If you have ever been stuck in a dry conversation with someone you really fancy, you will agree with me that texting games, i.e., games you play over the phone are lifesavers.
For long-distance lovers, we have several activities and ideas we use to close the distance, but you can only write so many open when letters before they begin to get repetitive, which is why many of us resort to games we can play over text.
After all, if the distance was not an issue and you and your friend or special one are most likely to turn to fun games to kill boredom.
In this article, we have compiled exciting games to play with friends over the phone; we hope you have fun playing these games with your loved ones.
List of Texting Games: Games to play over the phone
These texting games include popular party games such as Would you rather question game, Never have I ever game, the 20 questions game and other fun and exciting games you can play over text, Snapchat, WhatsApp and even email.
Have fun playing!
1. 20 questions
Twenty questions is an old TV show game that could also be played over the phone.
To play the twenty questions texting game, one player must pick something; it could be an object, place or anything at all.
Then your opponent will try to guess the object you chose in 20 Questions or less.
Rules
- Your opponent can ask no more than twenty questions
- They have to be “Yes” or “No” questions.
- Your answers should be a simple “Yes” or “No” but you can answer using adverbs, e.g., “Sometimes,” usually,” or “rarely.”
- Also, you could tell your opponent what category, your item falls. E.g. An object, a place, a plant, etc.
For example,
- Let’s assume you are thinking of “A car.”
- Your opponent’s first question could be – Is it something I can touch? to which you will reply “Yes,” because a car is something she can touch
- Next question, “is it something I can wear?” to which you would answer “No.”
- At this point, he or she has eighteen questions left to figure out what object you chose.
Here is a video of the twenty questions game:
2. Abbreviations
To play the abbreviation texting game, all you have to do is pick a category, mention an abbreviation or acronym; then your opponent has to tell you the correct meaning of the abbreviation.
Rules
- Pick a category – e.g., Cars
- Ask your opponent the meaning of an abbreviation
- The person with the highest number of correct answers wins the game.
For example,
Internet abbreviations
- OMG – Oh my god
- LOL – Laughing out loud
- TBH – To be honest
- TTYL – Talk to you later
- TL;DR – Too long; didn’t read
Fun right?
Here is a video of the Abbreviation game:
3. Friends tag questions
The friend tag question game is a fun game that helps friends discover how well they know each other.
To play the friend tag, ask your friend or special one questions about yourself or relationship to see how well your friend knows you.
Rules
- Ask your friend a question about yourself or your friendship
- The person with the highest number of correct answers wins the game.
For example,
- Where did we meet?
- How long have we been friends?
- What’s my favorite meal?
Fun right?
Here is a video of the Friend Tag:
4. Kiss, Marry, Kill
The kiss, marry, kill game has been around for ages, and it is never going away. You know why? Because it’s one of the most exciting games ever!
To play the Kiss, Marry, Kill, you will select three people, and your opponent has to choose which one to Kiss, which one to marry, and which one to kill.
Rules
- Pick three people; celebrities, mutual friends, scientists, etc.
- Supposedly, your opponent has to kiss one of them, marry one of them and kill one of them,
- Select tough choices; such as their three favorite celebrities to make it harder.
For example,
- Kiss, Marry, Kill
- Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift
- Kiss – Rihanna, Marry – Beyoncé and Kill…
Difficult right?
Here is a video of the Kiss, Marry, Kill game:
5. Never have I ever
Never have I ever game is a popular party game that usually involves alcohol.
In the Never have I ever game, if you have done what is being mentioned, you take a shot.
Rules
- A deed beginning with “Never have I” is read.
- If you have done the deed, you take a shot from your glass or the set punishment.
- Remember, you can replace a sip or shot of alcohol with any punishment: point deduction, take off a piece of clothing and send a picture, etc.
- No lies!
For example,
- Never have I ever gone to the bathroom and not wash my hands.
- If you have used the bathroom and you did not wash your hands afterward, you lose.
- So, let’s assume you and your opponent started from 20 points each, you have just lost a point.
Fun right?
Here is a video of the Never have I ever game:
6. Would You Rather Questions
Would You Rather Questions Game is a fun texting game, also known as “either-or” and “this or that.”
Would you rather questions game requires you and your opponent to pick one of two difficult choices.
Rules
- A question asks “Would you rather do A or B.”
- The more difficult the question, the more fun the game.
- Remember, ask your opponent to pick between two tough choices.
For example,
- Would you rather lose your hands or legs?
- Would you rather be rich or famous?
- Would you rather eat a can of worms or drink a cup of vomit?
Nasty right?
