Well, well, well… from where we’re standing, you’re in a bit of a situation. We don’t know if you’re grounded, on the road, or stuck at your place, but we know this for sure: you’re dying to have some fun and all you’ve got is your phone. Good news: we’ve made up a list for the perfect indoor activity – fun games to play over text. Fun, smart, flirty, challenging – just stick with us ‘till the end to see what games to play over text could make your day a whole lot better!
P.S. If you want to play these with your girlfriend/boyfriend, we’ve got a blog post that was specifically made for you! Check it out – The Best Texting Games For Couples!
Now, what games to play over text?
Fun games to play over text
1. GHOST
You might have heard of this one under a different name. Does ‘HORSE’ ring a bell? Either way, HORSE/GHOST are fun games to play with friends over text. All you have to do is add letters to a growing word without actually completing it. Every player has to add one letter gradually, and the player who completes the word gets a ‘G’. The game keeps going until one friend gets all the letters – ‘GHOST’. You can make things more difficult by setting some rules from the very beginning. Ask players to come up with words from a specific category, or words that have a certain length.
2. The Laughing Game
If this isn’t a fun game to play over text, then… we don’t know what ‘fun’ means. The first step in ‘The Laughing Game’ is to choose words that will act as answers. You could go for random picks: cities, flowers, friends’ names, celebrities, movies, etc. Next, you must ask each other questions. The tricky part here is that the answers must be chosen only from the words that you’ve agreed upon at the beginning of the game. Let the fun unleash!
3. Song Lyrics
Music binds us and there’s no secret to that. ‘Song Lyrics’ is one of the fun games to play with friends over text because it’s easy and gives a chance for inside jokes. Maybe you and your girl had a blast on Beyoncé’s ‘Ring the alarm’, or you and your homie had an epic night on the lyrics of Justin Timberlake.
Begin by having one player quote a line from a song to the other via text or in a messaging thread. Next, the other player has to guess the song the lyrics are from.
If you want to vary a bit, you could also go for classic lines from soap operas, movies, or plots from games.
4. The Abbreviation Game
When answering the question ‘What games to play over text?’, ‘The Abbreviation game’ is a must. As a general rule, the players have to abbreviate the activity they’re doing at that particular moment and send that contracted word via text. Then, the other player has to try to ‘un-abbreviate’ that word to its initial form.
For example, you’re ‘doing the dishes’. This activity becomes ‘DDD’, so you text that to your friend. Now he/she must try and figure out what you’re doing. You could help them by giving something more than just the first letter of each word. Also, you could go for another variation of this game. Pick a category, let’s say ‘Texting’ or ‘Singers’, then ask your friend the meaning of different abbreviations that are relevant to those subjects.
Here’s some inspo:
- MJ – Michael Jackson
- MC – Mariah Carey
- KM – Kylie Minogue
- SP – Sean Paul
- LOL – Laughing out loud
- DIY – Do it yourself
- TBH – To be honest
- WTF – What the…?
- OMG – Oh my God
- TTYL – Talk to you later
5. Unscramble
If you’re familiar with ‘Scrabble’, this one’s for you. We dare you to… unscramble! In this game, one player has to come up with a word, then have the other player figure out what other words could be formed using the letters from his suggestion.
Make it more challenging by turning it into a fun ‘minute to win it’ game. Pick a word, set a timer for 60 seconds or less, and ask your opponent to unscramble the word. When the clock runs out of time, the player with the higher number of unscrambled words wins the game.
For example,
- Unscramble the word ‘thief’ in 30 seconds.
- Possible answers: ‘the’, ‘fit’, ‘he’, ‘tie’.
6. Gun To Your Head
‘Would you rather’ is one of the best conversation games that can be played by anyone – adults, teens, or kids. ‘Gun to your head’ is kind of the same thing, only that this version is more appropriate to be played over text. Start by asking the other player what they would do if they had a gun pointed to their head.
State clearly from the very beginning that it’s mandatory to answer the question and ‘I’m gonna fight the attacker’ is not an option.
Here are some examples to begin with:
- Gun to your head, what article of clothing would you steal from a mall?
