Guide
60 This or That Questions for Couples and Friends
Sixty this or that questions to ask on a call: thirty for couples, thirty for friends, and a free two-player game where you both answer at the same moment and score together.
Games to play on WhatsApp
Most WhatsApp games are lists of questions that someone forwards around. These are real games with a board, and WhatsApp is only how the invitation travels. You start a room, paste the link into a chat, and whoever taps it is sitting across from you a few seconds later. There is no app to install and no account to make, which matters when the other person has a full phone, a slow connection, or no patience for signing up to things.
Games that work well from a WhatsApp chat
1. Tic-Tac-Toe
Everybody knows the rules, so it is the easiest link to send to someone who has never seen the site. Try Infinite mode, where your oldest mark disappears and the game can't end in a draw.
About 1 min a game · How to play Tic-Tac-Toe
2. Connect 4
A few minutes a game and a rematch button that keeps a running score, so a chat can carry the same rivalry for weeks. Bigger boards and a Pop Out variant are there when the classic gets stale.
About 4 min a game · How to play Connect 4
3. Dots & Boxes
The one you played on the back of a school notebook. Big tap targets that work on a small screen, and grids from 3 by 3 up to 6 by 6 depending on how long you have.
About 5 min a game · How to play Dots & Boxes
4. In Sync
This or that, one tap a round, scored together. Good for a friend you haven't spoken to in a while, because it gives you ten small things to talk about afterwards.
About 2 min a game · How to play In Sync
5. How Well Do You Know Me
A proper version of the question lists that go round on WhatsApp: you both answer and both guess, and the game keeps score. There are packs for couples, for friends, and a Deep one for late at night.
About 5 min a game · How to play How Well Do You Know Me
6. Word Duel
Head-to-head Wordle with the same secret word. When it ends you get a grid of coloured squares to paste back into the chat, without giving the word away.
About 5 min a game · How to play Word Duel
How to play a game on WhatsApp
Open longdistancegames.com in your browser, pick a game and press start. You land in a room with a big Send the invite link button. On a phone that opens the share sheet, so choose WhatsApp and the chat you want. On a computer it copies the link for you to paste into WhatsApp Web.
The other person taps the link, types a name and is in. The link opens inside WhatsApp's own browser, which is fine for a quick game. If you want to come back to the same game tomorrow, open the link in Chrome or Safari before you take a seat, because each browser remembers your seat separately. The page tells you this when it matters.
Light on data, and fine on an older phone
A move is a few bytes. The pages are small, there are no ads or videos to load, and nothing downloads in the background. A whole evening of Connect 4 uses less data than one photo sent in the same chat.
Because it is a web page, it runs on whatever browser the phone already has. Nobody needs a recent phone or free storage, and one of you can be on Android while the other is on an iPhone.
Playing across time zones
The turn-based games don't need you both online at once. Make your move, close the tab, and get on with your day. When the other person plays, the room is waiting on the home page under Your games with Your turn next to it. If they have gone quiet, the Nudge them button sends the link again with a note that it's their move.
Questions
- Can you play games on WhatsApp?
- WhatsApp has no games of its own, but any game that works from a link can be played through it. Start a room here, send the link in a chat, and the other person plays in their browser.
- Do we both need to install something?
- No. It runs in the browser that is already on the phone. There is no app, no account and no email to give.
- Does it use much data?
- Very little. A move is a few bytes and the pages are small. A voice note uses more than a whole game.
- Can more than two people play from a group chat?
- Each room seats two. In a group, the first person to tap the link gets the seat, so it works best sent to one person, or as a challenge for whoever is quickest.
- Does it work on WhatsApp Web?
- Yes. Paste the link into the chat on your computer and play in another browser tab.