Games to play with friends on Discord
I make a game that runs inside Discord, so I'm always curious what else people play there.
What I like about Discord for games is that everyone's already in the call. Nobody has to be talked into installing a launcher first.
These are the ones I'd suggest. They're all quick to start, and the last one is mine.
The games built into Discord
Discord calls them Activities. They're games that run inside the app, in a server's voice channel or in a voice call in your DMs. Discord's blog post about them says they work on desktop, web and mobile, and that they're open to everyone.
To find them, look for the App Launcher. Discord describes it as "the button with the shapes on it". It sits at the bottom of a voice call, and next to the chat bar in text chats.
Sketch Heads, a drawing game made by Discord, running in a voice channel. Screenshot from Discord's blog.
Discord makes a handful of these itself. Its list has Putt Party for mini golf, Chess in the Park, Checkers in the Park and a drawing game called Sketch Heads. That list was last updated in June 2024 and it does change, so have a look in the launcher to see what's there now.
Of Discord's own games, I'd go with the mini golf, because nobody needs the rules explained.
Gartic Phone
Gartic Phone is the first one I'd suggest for a group.
It's the telephone game with drawings. Going by its App Store page, everyone writes a sentence, the next player draws it, and the player after that writes down what they think the drawing shows. It carries on like that until the original sentence is long gone. At the end you all watch each chain play back.
Gartic Phone by Gartic. Screenshots from its App Store page.
You don't need to be able to draw. The App Store page goes further and says the worse the art, the better the game.
It's free, and it's on Discord's list of Activities, so you can start it from the launcher. There's a browser version at garticphone.com too. The App Store page also lists a few other modes for when you've done the normal one a few times. In one of them everyone draws the same first sentence, and in another you build an animation frame by frame.
Jackbox, over screen share
Jackbox games aren't built into Discord, but they work well there anyway.
One person runs the game and shares their screen in the call. Everyone else joins from their phone. Jackbox's own guide says players open a browser, go to Jackbox.tv and type in the room code. It also mentions Discord screen sharing as a good option if you're playing on a laptop.
Drawful Animate in The Jackbox Party Pack 8 by Jackbox Games. Screenshot from its Steam page.
The packs are paid, and each one has several games in it. The Jackbox Party Pack 8 has five, and its Steam page says up to 10 people can play. One of the five is Drawful Animate, a guessing game for 3 to 10 players where you make a looping two-frame animation from a weird title.
The store page does say the pack doesn't support online matchmaking. It's meant for people looking at one screen, so you need the screen share to get your friends in.
BattleTabs
I make this one, so I'm biased.
BattleTabs is a turn-based sea battle for two players. You each place four ships where the other person can't see them, then take turns attacking. Ships have special abilities on a cooldown, so on your turn you're also choosing which ability to use.
Picking a starting fleet in BattleTabs.
It runs as a Discord Activity, so you can launch it inside a voice channel like the games above. It's free, and it's the same game as the browser version. Your fleet and rank stay with your account. If you link the same account everywhere, they follow you between Discord, the browser, your phone and Steam.
It's quieter than the other three. It's turn-based, so you can keep talking while you wait for the other person to take their shot.
If you haven't played before, the how to play page covers the rules. And if it's usually only two of you in the call, I wrote about a few more two-player games you can play with a friend.