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How to Host a Virtual Game Night: A Checklist

The games are the easy part of a virtual game night. What goes wrong is everything around them: a room link that stopped working, two laptops in one room echoing, a relative stuck on the first screen, and the host fixing all of it while everyone else waits. This is the checklist for the person running the night. It covers the week before, the day before and the last fifteen minutes, how to set up the video call, a 75-minute running order with games from this site, what to do when someone cannot get in, and what to do before everyone hangs up.

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The Week Before

Four decisions made early save most of the trouble on the night.

Pick a time and write it in every time zone you have. Put the converted times in the invite itself, so nobody does the sum wrong.
Choose one call app and stay on it. Discord suits gaming groups; Zoom or Google Meet suit family and coworkers. The games run in a browser next to any of them, so use the one your group already has.
Get a rough headcount. It decides the games more than taste does. Every game in the room's game list shows how many players it takes: Mafia Lite stops at 8, Pictionary at 10, and Group RPS takes up to 20.
Shortlist three games and a spare, of different kinds: one where everyone answers at once, one talking game, and one drawing or quick-fire game. Three of the same kind in a row is where a night goes flat.

The Day Before: One Message

Send one message with everything in it, so nobody is searching a group chat for a link at the start time.

The time, written out in each time zone.
The call link.
The room's invite link, copied from the invite card in the room, rather than the bare code. It signs a newcomer in as a guest and seats them, so nobody needs an account, and if the room has closed it says so instead of sending them into someone else's room.
A line on what to have ready: a phone or laptop with a browser, and headphones for anyone sharing a room with someone else on the call.
If you create the room now, press Save lobby inside it. A room that nobody else has joined and no game has been picked in is closed after about half an hour of quiet, and its code can later go to someone else's room. A saved room stays as it is until someone unsaves it. The other way is to create the room fifteen minutes before the start and send the link then.
How to Host a Virtual Game Night: A Checklist

Tactical Synchronization Active

Initiate Operation Now

Fifteen Minutes Before

Open the call first, then the room, and work through this while the first people arrive.

Host from a computer if you can. The call and the game fit side by side, and some games, Imposter among them, move from one timed step to the next on the host's device. If you host from a phone and switch to the call app during a round, a timed step can wait until you come back.
Check the Lobby Settings card: Joinable on, the room language right, and Own Language on if your group reads different languages. With Own Language on, each player reads Pictionary, Charades and Would You Rather in their own language; other games use the room language. Would You Rather is a paid Deluxe game: its free demo is one question, and the full game unlocks through the shop.
Pick the warm-up game now, so the first arrivals land in something instead of an empty room.
Post the invite link in the call's chat too, for anyone who cannot find the message.

Setting Up the Video Call

The call carries the voices and faces; the game runs on each person's own screen. Most trouble comes from mixing the two.

Do not share your screen. Everyone plays on their own device. A shared screen shows whatever is on the host's screen, and in a hidden-role game that can be the secret.
Two devices is easiest: the call on a laptop or TV, the game on a phone. On a phone alone, switching between the call app and the browser may turn your camera off until you switch back.
Two people in one room, two devices on the call? Keep one microphone and one speaker on between them, or use headphones, or the call will echo.
None of the games use your microphone. If someone cannot hear or be heard, the problem is the call, not the game: they leave and rejoin the call while the round carries on.
Turn cameras on for Charades. The actor acts in silence and the others guess from what they see, so the actor needs a camera on. The other games in this guide work with cameras off, though in the talking games it helps to see who is trying not to laugh.

A 75-Minute Running Order

For four to twelve people. If only two or three turn up, play head-to-head instead: Battleship takes 2 to 8 players, and Chess and Checkers are for two. Each step below says what the host does, not only what to play, and the night mixes games where everyone plays at once with games where one person has the spotlight.

