While Zoom used to be primarily used as a platform for conferencing for work, more and more people are now using Zoom as a way to stay connected in their small groups and ministries during this time of quarantine.
The great thing about Zoom is that you can see everyone on one screen, making it a great platform for playing games and staying entertained. Obviously, your game options are somewhat limited, but there are still a lot of great games you can play in small groups with Zoom.
Check out this guide to discover the top Zoom games to play online with your small group.
1. Charades
One of the best things about charades is that you hardly need any materials to get started.
And, this is a game that you can play with as many people as you want without it getting too disorganized, as the attention is only on one person at a time. All you have to do is gather your group on Zoom, choose your teams, and then consult with each other in individual chat rooms to get the game going.
2. Trivia
Zoom trivia is becoming a more and more popular social distancing activity. One of the best ways to play trivia over Zoom is to use a website like triviamaker.com.
This site allows you to create your own trivia game, and once the game is created, you can share it with your friends and play. To make playing easy, we suggest
sharing screens, using the Web Presenter feature, and making files downloadable.
3. Bingo
To play bingo over Zoom, all you need to do is have each person print out the same style of bingo cards.
Then, have one person be the designated caller. Since you won’t have a bingo call generator, you can write out numbers on cards, shuffle them, and then pull them out one at a time.
4. Pictionary
You can also use the whiteboard feature on Zoom to play Pictionary.
To use the whiteboard feature, all you need to do is click the share screen button located in your meeting toolbar. Then, select the whiteboard and click share. From here, you’ll see annotation tools that will allow you to draw just as you would in regular Pictionary.
5. JackBox Games
JackBox is a company that makes all kinds of video quiz-based party games. While some of these cost money, a lot of them can be downloaded for free and easily played over Zoom.
Some of the top games to check out include:
- Drawful: This game is similar to Pictionary, but you’ll be prompted to draw ridiculous things such as “cotton candy hair”
- Fibbage XL: This is a game that can be played with up to 8 players, and it involves fooling your friends while you try to figure out the correct answer in a pack of lies
- Quiplash: With this game, players are given two prompts to answer, and each prompt is given to two players. For each prompt, two answers go head-to-head and players vote on which one they think is the funniest
As you can see, there are a lot of great games to choose from.
6. Scattegories
Scattegories can be played just as easily online as offline.
Everyone just needs to grab a piece of paper and a pen, and one person will read off a list of 12 different categories. Then, either roll a letter die or choose a letter, and everyone will need to write a word for all 12 categories that start with that letter. For example, if the letter is B, and one of the categories is boy’s names, you could write down Brian.
Are You Ready to Try These Zoom Games?
As you can see, there are a lot of amazing Zoom games worth trying. Now, all you need to do is get your team together and get started!
And, be sure to check out this guide on the essential youth ministry apps.
