If you’re dreading going home because you’ll be hundreds or thousands of miles away from your best friends, you’re not alone! And while there’s nothing like in-person connection, you can get pretty close. Here are some of my favorite ways to have fun with friends from far away:
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Play Cards Against Humanity online at notrly.xyz!
Pretend You’re Xyzzy is a CAH clone where you can play games with random players from around the world or password-locked games with friends. You can also make and use custom decks at cardcastgame.com and play with them by using the command “/addcardcast (Deck ID#)” in the game chat. Make sure to have a chat going with your friends on Zoom so you can hear their reactions!
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Play Jackbox Games (buy on jackboxgames.com)!
If you have any of the Jackbox games on Steam, you can share your screen on Zoom and your friends can play along on their phones. But in general, the games are also available on PS4, XBox One, Switch, Apple TV, Fire TV, and more. There are so many different games to play, and you’ll never have the same experience twice! (My personal favorite is and always will be Trivia Murder Party)
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Play a virtual board game!
There are plenty of websites and apps to play chess, Yahtzee, and tons of other games if you look for them. Of course, if you have an iPhone, you can just keep playing Game Pigeon games like you have been with your siblings all year.
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Run the BrantSteele Hunger Games simulator!
This was THE way I bonded with my friends on Tumblr when I was fifteen, and it still works now! It’s not as much focused on real-time communication, but you can put 24 people (24 friends, 24 of your favorite characters, anything goes!) and the simulator randomly decides who wins the hunger games and how everyone else dies. It’s always hilarious.
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Start a virtual book club!
Even if your local library is closed like mine is, it’s probably still lending out e-books! Get a group of friends together, read a book, and talk about it over video chat.
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Have a virtual PowerPoint night!
Get a big group of friends together over video chat and give everyone five minutes to present a PowerPoint on any topic of their choice. The more outlandish the better!
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Make a shared Spotify playlist!
Put all of your friends’ favorite songs on one playlist and listen whenever you’re feeling lonely. Alternatively, you can make a shared Pinterest board or create a shared Google doc to post links to all your favorite websites.
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Don’t underestimate the power of screen sharing.
You can share your screen on Zoom, which means a lot of things. You can: Watch Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, or any other streaming service; watch YouTube videos (stay tuned for an article on why you should watch Real-Time Fandub Games); study together; and so much more!