0:00 to 0:10, arrivals. Horse Race: everyone taps at once and a race takes about a minute, so anyone who arrives late is in the next one. Greet people by name as they appear in the player list, and help anyone who is stuck.
0:10 to 0:30, first main game. Imposter, a few rounds. Explain it in two sentences and let the first round teach the rest. A round takes two to four minutes, so stop on a good one.
0:30 to 0:35, break. Five minutes, announced and kept. Pick the next game while people are away, and ask who has to leave early.
0:35 to 0:55, second main game, a different shape. Pictionary. With more than 10 people, play Finish the Sentence instead: everyone writes an ending at once and the room votes for the best one.
0:55 to 1:10, quick rounds. Quick Minds, buzzer trivia, for up to 10 players; with 11 or 12, Group RPS, rock paper scissors for the whole room at once. When a game ends, the Play Next panel lists games that fit the number of people in the room, and the host taps one to start it for everyone.
1:10 to 1:15, the closer. Vote Party: "who is most likely to" questions about the people on the call, which ends the night on the group itself. Then ask for the next date before anyone hangs up.

During the Night

Most of hosting is keeping the gaps short.

Start on time with whoever is there. The warm-up is for the people who are late.
Explain, then play. Two sentences on the goal, then start; the first round is the tutorial.
Let the room choose sometimes. While the host is picking, everyone else can tap a game to suggest it, and the host sees how many people want each one.
Someone arriving mid-round waits for the next one. In Imposter, roles are dealt when a round starts. Do not restart a round for a late arrival.
End a game that is not landing. Momentum matters more than finishing a round nobody enjoys.
Players stepping out: Leave in a private room asks whether to go to the home page, which keeps their place, or to leave the room, which removes them and their points. Someone done for the night should leave the room, so the next round does not count them in.
If you have to step away, tap a player's name in the player list and choose Make Host. If your connection drops instead, after 45 seconds the room hands host controls to the player who has been there longest, and gives them back when you return.

When Someone Cannot Join

Ask what their screen says. Each message has its own fix.

"Lobby not found": the code was mistyped, or the room has closed. Send the invite link instead of the code.
"Access Restricted": the room is locked. Turn Joinable back on in Lobby Settings. It only stops new players; anyone already in the room can come back either way.
"This room was closed": the room they are going back to no longer exists. Create a new one and send its link.
Frozen or blank screen: reload the page or open the invite link again. Their seat and points are still in the room.
On a new device: if they were signed in, signing in with the same account gets their seat back. A guest on a new device joins as a new player and the old name stays in the list; remove the old one so the next round does not deal it a role.
Never kick someone who is only frozen. A player you kick cannot rejoin that room.
The site will not open at all: try another browser. If a work or school laptop will not open it, try a phone on mobile data.

After the Last Game

The two minutes before people hang up decide whether there is a next time.

Pick the next date while everyone is still on the call.
Press Save lobby. The room, its open game, its scores and its settings stay as they are, and next time you send the same link. An unsaved room closes its game after a day with nobody in it, is flagged after a week, and is removed a month after that.
Ask which game they would skip next time, and swap it for one the group has not played.

Tactical Debrief (FAQ)

Sixty to ninety minutes, with three or four games and one short break. Past that, people start leaving one at a time, and it is better to end while everyone still wants another round.

No. Anyone can join as a guest from the invite link, which signs them in and seats them in the room. You can create and host a room as a guest too.

Ask what their screen says. Lobby not found means a mistyped code or a closed room, so send the invite link. Access Restricted means Joinable is off in Lobby Settings. This room was closed means you need a new room and a new link.

No. Everyone plays on their own phone or laptop, and a shared screen can give away a secret in hidden-role games. Share the call, not the game.

Yes. The games in this guide run in a phone browser with nothing to install. A phone for the game and a laptop or TV for the call is the easiest setup.

Press Save lobby in the room. A saved room keeps its game, scores and settings until someone unsaves it, so you can send the same link next time.

Turn on Own Language in Lobby Settings. In Pictionary, Charades and Would You Rather each player then reads the game in their own language; other games use the room language. Charades needs the actor's camera on during a video call, and Would You Rather is a paid Deluxe game whose free demo is one question.

After 45 seconds the room hands host controls to the player who has been in it longest, and gives them back when the host returns. To leave early on purpose, tap a player's name and choose Make Host.

Most party games take up to 10 or 12 players, and Group RPS takes up to 20. For a bigger group, run two rooms.

Further Reading

The Best Games to Play on Discord (Free, No Downloads)

Thanksgiving Games to Play Online with Family and Friends

Halloween Party Games to Play Online with Friends

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