CSA Online These are but a few ways to spice up your next video call. What ways have you found to keep things interesting on Zoom? Jackbox Games Many Jackbox games translate perfectly to this new era of Zoom interactions. Games are available to purchase on their own or, for about the price of a board game, a Jackbox Party Pack bundles in five titles. At last count, there were seven such ‘Party Packs’ available. Jackbox games are available in a variety of platforms; computer, game console, phone, tablet, Apple TV, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV. Perhaps the best part about Jackbox games is that only one person needs to buy, but multiple people can play along on their phones or tablets. The host starts the game and casts their screen to the meeting. Players join in by entering a four-character code at jackbox.tv on their tablet or phone. No downloads and no other game controllers required. Not all Jackbox games are family-friendly, but many (and all of those listed below) are, or at least have a family-friendly setting that you can enable if you’re playing with grandkids. Drawful Drawful is Pictionary with a few twists. Up to eight people can play. If you have more than eight, the interactive audience feature lets people vote for their favourite answers. To start, each person gets a clue which they’re asked to draw on their phone screen.Then, each (often hilariously bad) drawing is displayed to the group in turn. Players have to guess what the drawing is, or come up with something that sounds plausible so that others might choose their answer as the correct one. Points are awarded both for correct guesses and for how many people selected your answer. These aren’t simple “flower” drawing prompts. I was playing over the weekend and was asked to draw “monster shadow.” In 60 seconds or less. On my phone screen. With one colour. A game takes about 15 minutes to play and you can be assured that everyone will be asking for another round. Fibbage Players are presented with a weird fact with one important segment missing. Each player makes up a plausible lie to fill in the blank.Then, everyone tries to guess which is the correct answer. Points are awarded for correct guesses and for how many people chose your answer. For example, Awoman inMuncie, Indiana was hospitalized after trying to remove a callus on her foot with a _____. Some possible answers: nurse fish, reciprocating saw, shotgun, cheese grater or whatever pops into your head. Turns out, the correct answer is shotgun. The mind boggles. Quiplash A battle of wit, in Quiplash, players are presented with prompts such as “the name of a singles bar for pirates,” “A great way to spice up baseball is the rule Three Strikes and You’re ______”, or “The next big reality show: America’s Got _______.” Players input their answers with a goal of getting laughs and hence votes. Selected answers are presented head-to-head and people choose their favourite. Quiplash is for two to eight players, but the audience feature allows many, manymore to follow along and also vote for their favourites. Tee K.O. Tee K.O. sees three to eight players drawing and writing slogans that are then paired up at random to create some hilarious designs that are slapped onto virtual T-shirts. Players and audience members vote for their favourites. It all culminates in the Gauntlet round, in which the best designs are put head-to-head to select a final winner.The results will have everyone engaging, waiting to see how their drawings/slogans are paired up with others, and laughing along. Like all Jackbox games, the funny commentary and engaging presentation really makes it. If you love a particular T-shirt design enough, you can share the fun on social media (Twitter, Facebook), or even have a physical one printed and shipped out. CSANews | SPRING 2021 | 51
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