For a Discord game night, decide whether everyone will play their own browser game or use a phone as a controller for a shared host screen. That one distinction prevents a surprising amount of setup confusion.
The shortlist below covers three different moods: drawing, word clues, and social deduction. Banana Society belongs in the last category.
Pick a mood before a game
| Game | Activity | How the group sees the game |
|---|---|---|
| Banana Society | Movement, banana collection, and hidden Eaters. | Each person opens their own desktop game view. |
| Gartic Phone | A chain of writing, drawing, and interpreting. | Each participant uses the game's browser interface. |
| skribbl.io | One player draws while the others guess. | Players join the same drawing room. |
| Codenames Online | Teams reason about word clues. | Friends share the online room URL and use their own views. |
A voice call accompanies these choices. The call does not turn a game into a Discord Activity or guarantee that it is embedded inside Discord.
If you want energetic accusations
Choose Banana Society when your friends want to move around and infer who is undermining the group. The recommended 6–12-player setup gives human alibis and observations room to develop.
Share the room invitation in the call's chat. Ask everyone to use a computer and verify that the whole group appears in the lobby before starting. In-game voice configuration is separate from your Discord call; avoid using both audio paths if they create an echo.
The hosting guide gives you a first-round checklist.
If you want funny drawings
Gartic Phone is a good fit when the group enjoys seeing an idea change as it passes between people. skribbl.io is a different drawing format: there is a word to guess and a score to chase.
That changes the atmosphere. A group that enjoys a shared reveal may prefer the telephone format; a group asking for a little competition may prefer guessing. Neither requires your friends to enjoy accusing each other of lying.
If you want a calmer team conversation
Codenames Online can suit a group that would rather discuss associations than control moving characters. Its official setup tells players to create a game, connect over their preferred audio/video chat, and share the room URL.
Give new players a moment to learn their role in the team before starting the clue discussion. Keeping the explanation short matters even when the controls are simple.
Check these details before the call
- Share the actual game URL, not only a screenshot of the game.
- Check each game's device requirements; do not infer phone support from the word “browser.”
- Confirm whether anyone needs to share a host screen. That is common in a Jackbox setup and differs from the individual views above.
- Test one invitation before asking everybody to join.
- Agree on audio levels so the game does not drown out the conversation.
For more options, see Jackbox alternatives or what to play after Gartic Phone.
Sources and review notes
Reviewed September 6, 2026 against Gartic Phone, skribbl.io, and Codenames Online. Recommendations are based on their documented formats; this is not a Discord integration or latency test.
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