your game (2-10 rounds, 30-180 second of drawing time, and language).
4. Underneath, there is a link available that you can share with your friends to join you in the private lobby (up to 12 players including you).
5. Invited players would simply need to click the link, configure their avatar and click “Play”.
6. Once everyone has joined, just click “Start Game”.
7. When it’s your turn to draw, you choose one out of three words to draw.
8. While you are drawing, the others have to type in their guesses in order to obtain points. The faster they are in guessing it, the more points you all get.
9. At the end of the game, the person with the most points will be crowned as the winner. So, whatever you do, be fast and watch out for those typos!

Skribbl Website

2. Pairs One

Number of players: 2-4 players

This is a memory game where you can play with up to four invited players using different themes. Personally, this is my favorite one because it's pretty simple and the pictures are very cute!

How to play:

1. On the bottom of the page, configure your game (choose from 15 themes, 1-4 players, 6x6, 7x7, 8x8 tiles , and select "I'll invite my opponent(s) myself").
2. After you finish configuring your game, click on "Start Game".
3. Share the link with others. As soon as all the players have joined, the game will start automatically.
4. At this point, the game will indicate who's turn it is by highlighting their name in green (you can also change your name by scrolling all the way to the bottom of the game page and click "Ok").
5. The player chooses 2 tiles, if it is right, you get 1 point, the tiles disappear, and you get another chance to choose 2 tiles until you get it wrong.
6. If you get it wrong, you don't get any points, you lose your turn, and the next player will need to choose 2 tiles. This goes on until all the tiles have disappeared.
7. Obviously, the person with the most points wins so just make sure to memorize and concentrate on those tiles!

Pairs One Website

3. Dominoes

Number of players: 2-4 players

This well-known game amongst friends and family has been around for many years. This game requires you to match your bones with one of the bone's ends on the table. Even though, we are accustomed to play this game in person, the essence of the game still stays the same while bringing good memories back and making some new ones.

How to play:

1. Click "New Game".
2. On the menu option, configure your game (select "Private", game style of all-fives, all-threes, draw, or block, 2-4 players).
3. Click on "Create Room".
4. Under "Invite", copy and paste the link with your friends.
5. Once the invited players click the link, they should click on "Join Game" or wait until the page loads.
6. The game page will open and the invited players including you would need to press "Ready?".
7. As the original domino game, choose which bone you would want to put and where (within an amount of time indicated on the orange bar next to your bones).
8. If it happens that you do not have any bone to put down (blocked), you will have to grab bones from the pile until you have the right one.
9. Of course, the one that is first empty-handed wins the round and gains points based on the number of dots indicated on the bones that are still in the other opponent's hands.
10. The person that reaches the target points first, is the winner of the domino game. Try to be as strategic as possible with your moves!

Dominoes Website

4. UNO Freak

Number of players: 2-10 players

UNO is another well-known game amongst everyone especially during game night. The essence of UNO Freak is to play all your cards. For this, you have to make sure to press "UNO" when you have only one card left in your deck, otherwise you will get 2 extra cards from the pile (certainly no one wants that). Another great thing about this online game is that it has a chat where you can communicate with your friends and family. Maybe you would want to show your friendly competitive side while playing? Who knows.

Updated version now requires the game creator to have an account.

How to play:

1. On the top menu, click "Join a Game (Play)".
2. Configure your game (Room name, 1-50 playing cards per person, and select "Hide from Lobby").
3. Click on "Create Game".
4. Share the main link with up to 9 other players.
5. As soon as they land on the navigation page, they should click "Join a Game (Play)" on the menu bar.
6. Players will be able to see a window named "Create a New Game". There is no need to fill in anything, they would only need to click the red text stating "Join a Game".
7. Once the page has loaded, they just fill in the room name (and password if applicable) that you have previously entered
8. Click the button "Join Game".
9. Immediately after this, you will be able to see who has joined the private lobby. Whenever you are all ready, just click "Start Game".
10. This online game works exactly as the original one. When it is your turn (indicated on top of the deck), you select the cards matching the colors, numbers, or any other strategic cards helping you to get rid of cards (reverse, change color, or pick cards).
11. Once you have only one card, remember to click "UNO" on top of the deck in order to avoid potentially screwing up your own game. If you pull it off, you win!

Uno Freak Website

5. Remote Insensitivity (Cards Agains Humanity)

Number of players: 3-6 players

Card games will probably remain a classic game to play. On the Playing Cards website, there are several card games that you can play with others such as Crazy Eights, Euchre, Go Fish, Match Up, Remote Insensitivity (similar to Cards Against Humanity), customized card games, and other games such as Checkers. Personally, my favorite one is Remote Insensitivity because it's a game that cannot be missed on typical game nights. In this game, each player gets seven cards and in each round, everyone has to present one card to complete "fill-in-the-blank" cards in order to create statements. The person with the best statement wins.

How to play:

1. Scroll to the bottom of the navigation page and select "Remote Insensitivity".
2. Click "Start Game".
3. Copy the link and share with friends and family (up to 6 players including you). Then, you and your invited players have to press "Enter".
4. Immediately after this, you will be able to see the game page (shown above). I would suggest to first press "recall & shuffle" just to make sure that the cards are indeed randomized.
5. Each player just drags seven cards on the bottom part of the page in order to see their own cards (only visible to the player).
6. From here, it works just like Cards Against Humanity. One player starts by clicking the purple "fill-in-the-blank" card stating "Click Here for ____!!!".
7. This player has to only wait for the others to pick their one best word card matching the "fill-in-the-blank" card and dragging it in the middle pile.
8. Out of all these word cards, the best one is chosen by the player, the purple "fill-in-the-blank" card is dragged to the winner's pile (e.g., "Player 1"), and the rest of the word cards are dragged to the "Discard" pile next to the pink card deck.
9. Everyone takes turns doing this, until the person with the most "fill-in-the-blank" cards wins.
10. At the end, you can press "Recall & Shuffle" in order to put all the discarded and winning cards back in the main deck and start a new game. May the good cards be on your side!

Remote Insensitivity Website

6. Codenames

Number of players: -

Codenames is similar to the classic PC game called "Minesweeper". Here you have codenames with nine blue tiles, eight red tiles, seven blank tiles, and one black tile. The goal of this game is to win by getting all the tile colors of your team (either red or blue) while avoiding the black tile. It's sounds easy, but in reality it is pretty tricky as you never know which color the tile is until you click on it.

How to play:

1. Configure your game (game name, optional timer, and 19 different languages).
2. Click "Go".The game will immediately open
3. On the top of the page, copy the link and send it to another player or team or share your screen.
4. On the top of the page, it will also show who's turn it is to click on the codenames revealing the color of the tile and how many tiles are still pending to be revealed.
5. Once all the colors of the blue or red player/team are revealed showing 0 on the left side, the team has won. Another way is if the black tile is revealed by a team, making the other team win automatically. Technically, "just" try to make your best guesses!

Codenames website

Final Thoughts

All these online games are great for a remote game night with friends and family. Even if your group is bigger, you can always divide yourselves in teams making it possible for everyone to join.

Happy gaming y'all!

Also read: https://vocal.media/gamers/free-online-games-to-play-with-friends-and-family-during-lockdown-2022