Break Out the Board Games and Play Virtually with Friends

Late yesterday many of us were probably hit with a wave of anxiety we thought we had successfully avoided. Governor Baker announced that Massachusetts schools would be closed longer than we’d expected; out of business until May 4th.

As many parents took to social media to finally admit that they cried over the news, and lament that their kids missed their friends, it occurred to me that the kids can still play if we think really long and hard about it.  So we called up a friend at 7 a.m. and asked if they'd like to play a few rounds of Guess Who over a Zoom video conference line before home-school starts.

They played a game together, they laughed, I had coffee in peace- it was all amazing. It was a parenting win for the day as far as I'm concerned.

Many games have separate game pieces that make gameplay totally possible if both players have the same game. So why haven't the big game companies figured this out?

Here are a few games you may have that other families do, too, that kids can play together over a video call.  I’m sure there are others out there so let’s all get our creative thinking caps on and curate an even bigger list and save everyone’s mental health until kids are allowed to play with their friends again.

Guess Who: Many of you got this game for Christmas and now it's Guess Who's time to shine. The games are pretty quick, easy to play for the younger kids and the only screen involved is the screen they use to be face-to-face. Make sure you play with someone who has the same version of you or this game could have you guessing for much longer than you anticipated.

Battleship: This game is simple: try to guess the location of the other player’s ship and sink it. It may be a little bit hard for young kids because the game takes a bit longer to play and requires a bit more strategy. It's recommended for ages seven and up, but with some adult guidance, a younger kid can probably get into it.

Yahtzee: Here’s one that many kids probably don’t know but now is as good a time as any to learn. It's an easy game in that it's just rolling five dice and trying to get the highest score, plus you can play with two or more people. For this you don’t even need the actual game, you’ll just need to grab a copy of the point system and make your own scorecard. The hardest part in all of this might be finding people who have five six-sided dice available to play with you.  Find the rules here.