Brittany’s App of the Week: Game Ideas for Your Next Virtual Happy Hour

By Brittany Lieu, Marketing Consultant at Heinz Marketing

With many months of remote work under our belts, a lot of us WFH folk may be very familiar with the concept of virtual happy hours. At Heinz Marketing, we have continued to dedicate a small chunk of our Thursday afternoons to join a Zoom call that isn’t so work focused. Over the last year, we’ve continued to stay creative in the ways we can crack a laugh and unwind together with a variety of online after-hours games. 

Playing traditional group games via Zoom isn’t as easy as it is in person. You can’t trade playing cards, move board game parts or collaborate in teams as easily, but if there is a will there’s a way! Here are a few games adapted for the online format that our team enjoys.

These games may not be apps, but hoping you find these virtual game ideas helpful in hosting your next happy hour. 

Charades Word Generator

A classic, charades only really requires two things: the ability to see your teammates and a deck of words to act out. Online  charade word generators, like this one, make it easy for teams to have a continuous rotation of words without having to rely on a physical deck of word cards. Some word generators may also have different difficult level filters and a variety of categories of words to play. 

Codenames

Codenames, a newer but well loved game on our team, is also a fun group game. If you aren’t familiar with how it’s played, it involves two teams that compete by each having a “spymaster” give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board. This game really gets your co-workers thinking outside the box and testing their critical thinking skills as a team. Like charades, we may not be able to touch and flip physical cards, but online versions of the game makes it simple to play via Zoom. All you have to do is have one person open the web version and share their screen so that all players can see the cards.

Skribbl.io / Pictionary

One of my favorites, Pictionary reveals the inner artist in your team. We like to use Skribbl.io, a simplified online version of the game, that allows each player to draw a secret word for others to guess. Like Codenames, one person will have to share their screen on the video call. 

Themed Trivia

Nothing beats a round of trivia. Find out what you and your teammates know or don’t know. We’ve had different team members create general trivia games or themed ones formatted on presentation decks. Whether it be PowerPoint, google slides, or Keynote, you can add questions and answers onto a deck and present them via screen share.

Sometimes it’s nice to chat and catch up with your team at the end of the week and other times it’s nice to have an activity on hand. Keep these virtual game ideas, tried and tested by us, in your back pocket the next time you find yourself hosting a virtual happy hour. 

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