An online trivia game being played on a laptop next to a blue mug — Photograph: Unsplash/Chris Montgomery

The most fun online trivia games to play remotely

Fancy a pub quiz but can't get to the bar? Check out these online trivia games and host a fun virtual games night.

By Tim Lowery Posted: Wednesday May 12 2021

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Want to set up your own weekly trivia night? Peruse this guide to the best online trivia games out there, so you can have an amazing quiz night from the comfort of your home—feel free to have a few drinks, flex your intellectual prowess and, best of all, make fun of your pals relentlessly. We’ve also rounded up some tried-and-true drinking games to play remotely for a boozy evening, online jigsaw puzzles for a solo session and classic board games to play with friends online.

RECOMMENDED: Online party games to play with friends

Best trivia games to play remotely

1. Random Trivia Generator

This free-of-charge RTG offers party-gamers six categories—arts, science, general, geography, history and entertainment—and then a virtually endless slew of questions in each. It’s super easy to play: Simply pick your category, then scroll through the questions. To see the answer to a question, click on it. And...that’s about it. As far as the logistics of playing, we suggest having one person host, share their screen with the group and reveal answers.

2. Jackbox Games

The company boasts a few online trivia games, in which you can connect on a video conference, then all play via your phones (see the instructions for how to do that below): There’s its namesake, the classic You Don’t Know Jack; there’s Trivia Murder Party, in which you try to avoid “the killing floor” by answering questions correctly; and then there’s Fibbage, in which players must identify missing details in facts. We suggest nabbing one of Jack’s party packs (they sell for between $25 and $30, which each include five trivia games). If you need more instructions, here's a tutorial on how to play Jackbox Games via Zoom.

3. Houseparty

This hit video-chatting app also offers free online trivia games. You may want to kick things off with the general-trivia card deck, or head straight to the ‘finish the song lyric’ card deck, which has the added bonus of making all of your friends sing out loud. For more recommendations, check out our guide to the best games to play on the app.

4. DIY trivia games night

Although it takes a lot more elbow grease, we’ve probably had the most fun concocting our own trivia nights with pals. By nature, the questions are obviously more catered to your group, so you can go highlight interests you all share. (We've had recent rounds on the Chicago Bulls in the ’90s, Parks and Recreation, the late-great John Prine and the chart-topping songs of 1978.) So how do you do it? Tweak the following as you see fit, but this has worked wonders for us:

1. Have a different host each game, who is in charge of devising questions, moving from round to round and keeping track of scores.

2. Have answers submitted via text message to the host after the end of each round.

3. Give the answers to each round once all answers are in.

4. Give a total-score check for each player or team every other round.

5. Have a slideshow for all questions on a shared screen, so hosts don’t have to reread any long ones.