- Gun to your head, what would you give up for the rest of your life – movies or music?
- Gun to your head, whose friend’s secrets would you reveal first?
7. List Builder
This is one of the games to play over text with friends that is quite competitive. Every player takes turns in naming something belonging to a specific category. This category could be: cities, singers, actors, countries, movies, bands; pretty much everything could go. Wins the last player who successfully manages to come up with an item to the list.
You could vary the ‘List builder’ by going through the alphabet one letter at a time, or requiring the following answer to start with the same letter the last reply ended with.
8. Where Am I?
This one gives room for a lot of creativity. In ’Where am I’, each player has to describe their surroundings, one feature at a time. The other player is meant to guess the spot. You can make it very easy for him… or very tough. It’s your call, depending on how many details you’re willing to give him!
You could go for variations of this game to play over text: set some boundaries (let’s say, your house, the town you’re living in, or your workplace). You could also turn it into a ‘Who Am I With?’ variation by describing the person you are with instead.
9. Hangman
‘Hangman’ doesn’t necessarily require pen, paper, and a stick figure dangling in the wind. It can be played over text too. Here, underscores are the key. Text your friend a series of underscores representing the number of letters in the word you’ve chosen. Your friend will respond with a letter they believe might be in the word. If they guess correctly, send your friend the underscores again, but this time make sure you fill in the letter they nailed. If they are wrong, you can reply with the number of guesses they have left. In the classic version of the ‘Hangman’, there are 6.
Flirty games to play over text
10. The Text Strip Questions Game
You’re not in a relationship ‘per se’, but you need a flirty game to play over text that could spark some interesting talks between you and your crush. Say no more. The ‘Text Strip Questions’ game is perfect in this case. All you have to do is ask each other trivia questions and anyone who gets the answers wrong has to remove a piece of their clothing. Spice things up by asking each other for a picture with the proof. You can also establish when the game ends. For example, when one of you is in their underwear. This means that the game doesn’t necessarily have to be wild.
*Note: Do not stack clothes. If possible, wear the same amount of clothes.
Here’s how this flirty game to play over text works:
- What is the title of Rihanna’s last solo album?
- If the answer is anything other than “Anti,” you have to take off a piece of clothing and send a picture.
- The game ends when someone has stripped up to that agreed-upon point.
11. WWYD?
On a scale from 1 to 10, how creative would you say you are? Because ‘WWYD’ can be quite a flirty game to play over text if you have a rich imagination! One player must come up with a hypothetical scenario and text it to their friend. Next, they have to find out how the other would adapt to the situation or escape from it.
Let’s look at some examples:
- What would you do if I became your stepsister/stepbrother?
- Imagine you are home alone and you sneeze. Suddenly the teacher you fantasized about in high school rings your door and says “Bless you”. What would you do?
- What if you woke up and your crush didn’t take your calls? What would you do?
12. Finish My Sentence
‘Finish my sentence’ is one of the best flirty games to play over text because you can get so creative! One player must start by saying a sentence, while the other one must complete it. These sentences can be however you want them to be: funny, smart, cool, or even teasing. Here’s an icebreaker for this game:
- I walk into your room, I’m not wearing any clothes, and you ____.
13. 20 Questions
Although at the bottom ‘20 Questions’ is a game to play with friends over text, it can easily become a flirty activity for you and your crush. The main benefit? You get to know each other and even create a stronger bond! The rules are to ask no more than 20 questions, which have to be of the ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ type. If you want to, you can allow adverbs, such as ‘usually’, ‘rarely’, or ‘sometimes’.
Let’s look at what you could find out about your partner!
- ‘What do you like the most about me?’
- ‘What would you like to try in bed but you haven’t had the chance to?’
- ‘What was the reason for your last breakup?’
- ‘What would you choose between a night in and a night out?’
Now, this is quite a selection! If you’re interested in games to play on Facetime, we’ve got some of those too. Let us know how it all went and don’t hesitate to hit eTeamBuilding for some fun activities next time you’re seeing each other. Because texting is fun, but live gatherings are even better!
