Games to Play With Friends Online, Free

Three ways to play together

Invite a friend. Open a game, choose Play online, and pick Invite. You get a link and a six-character code. Send either; your friend opens it in any browser and the game begins. Nothing to install, no account needed.

Quick match. Choose Play online and Quick match to be paired with whoever is waiting for that game. For the rated board games (chess, checkers, Four in a Row, reversi, Ludo) members' online results earn an online rating, shown on the leaderboards and on your statistics page; the family games with friends are casual and unrated.

Pass and play. On one device, choose to play a friend instead of the robot. Games with hidden information (cards, ships, a dice sheet) show a curtain between turns so the phone can change hands without peeking.

Which game for which table

• Two players, a long game: Chess, Backgammon, Checkers, Reversi, Nine Men's Morris, Mancala. Backgammon and Mancala have more luck or less theory than chess, which keeps a mismatched pair closer.
• Two players, a quick game: Tic Tac Toe (try the 5 × 5 grid), Dots and Boxes, Four in a Row, Sea Battle, Word Duel for a race to the same five-letter word, Gin Rummy for a head-to-head of sets and runs.
• Three or four players: Dominoes, Go Fish, Five Dice, Ludo, Snakes and Ladders, and the card table games Call Break, Hearts, Spades and Crazy Eights. Robots fill any empty seats.
• A crowd: Bingo seats up to eight online, with the numbers called every few seconds.
• Children: Snakes and Ladders, Tic Tac Toe, Dots and Boxes, Go Fish and Bingo have the simplest rules and the shortest games.

How online play stays fair

Online games run through the server, which rolls every die, deals every hand, draws every bingo number and checks every move. Your browser only sends what you did; it cannot move an opponent's piece or see a hidden card. Each player's page receives only what that player is allowed to know: your own fleet in Sea Battle, your own hand in Dominoes and Go Fish, your own bingo card, your own guesses in Word Duel (the opponent sees colour patterns only). Dice and cards use cryptographic random numbers, so nobody, including the host of the game, can influence them.

A friend who loses connection has a minute to come back; a robot keeps their seat warm in the meantime, so the game does not stall for everyone else. There is no chat, only a few preset messages, which keeps games friendly and keeps children safe.

What you need

A modern browser on a phone, tablet or computer, and an internet connection. No download, no account (members' online results are kept on their statistics page, but guests play exactly the same games), no email address at any point. The games are free and supported by advertising, with no ads shown on a game while it is being played.

Playing well together

• Agree the house rules before you start. Ludo and Snakes and Ladders have settings (exact finish, bonus rolls, safe squares); set them while everyone is joining.
• Pick the pace for the slowest player. Bingo's relaxed setting and Word Duel's five-minute limit are there for a reason.
• Use the robot for practice first. Every game has a robot at Easy, Normal and Hard, so you can learn the rules alone before a friend watches.
• Read the guide. Each game in this list has a rules-and-strategy guide in the Guides section; the How to play box on each game page is the short version.

Glossary

• Invite code: the six-character code (or link) that lets a friend join your game.
• Quick match: being paired with whoever is waiting to play the same game.
• Pass and play: two or more people sharing one device, taking turns.
• Curtain: the screen shown between turns on a shared device so hidden information stays hidden.
• Rated game: an online game between members that changes an online rating (the five classic board games).