OddPen

Believe me or not, but games are super important with distributed teams. We do not meet in person that often. Hence, it's crucial to provide opportunity to socialize. And nothing better for that than playing games together! Here is my subjective list of proven (by me 😜) games that work well through a video conference meeting and are SFW.

Codenames

This is easily the best, I guess. It is usually well received by everyone, does not require any special hand-eye-coordination, and has the perfect pace. It only really makes sense with at least four people, though. Check it out here: https://codenames.game/

Gartic Phone

That's always a good ice-breaker. From my experience, people are confused about it in the first round. The second round is hilarious and from then on, it wears off kind of quickly. Hence, I usually suggest it at a very early stage in the “bonding journey” of a group. Also, because there is no competition. There is very little opportunity to affront someone. Find it here: https://garticphone.com/

Make it Meme

Falls in the same category as Gartic Phone, but is very flexible in terms of how much time it consumes. It can only be a quick 10 minutes round and still provide good laughs. What I also like about this (same goes for Gartic Phone, btw!) is, that you create digital assets that you can archive in your Slack channel etc. There were often times when peeps created emojis out of these. See who is the spiciest meme lord: https://makeitmeme.com/

Letterjam

A bit harder to learn I would say, but once understood very lightweight. It is a viable alternative to Codenames, but can as well played with two people. Once people got the concept, it's loved. My advice would be to provide rules upfront. Jam here: https://letterjam.game/

Vote's Out

That's a very cool game if you want to introduce people. I heavily recommend it in groups where peers are new to each other. It can reveal a lot about a person in a fun and non-intrusive way. Other than that, I would prefer Codenames etc., but hey, try it out. Start voting here: https://votesout.com/

Squabble

That's one of my personal favorites, but not everyone's cup of tea, unfortunately. I would describe it as competitive Wordle. In my experience, it's definitely worth trying out, but do not get disappointed if people do not like it too much. It's one of those “love it or hate it” games. Wordle with damage: https://squabble.me/

Boring

A tedious game! No, that's, of course, just the ironic name. It's actually super cool and unique. You have to find words of a certain category and the other players vote if it's a fit. The clue is, that you do not get any points, if you have the same answer as someone else. This game is usually perceived well, albeit usually not the group's top favorite. Get bored: https://really.boring.website/

Spyfall

Finally, an absolute classic. As far as I'm concerned, the original was taken down, but there are a gazillion of clones that are often even better. Check it out. Everyone loves it. Falls in the same category as Codenames: everybody's darling. Find the spy here: https://spyfall.adrianocola.com/

That's my curated list of games. We try to have a game session every three weeks or so in my teams, but whatever works for you, of course. I really think they are an essential tool (as ridiculous as this might sound) in distributed teams. Getting people together on a social and emotional level is super hard in a remote environment. Do yourself a favor and make it, at least, fun.