You may not be able to physically see your friends right now because of COVID-19, but that doesn’t mean you still can’t play board games online. Thanks to the magic of the internet, it’s easier than ever to play some of your favorite board games online from the comfort of your home with your friends and family.
From classic online board games like Checkers and Monopoly to The Game of Life, there are tons of virtual board game options to choose from. These 26 online board games to play with friends will not only let you stay connected and bond with your loved ones, but they’ll provide hours of entertainment while keeping you all socially distant.
Check out 26 online board games you can play with your friends below and invite your buds to join you for a virtual board game night like never before—you can see more online games here. No matter which online board game you decide on, there’s no doubt that you’ll have a good old time—virtually!
26 Online Board Games
1. Parcheesi
Play a game of Parcheesi with your friends even though you aren’t with them in person! All you have to do is set up a private game and send them an invitation so they can join you. Once you’re all ready, it’s game on to see who can bring all of their tokens to the finish square first.
2. Monopoly
Who doesn’t love this real-estate board game about buying and developing property? The best part is, since it’s virtual, you don’t have to keep track of all your money – the computer does it for you. So gather some of your friends and play a private game online now!
3. Scrabble
Want to play Scrabble with a group of friends, without breaking the quarantine code? Now you can…online! Get ready to spell your heart out and see if you can create words of higher point values than your friends. This game can last hours, so beware!
Related: The 26 Best Online Games to Play With Friends While Social Distancing
4. Chess
If you want to perfect your Chess skills after watching Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, you’re in luck. You can challenge one of your friends online and try to come up with the best strategy and tactics to capture their king from the comfort of each of your own homes.
5. Checkers
Thanks to this online version, you can play with a friend that lives close to you or across the country! Plus, it lets you choose from different board themes, which will makes your overall experience more fun as you set out to remove all your opponent’s checkers from the board.
6. Battleship
Grab a friend and play this classic navy game together! It’ll be just like you’re playing in-person as you each try to find one another’s ships on the board and sink them. The virtual boards even lights up where you place your guesses.
7. Snakes and Ladders
If you’re scared of snakes, no worries! You and your friends won’t encounter real ones while playing this board game. However, you will want to avoid landing in the mouth of a pretend snake as you guys climb up ladders on your attempt to get to square 100 first.
8. Risk
This board game can be played with two to six players. It involves you controlling an army of artillery, infantry and cavalry and trying to occupy every territory on the board while eliminate players. Fun, right?
9. Ticket to Ride
All aboard! Compete with your buddies to build train routes across the United States and Canada in this board game. You’ll get points for designing specific routes and creating routes that give passengers extra-long journeys.
10. Clue
Channel your inner detective because you’ve got a murder mystery to solve!Playing Clue online will make you feel like you’re really inside a mansion as you collect clues and try to find out who killed Mr. Boddy. It’s up to you to crack the case before anyone else does.
Related: 50 of the Best Family Board Games That'll Kick Your Game Night (Or Day) Into High Gear
11. Scattergories
Think fast! Get ready to challenge your family and friends (or a random person) to a fast-paced word battle with this popular board game. And while coming up with words that start with different letters may seem easy, you’ll be surprised how tough it can be when you’re put on the spot.
12. Yahtzee
With dice animations and a scoreboard on your screen, this online version of Yahtzee is just like the board game. You’ll have a blast as you try to toll a full house, three or a kind and all the other combos you need in order to win.
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13. Mancala
Just like the actual game, this online version has two rows of six pockets that each have four stones in them. One player at a time will take a turn picking up the stones in any pocket and distributing them until they run out. When all six pockets on one side of the board are empty, the game is over and the person with the most stones in their main pocket wins.
14. Tic Tac Toe
While this game can be played with actual pieces on a game board or drawn on a piece of paper, you can also play the classic X and O game online. See if you’ve got what it takes to get three or more letters in a row.
15. Gomoku
Are you familiar with this black and white piece board game? While it’s usually called Gomoku, it’s also referred to as Five in a Row. Why? You guessed it: the winner of the game is the one who can successfully get five of their pieces in a row first without the other person blocking its path.
16. Backgammon
Believe it or not, Backgammon is one of the oldest board games around, dating back roughly 5,000 years! The two-player game gives each player 15 pieces that they can move between 24 triangles, according to what number their dice rolls. The player who moves all fifteen checkers off the board first, wins! Playing online is simple and you don’t have to worry about misplacing the dice since they are animated.
Related: Zoom Games for Kids
17. Boggle
If you enjoy spelling games, try Boggle out! All you have to do is see who can find more words that are adjacent to each other in 180 seconds on a 4x4 grid. The online version makes it easy to play with friends and family that are near and far while you’re quarantined.
18. Connect 4
Take turns dropping your colored discs into a suspended grid to form a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line in Connect 4. The first person to do so, wins! Just make sure you pay attention to what your opponent is doing, and not just your own strategy, or they could get their colored discs connected before you realize it. The best part is, you don’t have to empty the grid and pick up all the discs once your game is over since it’s online.
19.Mahjong
Created in China in the 1800s, Mahjong has a total of 144 tiles on its board. Over the years, the game has gained several different versions, but this online one is the solitaire variant, which is the most recent way it’s played. Before you play, you can also switch up the theme’s shape of the board so it looks like stairs, a monster, a pyramid and more!
Related: It's a Digital Showdown! 8 Virtual Games to Play With Your Friends Over Zoom
20. Sudoku
Just like the board game, you use numbers to fill up the empty boxes and try not to have a duplicate number in a unit. It’s the ultimate puzzle game that will get you and your friends thinking. The online version even has an automatic timer so you and your friends can play and keep track of how long it takes you each to figure the game out. Plus, if you feel stuck, just click on the light bulb on the screen for a hint to help you out.
21. The Game of Life
Play the original Game of Life online! The good news is, you can play against others from around the world if you want more people to join your game. Once all the players have retired, the one with the most money wins.
23. Sorry!
This colorful game is online and ready for you to play! You can choose the amount of players you want to participate or have other gamers join in on the fun. You can also change the pin designs if you want to.
24. Chinese Checkers
This star-shaped game is calling your name! It’s the perfect game to play with your friends over and over again. All you have to do is get all of your marbles to the opposite side of the star before they do to win.
25. Codenames
You’ll have to split into two teams to play Codenames. Then, see who can contact all of their agents first by using one-word clues without running into the assassin! It’s a game that’ll keep you on your toes.
26. Catan
If you and your friends are into strategy board games, Catan is the game for your crew! It’s made up of nineteen interchangeable hexagon tiles, which each represent things like a forest, a field, a mountain, a hill, etc. The object of the game is to gather resources and race against the other players to see who can build the biggest settlement. Along the way, you can negotiate with other players and even rob them of their resources.
For more gaming fun, check out these free online games.