A digital Christmas: All the online multiplayer games to play

If you want to spend time with family this Christmas, but are also hoping to maintain social distancing, then playing an online multiplayer game might be a great alternative for you and your loved ones.

We’ve perused the games out there on the internet and we put together a list of the best online multiplayer games for you, your friends, and your family to give a try during this holiday season. Rather than picking out first person shooters, or games that require a ton of skill we selected family friendly games that anyone should be able to pick up with ease.

All the games on this list are free-to-play unless otherwise noted!

Among Us

We’d be remiss if we didn’t go ahead and mention Among Us on this list, so we went ahead and mentioned it first. Among Us is arguably one of the most popular games of 2020 and provides an excellent way to interact with your loved ones from a distance . . . as well as kill them and lie to them.

This cute game with simple art allows you to flex your deception skills and also play detective. Not to mention it’s free on mobile phones and only $5 on PCs.

You can also join public lobbies of the game if you don’t have a big enough social group that plays games. Just be wary that playing with randoms means a lot of weird antics and strange nonsense sometimes. (Then again, isn’t that any game?)

Mario Kart Tour

You’re probably thinking “hey, don’t I need a Nintendo console for that?” However, you actually don’t. Mario Kart Tour was released for smartphones as a mobile game in 2019. You can race against up to seven people physically nearby, or players from around the world – it’s up to you!

If you have someone younger in the family that may not be quite as skilled at gaming yet, you can turn on team racing and pair them up with one of the best racers in your family to even out the playing field for everyone.

If you’re wanting to make sure you have a private gaming session with just friends and/or family be sure to make a custom room and share the room code with the people you want to race against.

Mario Kart Tour is a free-to-play online multiplayer game, though there are microtransactions if you’re into that kind of thing.

Houseparty

Houseparty isn’t technically a game – it’s a video call application. However it’s specifically intended to feel as much like a house party as possible while everyone is in different locations.

As such, it has some games built-in, from their own version of pictionary (called Quick Draw!) to trivia there’s bound to be at least one game in their catalogue the family can all agree on.

This is a great easy way to get everyone to hang out and say “hello” over the holidays without breaking social distancing guidelines.

Psych!

If you’re used to playing with Jackbox games during family get-togethers, but you don’t have the games on PC or find screen sharing too much of a hassle then maybe give Psych! a try. It’s similar to Fibbage or (Balderdash if you’re more of a board game player).

It’s a mobile game so you can download it to your phone while in a video call with everyone and chat while you play. Since this is an online multiplayer game you will need at least one person to play with.

Monopoly or Uno

If your whole family usually plays board games during the holidays then downloading the app versions of Monopoly or Uno might be the best fit for you. They’re available for iOS and Android and play more or less exactly like the physical games do.

This could add some sense of normalcy to a socially distanced & digital Christmas if your family finds getting a board game on the table just as important as putting Christmas dinner on the table.