Game night, online
Game night doesn't need a table. Everything below runs in a browser tab, costs nothing to start and works over any video call. We make one of these games, Settletiles. It's marked, and we kept the rest of the list honest.
| Game | Good for | Players | Account |
|---|---|---|---|
| Board Game Arena | trying lots of board games | depends on the game | yes |
| Settletiles | trading and building, three or four people | 3–4, or you against bots | yes |
| Codenames | a call with four or more friends | 2–8 | no |
| Tabletopia | a big catalog of physical games | depends on the game | only the host |
| Playingcards.io | classic card games | any, 8 works best | no |
| Gartic Phone | laughing with a big group | big groups | no |
| skribbl.io | drawing and guessing | up to 20 in a private room | no |
| Lichess | chess with one friend | 2 | no |
The biggest shelf you can reach from a browser: hundreds of licensed board games with the rules built in, so nobody has to know them by heart. Many games are free to start. Premium games need one Premium player at the table to open it, and everyone else joins for free. If your group can't agree on a game, start here.
An island trading game for three or four players. You roll for resources, trade with the table and build roads, villages and castles until someone reaches 10 points. Host a table and send your friends the game id, or play the bots when nobody's around. The game saves after every turn, so a long evening can finish tomorrow.
The official free version of the word-guessing party game from Czech Games Edition. Pick a nickname, share the room link and split into two teams. It works best with four or more people on a call, and a round takes about fifteen minutes.
A virtual table where you move the pieces yourself, the way you would at home. That makes it flexible and a bit fiddly: nobody enforces the rules for you. The free tier covers a large catalog, and guests can join free games without an account. It also runs on Steam and phones.
A shared card table with decks for the games you already know, from rummy to poker night. There's no player limit, though eight is where it stays comfortable. An optional account keeps your rooms for thirty days.
The telephone game with drawings: someone writes a sentence, the next person draws it, the next describes the drawing, and so on. Nobody needs skill, and the reveal at the end is the best part. Made for big groups.
One player draws a word, everyone else races to guess it in the chat. Make a private room for up to 20 people, and add your own word list for inside jokes.
Free, open-source chess. Send a friend a challenge link and you're playing in seconds, no account needed. It's a good pick for two people when the bigger group can't make it.
Host a Settletiles table and send the game id to your friends. It's free, and it saves after every turn.
Play Settletiles freeIt depends on how many of you there are. For the most choice in one place, start with Board Game Arena. For a big group on a call, Codenames. For a trading game with three or four people, we're biased toward Settletiles.
No. Everything on this list runs in a browser tab. Tabletopia also has apps, but you don't need them.
Codenames, Gartic Phone, skribbl.io, Lichess and Playingcards.io. On Tabletopia only the host needs one for free games. Board Game Arena and Settletiles need a free account, so your games and stats are saved.
Prices and sign-up rules as of September 2026. Game and service names belong to their owners.