Games to Play With Friends Both Online & Offline
2020 has been a crazy year, but the ability to connect with friends has been more important than ever before.
For many of us, we’ve had to look online, while others have enjoyed socially distant activities. Ultimately though, there are many amazing games that you can enjoy with friends both online and offline. But what are the best games to enjoy with friends that can be enjoyed both online and offline?
Bingo
Online bingo has been hugely popular in recent years and during the lockdown, it saw a significant increase in players due to the current pandemic. During the early phases, online bingo games saw an increase in players of up to 30% during the lockdown.
There’s been a real boom in online bingo, part down to the closure of offline casinos part down to the trend of the industry rising over the last few years anyway.
The beauty of both online and offline bingo is that it’s a real communal experience. In online bingo, for example, you’ll find bingo chat rooms to enjoy with friends and even make new ones, while offline you can of course sit around a table, albeit socially distanced currently.
Bongos Bingo, as well as many traditional halls, have been treating people to socially distant bingo of late and it’s been a huge hit as life enters a “new normal”, ensuring bingo continues to be one of the best games to play with friends and one that will be for many, many years to come too.
Games To Play With Friends: Chess
For those who want to enjoy gaming with just one friend, or at least one friend at a time, then chess is the game for you. Chess has long been a game to enjoy if you want to flex your brain muscles and can be enjoyed in a park, in a cafe, and online too.
There are tons of online chess sites to enjoy, with the likes of Spark Chess among the most popular where you can play against a computer or friends.
It’s another game that has enjoyed a boom during the lockdown, while it’s also a sport that has continued with the biggest names in chess reverting to online play. Although not with problems. An internet glitch saw a number of issues in two heavyweights going against each other in a 55-move draw in Garry Kasparov’s first game against Magnus Carlsen since 2004.
Pub Quiz
The pub quiz had been dying out in more recent years but is still a pillar of many communities and has also been resurrected by the video call during the last six months. In fact, it’s perhaps been the ultimate game to play with friends recently, and in many cases has helped form new bonds as people connect via the likes of Zoom.
Naturally, it’s also improved the general knowledge of thousands and also made careers for people, as well as making thousands of pounds for charity. They have come in all shapes and sizes from large scale video calls to weekly emails, yet they’ve all captured the imagination and are one of the best ways to enjoy a game with friends.
Poker
If you prefer a different kind of mental challenge, then poker has also proven a hugely popular pastime with friends. Millions around the world have weekly poker nights with friends and lockdown has just seen people take those nights online.
It’s a game that transitions seamlessly to the point where the game is now played more online than it is off. It takes all the same skill and you can still engage with each other via text chat and in many cases audio too. Over the coming years, it’s likely that video will also be integrated more in what’s always going to be a communal game for friends to enjoy together.
