What changes when you are not in the same room
In one room, you join by scanning a QR code on the host's phone. Remotely, the QR is useless. The host creates the room, copies the six-character code and pastes it in the chat, and everyone types it on playsobr.com from their phone or computer. No account, no install, that part does not change.
Everything else does. PlaySobr games do not carry your voice. You need a video call, Zoom, Google Meet, FaceTime, or a Discord voice channel, and that is where the game really happens. The phone stays what it is at the table, a private screen for your role, your word, your vote or your drawing.
Some games hold up very well this way, because their mechanic runs on talking and on what each player types or draws on their own screen. Others assume people who can see each other, touch each other, pass a phone around or raise a glass, and those do not hold up, however good the connection. The sorting below starts from what each game actually asks of the players.
Seven games that hold up remotely
The Spy. Everyone gets the same secret word except the impostors, each player describes it in turn, then the table votes on their own phone. Talking is the game and the vote stays secret, which is exactly what a video call can do. Voice is enough, a camera helps read the hesitations, and there is nothing to share on screen. Tip, fix the speaking order in the chat before the first round, or everyone talks at once. 3 to 12 players.
The Most Likely To. One question, everyone votes in secret on their phone, the most-picked player owns it. The result shows up on every screen, and the argument that follows is what gets the laughs. Voice is enough. Leave thirty seconds of silence after each result. Remotely, people do not dare to interrupt, and that silence is where the best excuses come out. 2 to 12 players.
Werewolf. The game runs the nights on each player's phone, with no moderator. At night, every phone shows the same screen, and only the wolves, the Seer and the Witch see what concerns them. The day is debated out loud. Video or voice, your choice, but mute the microphones during the night, one sigh or one tap too many gives a lot away. Camera off at night and on by day, the two phases tell apart at a glance. 5 to 12 players.
Catastrophe. Sixty seconds to type a survival plan for an absurd scenario, then an AI reads the plans and delivers its verdict. Everything goes through text on each player's phone, there is nothing to act out. Voice is enough to laugh at the verdicts, and the game holds even with two or three. Have each author read their plan out loud before the verdict, that is the moment where the video call adds something.
The Lost Sketch. A sentence, a drawing, a sentence, and a chain that derails from phone to phone. Everyone draws on their own screen, and the final reveal shows up for everybody. You need voice to comment on the reveal, otherwise nothing more is required. Draw with a finger on the phone rather than a mouse on a computer, mouse strokes make the chain unreadable. 3 to 8 players.
Stop the Bus. A letter, some categories, everyone types their answers on their phone, then the table checks out loud and disputes. On PlaySobr the game does what the sheet of paper did, and the spoken checking works very well over voice. Appoint one person to read the answers for each category, or the checking turns into noise. 2 to 12 players.
The Suitcase. Players give each other face-down gifts, then bluff or remember what each parcel holds. The cards are virtual, everyone sees their own on their phone, and the turn order is set in the lobby, so nothing is missing remotely. A voice channel is enough, a camera makes the bluffs funnier. 3 to 12 players.
The ones that do not hold up, and why
The Assassin. Each player gets a target and a mission to carry out on them in real life, make them clink glasses, make them change seats, touch their elbow unnoticed. None of that exists through a screen. Keep it for a party, a weekend or an offsite where everyone is in the room.
The Aperitif. Everyone reads the card on their own phone and the host moves things along, so technically the game runs. But the cards are table dares, sips, duels, forfeits, miming, and remotely all that is left is text to read. The same goes for The Circle, whose central glass and cascades are table rituals.
The Pyramid sits in between. The cards are digital and the bluffing works on video, but the sips to hand out are a table currency, count them as points. Heads Down holds up provided everyone has a camera, the word shows on the other phones and the active player guesses, but the mimed themes do not work without video.
The shared screen, remotely
At the table, TV mode puts the game on the big screen in the living room. Remotely, that same screen can be shared in the video call. The host opens playsobr.com/tv in a browser on their computer, a four-digit code appears, they enter it on their phone in the room, then share that window in Zoom, Meet or Discord. Everyone then sees the game's common scene while each player keeps their role on their phone.
It is only useful for the games that have a screen view, The Spy, The Most Likely To, Werewolf, Catastrophe and The Lost Sketch among those kept here, plus The Pyramid, The Aperitif, Heads Down and The Assassin. Stop the Bus and The Suitcase do without it. TV mode is PlaySobr's paid option, with a seven-day trial and no card required, and only the host pays. Without screen sharing, every game kept above still works, phones only and free. The shared screen is a comfort, not a condition.
The other good remote tools
Gartic Phone. Free, in the browser, no account, up to thirty players. It is chain drawing built for remote play from the start, and for a big crowd on Discord it is an understandable reflex. The Lost Sketch does the same job up to eight, in the same catalogue as the other games on this page.
Jackbox. The packs are paid and install on the host's PC or console, and the host shares their screen in the video call while the others play from their browser. It is the most common setup for playing Jackbox remotely, and it holds if the host has a good upload connection. Only a few titles exist in French.
Board Game Arena. For board games proper, Codenames, 7 Wonders, Carcassonne and hundreds more, in the browser, with a free tier and a subscription that unlocks some titles. It is not a party game, it is an online board game table, and for a group that likes rules, it is the right place.