Here is a video of the Would You Rather Questions game:
7. Most likely to questions
Most likely to question is a fun q and a game in which you and your friend decide who’s more likely to do something.
It can be played as a texting game or over a video call, as it requires nothing other than a list of questions.
Rules
- Ask a most likely to question.
- If it’s a group game, everyone will mention the person the question fits.
- If only two people are playing, both will mention who the particular most likely to question fits.
For example,
- Who’s most likely to become a millionaire in the next 5 years?
- Who’s most likely to spend Christmas Eve in jail?
- Who’s most likely to order a family meal and eat it alone?
Exciting right?
Here is a video of the most likely to questions game:
8. Riddles
Riddles never get old. They are fun, brain-teasing and can be played over the phone. So it qualifies as a fun texting game.
Rules
- Ask your opponent a riddle.
- Set the number of tries they have to get the correct answer.
- Don’t pick overcomplicated riddles as it kills the fun.
For example,
- What goes up and down and stays in the same place? – The stairs.
- What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, and never in one thousand years? – The letter M.
Fun right?
Here is a video of the Riddles texting game:
9. Unscramble
In the Unscramble word game, you pick a word, and then your opponent has to identify other words that could be formed using the letters from the selected word. Unscramble is similar to scrabble.
Rules
- Set a time limit, e.g., 30 seconds.
- Pick a word.
- In thirty seconds, you and your opponent will try to unscramble the word.
- The person with the highest number of unscrambled words wins.
- No cheating!
For example,
- Unscramble the word “game” in 30 seconds.
- Answer: mega, age, am, ma, and, me.
- That’s five words in 30 seconds.
Could you do better?
Here is a video of the word unscramble game:
10. Unpopular Opinions
In this fun game, you and your partner will take turns sharing your unpopular opinion on various topics and commenting on each other’s opinions.
Rules
- Pick a topic.
- Share your unpopular opinion on the topic.
For example,
- Unpopular opinion – food edition: “Expensive restaurants have tasteless meals.”
- Unpopular opinion – music edition: “There is no good music, and there is no bad music. It is entirely subjective and depends on your perception.”
Your turn!
Here is a video of the unpopular opinion game:
11. Gun to your head
In this fun texting game, you ask your opponent what they would do if a gun were pointed to their head.
Rules
- No, you can’t beat the attacker.
- You have to answer the question.
For example,
- Gun to your head, what animal are you going to steal from the zoo?
- Gun to your head, call one of your friends, and if they pick you are dead, who are you calling?
Fun right?
Here is a video of the gun to your head game:
12. What Song is this?
In this texting game, you pick a line from a song, and your opponent has to guess what song it is and who sang it?
Rules
- Set a time frame
- Mention a line from a song
- Ask your opponent to identify the song and who sang it.
- You could take it further by asking what year was it recorded.
- Also, you could use a song is popularly sampled.
- Your opponent would probably mention one of the sampled versions.
For example,
“Oh-oh, sometimes I get a good feeling, yeah (Yeah)
I get a feeling that I never, never, never, never had before, no no (Yeah)”
Song: Something’s Got A Hold On Me, Artist – Etta James.
Here is a video of the texting game:
13. What movie is this?
If you and your friend are really into movies, you could pick a line from a movie and tell them to guess the title.
Rules
- Set a time limit.
- Send a line from the movie or the theme song
- You should probably give them a hint to narrow their guess.
For example,
“A girl has no name,”
If your friend knows their movies, they would know this line is from Game of Thrones.
Fun right?
Here is a video of the fun “guess the movie” game:
14. Storytime
Storytime is one of the most exciting texting games you could play with anyone.
In this game, you and your opponent will make up a story progressively – one person at a time.
Rules
- One person starts the story with a line
- The other player adds to the story
- This game can go on for as long as the players want.
For example,
- You could start with “Once Upon a time in a Great ”
- The other person would add “There was a big Castle and the Castle had a big ”
- You “In the Garden was a Rose, and this Rose had the strange color of ”
create your own story!
15. WWYD
WWYD is a fun game of hypothetical questions, which means the more interesting questions you ask, the more you enjoy the game.
Rules
- Come up with an interesting hypothetical scenario.
- The more twisted your scenario, the more difficult it would be for your opponent.
- Now, ask your opponent what they would do in this situation.
For example,
- Imagine you are home alone and you sneeze. Suddenly your phone rings, you answer and the person whispers “Bless You” and hangs up. What would you do?
- What if you woke up and dogs were in charge? What would you do?
- What if North Korea defeats America and becomes the dominant World power? What would you do?
- What if an AI goes rogue and decides to eliminate all human beings? What would you do?
Fun right?
