Our Tiny Planet
Guide
Games to play in a long-distance relationship
The best games for a long-distance relationship are the ones you can play on a video call, or turn by turn when your days do not line up. Here are question games, drawing and guessing games, word games, classic board games, cosy co-op games and ways to watch together, each with a note on how to play it over a call.
Most of them need nothing more than two phones. A few need a laptop or a games console. None of them need you to be good at games.
How to choose a game for the two of you
Before you pick, ask three quick questions.
- Live or turn by turn? Live games need you both awake and free at once. Turn-based games, like chess by correspondence or a word game, fit round work, sleep and time zones.
- Against each other, or on the same side? Some couples love a rivalry. Others find a losing streak stings more at a distance. Mix both.
- How tired are you? Keep a few games that ask almost nothing of you, for the evenings when one of you has had a long day and just wants company.
A simple rule helps: one game you play every day in small turns, and one you save for a proper evening together.
Question games
Question games are the easiest place to start. They need no app, and they work on a phone call as well as a video call.
Would you rather
Take turns asking. The fun is in the reasons, so always ask "why?" The best ones come from your own lives. Would you rather spend a week in my flat or a week in my parents' house?
The 36 questions
A set of 36 questions from a 1997 study by the psychologist Arthur Aron and his colleagues, written to help two people feel closer. They start light and grow more personal. Do a third of them a night rather than all at once.
On a call: one of you reads the question out, you both answer, then swap who reads. Do not rush to the next one.
Truth or dare
It works at a distance if you choose dares that suit a screen. Sing the chorus of the last song you played. Show the oldest thing in your fridge. Text your mum something nice. Agree in advance what is off limits, and keep it fun for both of you.
Two truths and a lie
Each of you says three things about your day or your past, and the other guesses the lie.
How well do you know me?
Each of you writes ten questions about yourself, with the answers, and quizzes the other. Favourite school dinner, first concert, worst haircut. Keep score if you like.
Drawing and guessing games
Drawing games are good because nobody can draw, and that is the point.
Pictionary on paper
Write a pile of words on slips of paper before the call. One of you picks a slip, draws it on paper and holds it up to the camera while the other guesses against a one-minute timer.
On a call: use thick pens and a plain background so the drawing shows on a small screen. Turn the lights up.
Skribbl.io and Gartic Phone
Both run in a web browser. You make a private room, send your partner the link and draw on screen. Skribbl.io is a classic draw-and-guess game. Gartic Phone is like the old game of telephone: you write a sentence, the other person draws it, then you describe their drawing, and so on.
Draw each other from memory
Set a timer for five minutes. You each draw the other without looking at a photo, then show at the same time. It is silly, and oddly sweet.
Word games
The daily puzzle
Do the same daily puzzle, such as the New York Times Wordle or Connections, and send each other your results. It takes two minutes, it gives you something to talk about every day, and it works in any time zone because the puzzle waits for you.
Words With Friends and other turn-based games
Scrabble-style word games you play one turn at a time are made for couples who are awake at different hours. Your partner plays their word before bed. You play yours with your morning coffee.
Twenty questions
One of you thinks of a person, place or thing. The other has twenty yes-or-no questions to guess it. No app, no screen, perfect for a walk-and-talk call.
Categories
Pick a letter and five categories, such as a country, a food and a film. Fill them in on paper against a two-minute timer. Score a point for each answer the other did not also write.
Board games: chess, ludo, connect four and more
Classic board games translate well to a screen because you already know the rules.
Chess
Lichess and Chess.com both let you challenge a friend, either live or with days for each move. Slow chess suits couples in different time zones very well. If you would rather touch real pieces, set up the same board at both ends and call out your moves.
Ludo, snakes and ladders, connect four
These are games of luck, or mostly luck, which makes them kind on tired evenings: nobody needs to think hard, and the loser can blame the dice. Ludo King is one of the best-known apps for playing ludo with a friend online.
Battleships on paper
You need two pieces of squared paper each. Draw your ships on one grid and mark your shots on the other. Call out coordinates over the call. It runs on trust, which is part of the charm.
On a call: for any physical board game, prop the phone up so the board is in view, and say every move out loud. It keeps both boards the same.
Cosy co-op games
Co-operative video games put you on the same side, in the same world. They feel the most like spending time in the same place.
- Stardew Valley: a gentle farming game with online co-op. You share a farm, split the jobs and wander the town together.
- Minecraft: build anything, together, in a world that keeps going between sessions.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons: on the Nintendo Switch. You each have your own island and can visit each other's. Online play needs Nintendo's paid online membership.
- It Takes Two: a game made only for two players, about a couple, which you cannot play alone. It has a Friend's Pass so someone who does not own the game can join the owner online.
Before you buy, check that you both have a device that can play it together. Not every game crosses between consoles, phones and computers.
Watch-together games and nights
Watching something together is not a game on its own, but it is easy to turn it into one.
- Press play at the same moment. Count down from three on a call. Teleparty, a browser extension, keeps several streaming services in step, and SharePlay does the same on FaceTime with apps that support it.
- Predictions. At the halfway point, pause and each write down how it ends. Whoever is closer picks the next film.
- Film bingo. Before you start, each make a list of five things you think will happen. A car chase. Someone says "we need to talk". Tick them off.
- GeoGuessr. You are dropped somewhere in the world on Street View and guess where. Share a screen and argue about road signs.
For more evenings like this, see our long-distance date night ideas.
Games for when you are awake at different times
If you are many hours apart, live games may only fit at weekends. Turn-based games keep you playing in between:
- A slow game of chess, one move each per day.
- A word game where you each play before bed.
- The same daily puzzle, with results sent to each other.
- A photo challenge: each day one of you sets a theme, like "something blue", and the other answers with a photo.
Our guide to making time zones work has more ideas, and the free time zone planner shows the hours you are both awake.
Playing together in Our Tiny Planet
We built Our Tiny Planet partly because we wanted all of this in one place. It is an app for couples, coming soon, where you share a tiny planet and build a home and a little village on it together.
Its Arcade has more than twenty games for two, including chess, pool, ludo, snakes and ladders, connect four, 2048 races, truth or dare, trivia and mini golf. Many can be played turn by turn, so a move made on your lunch break is waiting when your partner wakes. When one of you plays, the other can watch live and send a cheer. There is also a film-night swipe match for picking what to watch.
It is not out yet. Leave your email and we will tell you the day it is.
Questions people ask
What games can long-distance couples play online for free?
Plenty. Question games such as would you rather, the 36 questions and two truths and a lie need nothing but a call. Skribbl.io and Gartic Phone run in a browser. Lichess lets you play chess with a friend at no cost. Paper games like battleships and categories need only a pen.
What is a good game to play on FaceTime with a long-distance partner?
Pictionary on paper works very well: draw on paper and hold it up to the camera against a timer. Twenty questions, would you rather and truth or dare with screen-friendly dares are also easy, because they need nothing but the call itself.
How do you play board games over a video call?
Either use an app that both of you can join, such as Lichess for chess or Ludo King for ludo, or set up the same physical board at both ends. Prop the phone up so the board is in view and say every move out loud so both boards stay the same.
What games work if we are in different time zones?
Turn-based games. Slow chess with a day per move, Scrabble-style word games, a shared daily puzzle, a photo challenge or a drawing you pass back and forth all let you play without being awake at the same time.
Are there games made only for two players?
Yes. It Takes Two is a co-op video game you cannot play alone, chess and connect four are two-player by nature, and most question games are best with just the two of you.
