Best online party games for groups

What makes a good online party game?

• Easy to learn. Nobody wants a rules lecture. Every Ping44 game has a how-to-play page and a short tutorial the first time you play it.
• Everyone plays at once. Games where the whole room answers or draws together keep people from drifting off.
• Scales with your group. A party game should work for 4 people and still work when 15 show up.
• Short rounds. Quick rounds keep the energy up and make it easy to switch to something new.
• Voice. Party games are about the reactions. Ping44 has voice chat built in, with up to 16 microphones open at once.
• Fair. The server runs every rule, deals every card and keeps secret words secret, so nobody can peek.

Icebreakers: Trivia and NOUN

Trivia is the easiest way to start a party: everyone answers the same question at the same time, and faster correct answers score more. Pick a topic and difficulty, or write your own questions about the people in the room. It takes 2 to 100 players and 1 to 25 questions.

NOUN is the Name, Animal, Place, Thing game many people first played on paper. You race to fill in each category with the round's letter, then check another player's answers, and unique answers score double. Flexi Noun lets the host choose the categories. Both take up to 100 players.

Creative: drawing games

Scribbly has three drawing games. In Sketch & Draw one player draws a word while everyone else types guesses, for up to 50 players. In Sketch Battle one player picks a word, everyone draws it, and each drawing gets a rating from 0 to 3 stars, for 3 to 30 players. You don't need to be able to draw: the wobbly drawings are often the funniest part. More in our guide to drawing games.

Bluffing and deduction

Sketch Impostor is made for bluffers. Everyone draws the secret word except the impostor, who never receives it and has to fake a drawing by watching the others. Then everyone votes on who was faking. 3 to 20 players.

20 Questions turns the room into detectives. One player holds a secret, the rest ask yes-or-no questions or risk a guess, and the server adds hints such as how many words the answer has. 2 to 20 players.

Poker is Texas Hold'em for up to 10, with virtual chips and no real money, so the only thing at stake is pride.

Fast and competitive

Word Chain puts one player on the spot at a time: add a word that follows the rule before the timer runs out, or lose a life. Eight modes run from "start with the last letter" to rhymes and custom rules, and players can flag a doubtful word and vote on it. 3 to 20 players.

UNO and WHOT are quick, familiar card games. UNO has Skip, Reverse and Draw cards; WHOT, the traditional Nigerian game, matches by shape or number and has special cards such as Pick Two, Hold On and General Market. Both take 2 to 20 players, and the host sets the house rules. See all card games.

Picks by group size

• 3 to 5 players: Sketch Impostor, 20 Questions, Poker, UNO or WHOT.
• 6 to 10 players: Sketch Battle, Word Chain, Poker at a full table, or Trivia.
• 10 to 20 players: NOUN, Trivia, Sketch & Draw, UNO or WHOT.
• More than 20: NOUN, Flexi Noun, Trivia and Sketch & Draw. See games for large groups.

Hosting tips

• Warm up with something familiar. Start with NOUN or UNO, then move on to Sketch Impostor once everyone has settled in.
• Switch games, not rooms. Between games the host picks another game in the lobby and everyone stays put. Room scores add up across games, so you can crown a winner of the night, and the host can reset them.
• Teach without pressure. Many games have a "No timer for first round" setting for new players.
• Use spectators. If a game is full, or someone would rather watch, they can switch to spectator. Spectators also have their own chat channel.
• Keep control. The host can close the room so newcomers wait for approval, mute a player, remove someone, or hand the host role to another player. A chat filter masks offensive words in the room chat.
• Playing over a call? See video call games for how to avoid echo.

Why Ping44 for party games

Ping44 is free, with no ads, no premium tier and no in-app purchases. It runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers, so nobody has to install anything. Only the host needs a free account; friends join as guests by picking a name. A room holds up to 100 people, and Ping44 is in English, French and Vietnamese.

How to start in under a minute

1. Sign in at ping44.com with email or Google (free) and create a room. Turn voice chat on if you aren't already on a call.
2. Share the invite link, room code or QR code.
3. In the lobby, pick a game, for example Scribbly with Sketch Impostor as the mode in Game settings.
4. Press start.

Frequently asked questions