Remote Gaming: Balderdash

This is a list of games that are freely available free on the internet and integrate nicely with Zoom or other video-conferencing tools.

Balderdash Instructions

Balderdash is a game of making up words. My family has a tradition of playing this on Christmas Eve. This game can be uproariously funny at times, usually when someone comes up with an absolutely absurd definition that is obviously incorrect. I have linked to a Random Word Generator here. And a Weird Random Word Generator here. These don't quite match the obscurity of the words you get playing classic Balderdash, but the rules can account for that.

To begin, you will need to establish a playing order. Whomever the 'dasher' is will need to use the random word generator to come up with a word. They will then read and spell the word for the other players. I suggest refreshing a couple times until a suitable word is found. The other players then have to make up definitions for the word. If they have the correct definition, they get 2 points and the 'dasher' does not read the player's definition. Next, the 'dasher' collects the answers and reads them back in random order. The 'dasher' gets a point for every person who guesses the correct definition and players get a point for every person that guesses their definition. In classic Balderdash, the first person to 18 points is the winner.

The challenge in playing this remotely is how you handle answer submissions. I have only played this where I am the permanent dasher and I accept all the answers by text, but a way for everyone to get a chance to be the dasher could be direct-messaging definitions using the private message feature of Zoom. The dasher can then write them down in the order received because that is essentially random and read them back and keep track of scores.