PlaySobr
What it does well: the dual mode: all 15 games play phones-only and move up to the TV when there is one. Free with no ads, content written in French and tested at real tables, and games you will not find elsewhere: the card rituals La Pyramide and Le Cercle, L'Assassin running across a whole party, Le Bagage half physical half digital, two AI-judged games.
The right pick for: French-speaking tables of 2 to 12 who want to chain several different games in one night, with or without a screen.
Its limits: 12 players max per room (30 on The Assassin), no quiz, a smaller catalog than Jackbox, and the TV mode is paid.
The PlaySobr counterpart: the whole house: Le Croquis Perdu, Le Plus Susceptible, A Mots Couverts, L'Espion, the moderator-free Loup-Garou and the rest.
Jackbox
What it does well: the production: voice acting, music, comedy writing honed over ten years, and the deepest catalog on the market, from Quiplash to Trivia Murder Party.
The right pick for: groups comfortable in English playing in front of a PC or console hooked to a screen.
Its limits: 29.99 EUR per pack, a machine and a screen required, and official French limited to five titles (Pack 11 is English only).
The PlaySobr counterpart: Le Croquis Perdu for Drawful, Le Plus Susceptible for Quiplash, L'Espion for Push the Button. Nothing for quizzes, and we say so in the detailed head-to-head.
Kahoot!
What it does well: live quizzing, unrivalled: a PIN code, millions of public quizzes, an instant scoreboard, and a capacity that scales to thousands of participants.
The right pick for: a wedding quiz, a pub-quiz night with friends, a classroom, a 50-person seminar.
Its limits: about ten participants on the free plan (the cap has dropped over the years), a host account, and a single format: the quiz. Kahoot! is not a party game, it is a quiz tool.
The PlaySobr counterpart: none. PlaySobr has no quiz, on purpose: the 15 games rely on what players do with each other, not on single-answer questions.
Gartic Phone
What it does well: the drawn telephone game, free, up to 30 players, in many languages, no account, about ten modes. The go-to for Discord nights since 2020.
The right pick for: a remote night on video call or Discord, or a big table happy to laugh at one game for an hour.
Its limits: one game, banner ads, and no shared screen: everyone watches the reveal on their own device.
The PlaySobr counterpart: Le Croquis Perdu, the same idea for 3 to 8 players, ad-free, with a stroke-by-stroke animated reveal on the TV when there is one.
Psych!
What it does well: phone bluffing made simple: everyone writes a fake answer, everyone votes, and the "The Truth Comes Out" deck turns your friends into the subject of the game.
The right pick for: an English-speaking group with five minutes to kill, at a party or in the car.
Its limits: English only, the app (with an account) is required for every player, ads and paid packs weigh on the game, and the app has not been updated since 2023.
The PlaySobr counterpart: Le Plus Susceptible for voting on your friends, L'Espion for bluffing. No install, and in French.
Codenames Online
What it does well: the team word game in its official version, free, no account, 44 languages, up to 64 players. A model board-game adaptation.
The right pick for: two teams who like to think, on a video call or around a table with one screen per team.
Its limits: one game, calm and cerebral, which needs a spymaster per team and plays poorly under four.
The PlaySobr counterpart: A Mots Couverts for words and teams, L'Espion for word association. No counterpart to the 5x5 grid.