The Brief: While we're all quarantined, here are our favorite online board games and card-playing games and the links to where you can play them.

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DEEP DIVE

While many all over the world remain in quarantine, people are having a great deal of trouble finding fun ways to stay busy and productive. Now, that boredom can be combated with the many virtual board games that are easily accessible and shareable to anyone online. Whether that be through a touch screen cellular device or a desktop computer, there are many classic board games and card playing games that are capable of being downloaded to an individual’s device in a matter of seconds. Like playing virtual games through Zoom, these online games are meant to be played amongst friends who may be worlds apart or at least not in the same room.

Facebook’s Instant Games

Through Facebook’s application, online users can dig around and play built-in games that are meant for the messaging platform. Between Facebook friends, social media users are fully capable of tapping into classic strategy games such as Words With Friends, Solitaire Story, and Word Blitz. The vast array of gaming applications on Facebook range from puzzle-making to role-playing games. Facebook’s Instant Games currently have millions of people playing against each other which means that there are always people online ready to game.

Online Tabletop Games

These traditional board games have long been a part of many people’s childhoods and are now becoming a part of your mobile device for online gaming. Some of these analog games are interchangeable with each other since they have a similar gaming format like Words with Friends and Scrabble Go. Here are a few analog games that are becoming a part of everyone’s lives in a more digitally accessible way.

Scrabble

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This Hasbro tabletop game is popularly played amongst adults. If you love to assemble words and have a competitive nature then this game is for you.

Monopoly

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Since 1933, Monopoly has become a widely known game throughout American culture. Based on financial possession and control, the game uses a card deck to help draw moves between competitors and tends to run on for a few hours if you actually get to finish the game.

Checkers

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Checkers is definitely one of the more intuitive games to play that is out there. Commonly played between children, the two-player game uses red and black circular pieces to play against each other.

Chess

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One of the more difficult tabletop games to play, Chess is known to be an elite two-playing board game that takes strategy and tactic to win.

Connect 4

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A popular kid’s game that tends to be present in elementary classes across the United States is a two-player game that uses colorful pieces to stack on each other in a rack to be victorious.

Online Card Games

Uno

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Uno is a card-playing game that is commonly used throughout youth schools in the United States. The card deck contains brightly colored numbered cards that signal certain rules to win. Whoever yells Uno first after having their last card remaining is the winner.

Cards Against Humanity

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One of the newer card-playing games that was established in 2011, Cards Against Humanity is a popular game between teenagers and young adults for its explicitly hilarious statements.

Yahtzee

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A Hasbro dice game that was originally created in Canada has surpassed borders and is an extremely popular game in the United States that not many people know how to play.