Here is a video of the WWYD texting game:
16. Last Letter Game
In the last letter game, the first player will mention a word, and then, the other player must say a word that starts with the last letter of the word the first player said.
Rules
- Pick a topic; e.g., Songs, Cars, Movies
- Mention a word from your chosen topic.
- Your opponent has to mention a word from the same topic that begins with the last letter.
- You can set a time limit to make it more fast-paced and fun.
For example,
- If your topic is movie stars
- You can start with “Angelina Jolie.”
- Then the other person continues with “Emilia Clarke,” and it goes on till someone loses.
It isn’t hard, try it!
Here is a video of the last letter game:
17. Rhymes
“Make it rhyme” or “rhyme it” is a fun texting game that exercises your brain while you’re having fun.
To play the game, you pick a word; then your partner has to mention a word that rhymes with it.
Rules
- Set a time limit
- Mention a word
- Your opponent has to mention a word that rhymes with what you said.
- It goes on until someone can’t find a rhyme.
For example,
- If your opponent starts with the word “”
- You could reply with “Tower” because it rhymes with “flower.”
- Then your opponent could say “”
- Until one of you says something that doesn’t rhyme.
Fun right?
Here is a video of the rhymes texting game:
18. Emoji Challenge
You send an emoji, and your friend tries to interpret what it means, it is such a fun thing to do but make sure you both have updated keyboards, if not what you send isn’t what the other person will get.
Rules
- You communicate in emoji
- The other person has to interpret what you said.
For example,
- Merging a crown and lion emoji could suggest the Lion King movie.
Fun right?
Here is a video of the emoji challenge game:
19. Hangman
Hangman is a popular spelling guessing game that could also be played over the phone.
To play hangman as a texting game, one of the players (the host) will choose a secret word, then the other player (the challenger) will try to guess the word by asking what letters it contains.
Each wrong guess brings the guesser closer to a loss.
Here’s why, for every wrong guess, the host draws a hangman. Typically by seven wrong guesses, the man is hanged.
Rules
- The host selects a secret word and tells the challenger how many letters make up the word.
- The host draws a hanger (1) and then blank lines for each letter (_ _ _ _ _ _)
- The challenger starts guessing the letters
- If the challenger guesses a letter correctly, the host will write it in the correct space
- For the first wrong guess, the host will draw a small circle for the “head.”
- For the second wrong guess, the host will draw a line down from the bottom of the head for a neck
- For the third wrong guess, the host will draw an arm
- For the fourth wrong guess, the host will draw the other arm
- For the fifth wrong guess, the host will draw a line for the body
- For the sixth wrong guess, the host will draw a diagonal line from the end of the body for the first leg.
- For the seventh guess, the host will draw the other leg, which means the man is hanged and the challenger has lost the game.
- The host cannot change the word mid-game.
For example,
- If the host selects “HOME” as the word
- He will tell the challenger it is a four-letter word: _ _ _ _
- Now the challenger must guess the correct four letters
- Remember, one wrong guess is a step closer to a complete hangman drawing.
Don’t worry; it is not as complicated as it sounds.
Here is a video of the hangman game:
20. Truth Game
Can you play truth or dare over text? Yes, you can, the only difference is that you would be playing it over the phone. If you feel like playing truth or dare over text is restrictive, you could skip dares and just play truths!
However, if you are playing this game over SnapChat, Facetime or any video-chat service, you could do truth or dare.
Rules
- Set a punishment for any player who declines to answer, e.g., pay a fine, buy lunch, etc.
- Ask a question; a personal one, something the person would prefer to keep a secret.
- No lies!
For example,
- Who was the last person you kissed?
- If the person answers, then it’s your turn to answer a truth question.
- If not, the pay the agreed penalty.
Fun right?
Here is a video of the truth game:
21. Finish my sentence
This texting game is reserved for friends and lovers.
For this game, one person will start a sentence, and the other person will complete the sentence.
Rules
- One person starts a sentence.
- The other person completes the sentence.
- The sentences could be funny, cool, and even mature.
For example,
- I come back from work; I open the refrigerator and ____.
- You walk into my room; I’m not wearing any clothes, you ____.
Fun right?
Here is a video of the finish my sentence texting game:
22. Category fun
Category fun is a fun game that you could play with your friends or special one over the phone.
To play category fun, you have to pick a category and mention as many things that fall under the category.
Rules
- Pick a category.
- Set a time limit.
- The person that runs out of things to say under the category loses.
For example,
- Words that end with “an” (30 seconds)
- Man, Pan, Can, Tan, Clan, Plan, Van, Fan,
- The person with the highest number of correct words wins.
- Also, 30 seconds!
