Taskforcome Social Impulse Academy: Game Night goes Digital

It has been impossible to miss the controversy and chaos of universities, schools, and workplaces being largely pushed online by the pandemic. They are subject of public attention and concern, with questions abound around examination integrity, e-workplace ergonomics, and how to best engage students online.

However, as equally important as our formal educational and employment spheres, are our social spheres. Which are much harder to measure and much less in the public eye but still vital to individuals and communities and are being hard hit by pandemic restrictions. 

So as we enter partial lockdown in Germany once again, we moved another of the Taskforcome Social Impulse Academy activities online: Game Night goes Digital. 

Thursday 12th of November, over several hours in the evening, we hosted a series of doodling games on Skribbl.io to warm up, a round of Cards Against Humanity to spice up the discussion and finished with a few rounds of Among Us. So now we have a few tips and tricks for a game night of your own!

Getting your own Game Night on: 

  • Prepare in advance!
  • Early Call: A week before our game night, we sent out a call for participants over social media and group chats. Cast a wide net and be clear on what is happening and when (graphics help here). 
  • Communication Platform: Having the ability to see and laugh with your friends makes a big difference, we recommend getting onto zoom with your friends (or a free open-source alternative like jitsi.org/)
  • Tech Check: Once you know who is coming, it is important to make sure everyone can play during the evening. Luckily there are many accessible online games, we will talk you through a few next:

Skribb.io

  • A free doodle-based guessing game: skribbl.io
  • This is accessible to anyone in a browser. 
  • Game tip: At the top right of the page, the number of letters of the word you are guessing will be listed. This is easily missed so make sure to point it out to people. 

PretendYour.XYZ

  • A free customisable clone of Cards Against Humanity: Pretend You’re XYZ
  • This is quite complicated to set up. Make sure your host figures this out well in advance! 
  • Game tip: Make sure you get all of your friends on the same server, as otherwise you will be unable to join the same game…

Among Us

  • The next big thing in online gaming. The popular Mafia/Werewolf game has been translated into an online desktop/mobile app game!
  • Game tip: Be warned that the game is only free on mobile, in order to download on PC/Mac you will need to pay a nominal fee. So get your friends to download it in advance!

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