14 Board Games to Play on FaceTime

Looking for a way to play games with family and friends who are far away? Try these board games that can easily be played over FaceTime.

Right now, the whole country is basically in quarantine, or practicing social distancing to some degree, due to COVID-19. As a result, even the most introverted of us are feeling socially disconnected and bored.

We had the idea to break up the boredom by playing board games with people who do not live in our house with us. We started with my parents, who live in another state entirely. We FaceTimed them and played Yahtzee together and had a great time.

Yahtzee is a great example of a board game that is easy to play together as long as everyone playing has access to the game (or just five dice and a Yahtzee score sheet you can print out here). My parents pulled out their Yahtzee game, and we pulled out ours, and we took turns rolling just like we would if we had all been in the same room together.

Technology is pretty amazing!

I thought I would put together a list of popular board games that many people own that would also be easy to play over FaceTime, Skype, or other video chat. This is something you can do with grandparents, neighbors, or other friends. We need the social connection right now, and I think it’s a great idea to keep in touch with friends and family who live too far to come over for a game night even when we are out of quarantine.

I came up with 14 games that we have on our game shelf, but it’s really just a starting point—check your own game closets and see what you can come up with!

14 Board Games You Can Play on FaceTime

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Yahtzee—Everyone just needs five dice and a score sheet if they don’t have the actual game. You could also easily write the score sheet out.

Bingo—This is something my side of the family does every Christmas Eve. This last year, after not getting to participate in many years, we played over FaceTime. My dad took pictures of the bingo cards and sent them to us and we used buttons and pennies to cover our spaces while he called out the numbers.

Mad Libs—Ok, so this one isn’t exactly a board game, but it is fun to do together. Most of us have a bunch of them laying around the house, but if you don’t, you can print some out at home here: Printable Mad Libs.

Scattergories—If everyone has access to the game it will be easier, but again, this one is not hard to do even if only one person has the game. You’d just have to list the categories for everyone before you begin each round.

Snake Oil—This is one of our family’s very favorite games to play. Lots of fun and laughs with it. Everyone playing will need access to the game in order to play.

Apples to Apples—We have a couple versions of Apples to Apples. Everybody won’t need to have the same version—you can play with both the Disney version and the Jr. version, for instance. However, everyone will need to have access to the game.

HedBanz—This one would be especially fun for younger kids to play. Everyone needs to have access to the game so they can wear their own headband.

Balderdash—Only one person would need access to the game in order to play this one.  This is another favorite of our family that I think we need to get out soon!

Code Names—Only one person needs access to the game, but you’ll need to make sure you have a good setup with your camera so that everyone can see the cards.

Battleship—This one is good for one-on-one play over FaceTime. Both players will need to have their own game.

Pictionary—Technically, nobody needs to have the game in order to play. It would probably be easier to play if you everyone had small whiteboards though.

Tenzee—We LOVE this dice game! No need to buy the game if you have lots of dice sitting around. Every person playing just needs 10 dice.

Trivial Pursuit—Only one person needs to have access to the game as long as there are enough people to read the questions. The people on the end without the game could just have their own dice to roll and someone could move their game piece for them.

Farkle—If someone doesn’t have the game, they just need six dice and some score sheets. You can print some here: Farkle score sheets.

I hope you enjoy your family game nights with family and friends all over the world! I am so thankful for technology during this time.

Happy game playing!

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