Fun right?
23. The Laughing Game
The laughing game is a fun texting game guaranteed to make you laugh.
Like many other texting games, the laughing game is a question game with a fun twist; the person answering the question may only respond with some pre-selected words.
So at the beginning of the game, the players will choose some words that will act as answers e.g.
Dog shit, vomit, granny’s underpants, and diarrhea.
Next, they ask each other questions, and as earlier mentioned, the answers can only be one of the chosen words.
So, if you ask your opponent – what is your favorite food? It has to be one of Dog shit, vomit, granny’s underpants or diarrhea.
Rules
- Choose some answer options at the start of the game.
- The answers must be one of the pre-selected answers.
- Ask fun questions!
For example,
- If the selected answers are: Pee, Poo, Vomit, and Worms
- You can ask your opponent what they will serve the guests at their wedding.
Fun right?
24. Questions Only Game
The questions only game goes by several names, but they all refer to a game where the participants can only ask each other questions, nothing else!
Rules
- You must not answer the question being asked.
- You can only reply with another question.
- You cannot repeat a question you have asked earlier.
- No long-pauses!
- Anyone who pauses or doesn’t reply with a question loses.
For example,
- If the other player asks “are you a thief? ”
- You cannot answer “Yes” or “No.”
- Your answer must be a question, e.g., “Are you a boy or a girl.”
- Also, both of you cannot ask these two questions again in the present round.
Fun right?
Here is a video of the questions only game:
25. Text strip questions Game
If you are looking for an intimate texting game to play with a partner, then the text-strip poker game is for you.
In this game, the participants ask each other questions, anyone who gets the answers wrong, has to remove a piece of their clothing.
You can ask trivia questions, or tag questions like “where did I meet my girlfriend?”
Rules
- Ask a question.
- If anyone gets the answers wrong, the person has to take off a piece of clothing and send a picture.
- No stacking clothes; if possible wear the same amount of clothes.
- You can set when the game ends, which means it doesn’t have to be wild. e.g., when one of you is in your underwear.
For example,
- What is the title of Beyoncé’s first solo album?
- If the answer is anything other than “Dangerously in Love,” you have to take off a piece of clothing and send a picture
- The game ends when someone has stripped up to an agreed-upon point.
Fun right?
Here is a video of a stripped-down game:
26. Lightning Fast
The lighting fast is a word association game, which makes an exciting texting game for couples.
To play this texting game, you will send your opponent a word, and they must reply with the first thing that pops into their mind when they see the word.
Rules
- Set a time limit, e.g., 10 seconds.
- One player sends a word, the other replies with the first word or phrase that comes to mind.
- Players can take turns, e.g., after 5 words, the next player begins their turn.
- Ideally, the response to a word should be associated with the word.
For example,
- If player one sends word – Red
- The other player could respond with “Blood.”
- If the player sends the word – soup
- The other player could respond with “Chinese.”
Fun right?
Here is a video of the texting game:
27. Fantasy Team
Fantasy team is an entertaining game you can play over the phone with friends.
In this texting game, you and your opponent take turns building an A team for a task.
Rules
- Set a task
- Set the number of people per team
- Take turns recruiting people for your team.
- You cannot select someone that the other player has selected.
For example,
- You have been given a huge budget to assemble a girl’s group to record a music album with 5 songs. You are to recruit, 4 female musicians, two songwriters and one producer for this project.
- 1, 2, 3 GO!
- The first person picks Adele – My lead singer
- Next person picks Ed Sheeran as a songwriter.
- First Person picks DJ Khaled as a producer
- Next person picks Beyoncé as a member of her group
- Remember, you cannot pick an option the other player has picked
At the end of the game, you could vote on who assembled the best team.
Fun right?
28. Trivia game
Trivia questions also make great texting games.
To play trivia questions over the phone, pick a category that is familiar to you and your opponent and ask questions from the chosen category.
Rules
- Set a time limit.
- Pick a topic.
- Ask trivia questions on the topic.
- The person with the highest number of correct answers wins.
For example,
Music trivia questions:
- Question: What was Madonna’s first UK top ten single? Answer – Holiday.
- Question: Which singer appeared in the feature film, Battleship? Answer – Rihanna.
Fun right?
Here is a video of the trivia game:
It is worth mentioning that the games listed above are fun games to play over the phone, which means these games can be played over FaceTime, Skype, SnapChat, WhatsApp, iMessage, group chats and any other platform.
Also, you could play these texting games with a group of friends, colleagues at work, boyfriend, girlfriend, long-distance special one or any other loved one.
Lastly, if you know anyone looking for fun games to play with friends, kindly share this article with the person.