Being entertained and finding fun ways to stay connected with friends and family during the pandemic are important goals for many people over the past few months, especially socially starved college students.
For CPP students who aren’t into playing video games or online games, there are some easily accessible games that show to be enjoyable to play with loved ones over a call or as a weekend activity with roommates. Here are five games The Poly Post recommends that are worth trying to level up your pandemic free time.
All Bad Cards
One of the popular pandemic games has been All Bad Cards, a party game where players are given a phrase or question while everyone answers with their funniest or most outlandish card. It is the free online version of the classic card game Cards Against Humanity. Users can play public games or create private ones with friends, add bots for extra players and customize the gameplay. There is even an option for write-in cards that my friends and I use for added comedy.
This is something people can lose track of time playing. It is really easy to hop on Zoom or group Facetime to play remotely, which makes this a great game to pick for the weekly calls with friends and family. For more information, visit https://allbad.cards.
Jackbox TV
Jackbox TV games are an interactive and easy group activity to play, either on game night at home or over Zoom with friends.
A personal favorite is Survive the Internet, where players twist their friends’ comments and vote on who has the most eccentric response. Other popular games include Rap City, where players go head-to-head in a freestyle competition using the odd subject choices the game assigns, and Fibbage, where players guess the true answer among the weird responses given to trivia questions.
To play, one person must purchase a party pack for everyone. Each party pack costs $24.99 and comes with four to six games depending on the pack chosen. These games can also be played by connecting with the TV screen using an Xbox or PlayStation. Jackbox TV is available on Steam and its website at https://jackbox.tv.
Among Us
Among Us has excelled in popularity over the past few weeks, and that popularity is well-deserved. This is a free multiplayer app game that allows up to 10 people to play with a predetermined number of imposters, with the rest of the players being crewmates. Crewmates are supposed to complete a task list while imposters kill off crewmates discreetly. During each round, everyone votes to figure out who the imposters are.
Players can join any public game but also have the option to create a private one with friends. Sitting on the couch in the living room with friends or roommates and trying to figure out which one of them is the imposter can get hectic, to say the least. Among Us is available on the Apple and Google Play stores and can be downloaded through Steam as well.
Kahoot Trivia
Everyone has played Kahoot in school, but it’s now the time to take it to the next level. Using this platform, players can make their own trivia about themselves while the group attempts to reach the highest score on each other’s Kahoots. To make it more interesting, individuals can also create their trivia questions completely based on personal opinions with answers that may be controversial. Seeing friends rage over a subjective answer after they get it wrong is half the fun.
PowerPoint debate
Though this isn’t an online game, using PowerPoint to indulge in a friendly debate can be a fun way to engage with friends virtually. After everyone chooses a topic of their choice, they are expected to create a PowerPoint slideshow and present it to the group. This can also easily be done over Zoom using the screen-sharing option.
This is a lot of fun, and there are so many different twists to put into this. Players can decide to select an odd or eccentric topic — some personal favorites being “best reality TV show that I think my friends would thrive on” or “which food items are technically soup by definition.” This is the most fun when it leads to debate or disagreement. Although there are no winners in this game, it is just a fun way to get to know friends and share interesting opinions on subjects that probably would not come up in daily conversations.