12 Online Games for Long Distance Couples to Play Together

1. Lovla Color Battle for a date only you two could have

A game becomes more personal when the reference image is your partner’s face. In Lovla Color Battle, two users paint each other from reference images in a timed round. You are doing the same activity, with something familiar and funny to react to.

Choose clear photos before starting. For your first round, use ordinary portraits rather than pictures with tiny faces or complicated backgrounds. Make your own informal awards afterward: best hair, most ambitious eyebrows, or strongest resemblance to an actual human. Those are date ideas, not automatic scoring categories in the app.

This is the one option here that requires a mobile app. Both partners should check their device compatibility and current access before the date. If you want to make something together without a competition, Lovla also lets you turn a shared photo into a coloring page and color it together.

• Plan a Lovla Color Battle date

2. Connect 4 for the call that needs a little momentum

Connect 4 has a simple goal: place four counters in a line before your partner does. Papergames offers a browser version with a friend option, so you can share a game link instead of looking for each other in a public lobby.

Try a best of three while you settle into the call. It gives you something to react to immediately, without asking either person to learn a long rulebook. Alternate who starts, and save your dramatic victory speech until you have checked the diagonal.

• Play Connect 4 in your browser

3. Jigsaw Explorer when you want to be on the same team

Jigsaw Explorer lets you assemble a puzzle together online. Start a multiplayer puzzle, share its link, and work on the same image from different homes. Pick a picture with distinct colors or objects for your first attempt; a large expanse of blue sky can wait.

Give yourselves loose roles, such as one person finding edges and the other building a recognizable object. You can talk while your hands have something to do. Keep the game link if you want to return later: the service saves progress, but unfinished games expire after thirty days of inactivity.

• Start a shared jigsaw puzzle

4. Chess on Lichess when you both want a proper match

Lichess offers free browser chess and a Challenge a friend option. Choose a comfortable clock setting, or a slower format, rather than assuming a fast game is easier for a beginner.

If your experience differs, decide whether tonight is a lesson or a competition. A teaching round can include explaining what you are threatening before your partner moves. A competitive round should give both people space to think without constant corrections. You can also work through a chess puzzle together if playing against each other feels uneven.

• Challenge your partner on Lichess

5. Battleship for confident guesses and terrible alibis

Papergames has a browser Battleship game for two players. You take turns attacking the other grid and trying to sink the opposing fleet. This version includes extra weapons, so read its short rules before expecting an exact copy of the board game you remember.

It suits a call where you want light competition without sharing the same information. Keep your own grid private if you are also sharing a screen. Half the fun is sounding completely certain about a square that contains absolutely nothing.

• Play Battleship in your browser

6. Codenames Daily for couples who like arguing about words

Codenames Daily provides free word deduction puzzles in a browser. You can each attempt the same daily challenge and compare results, or have one person share their screen while you discuss the possible answers together.

This is not a private multiplayer match. The togetherness comes from your call and the way you choose to solve it. If you compare scores, agree not to reveal answers until both have finished. If you cooperate, each person gets to explain one apparently ridiculous connection before the other dismisses it.

• Open Codenames Daily
• Read the publisher’s explanation of the browser puzzles

Before the next three games: set up Board Game Arena

Jaipur, Patchwork and Hive all have browser versions on Board Game Arena. Prepare your accounts and invitation before the call so the evening does not begin with password resets. The platform has free and Premium access; starting a Premium game requires a Premium member, while invited players can join without their own Premium membership. Check the current game listing and table requirements before choosing.

Treat the first match as a learning game. The platform handles the pieces and legal moves, but that does not mean the strategy will be obvious on your first turn.

• Check Board Game Arena access details

7. Jaipur for a small game with satisfying decisions

Jaipur is made for two players. You collect, trade and sell goods, deciding whether to take points now or wait for a larger sale. Its browser adaptation means neither of you needs a physical copy on the table.

Choose it when you want a proper board game evening without a crowd. During the first round, talk through the available actions before making choices. Once you both understand the rhythm, the question becomes whether your partner is collecting something valuable or simply taking every camel they see.

• Play Jaipur on Board Game Arena

8. Patchwork for a cozy looking game with real competition

In Patchwork, you fit pieces onto your own quilt board while managing buttons and time. Both players want useful pieces, so choosing a shape also affects what remains for the other person.

This suits couples who enjoy visual puzzles and making a plan. It is competitive rather than a shared craft project, so choose Jigsaw Explorer instead if you want one common result. Give the first game room to breathe while you learn why a piece that fits perfectly can still cost more than you wanted to spend.

• Play Patchwork on Board Game Arena

9. Hive for learning something new together

Hive is a strategy game for two. Its insect pieces move in different ways, and the aim is to surround the opposing queen bee. There is no fixed board; the arrangement of pieces creates the playing area.

Try it on a night when both of you have the attention to learn. Read the movement rules together and make your first match an experiment. If one person already knows the game, let the other ask about a move before committing rather than turning unfamiliar rules into a surprise trap.

• Play Hive on Board Game Arena

10. Gomoku when Connect 4 has become too predictable

Gomoku asks you to make a line of five pieces on a grid while stopping your opponent from doing the same. Papergames offers a friend game in the browser. The objective is easy to understand, but keeping track of several developing lines takes attention.

Play an even number of rounds and alternate the starting player. After each game, point out the move where you realized what was happening. It gives you a little shared learning without needing a formal lesson or a running relationship scoreboard.

• Play Gomoku in your browser

11. Backgammon for strategy with somebody else to blame

In backgammon, you use dice rolls to move your checkers around the board and eventually take them off. Papergames provides a browser game with a friend option. Review the rules together if either of you is new to blocked points and captured checkers.

The dice add uncertainty, which can make a rematch feel appealing even after a rough round. Keep it to points and bragging rights. A good roll deserves a laugh; it does not need to become a serious theory about which one of you is luckier in life.

• Play Backgammon in your browser

12. Checkers when familiar is exactly what you want

Checkers gives you a recognizable board and a clear contest: move, capture and work toward crowning a king. Papergames offers a browser version you can play with a friend. Read the rules used by that version, especially its capture rules, rather than relying entirely on childhood memories.

Choose it when you want company and a game you can settle into. If the same person wins repeatedly, switch to a cooperative puzzle before the date becomes another round played only to repair somebody’s pride.

• Play Checkers in your browser

Make the game night easy to repeat

Pick one main game and one fallback. For example, start with a few Connect 4 rounds, then try a shared jigsaw if you want a slower conversation. On a more playful evening, make Color Battle the main event and finish by comparing the portraits.

Papergames advertises free guest play and shared friend links, with paid options for removing ads. It is useful for the simpler games on this list, but check the screen together before the call if ads or browser settings interrupt your setup.

Agree on when to stop before starting another match. “One last game” works better when you both mean it. You do not need to try all twelve. Finding one activity you look forward to repeating is a perfectly good result.

For nights when you want something beyond games, explore things to do on FaceTime. For a seasonal version of the same idea, try Halloween date ideas for long distance couples.

• See Papergames guest and friend play details
• things to do on FaceTime
• Halloween date ideas for long distance couples