Online party games with webcam

A big group: Mafia

Mafia is the main game on Omerta and the best choice when ten or more people get together. Classic Mafia for 10 players is the competitive format with a rating that never resets. City Mafia for 12 is a lighter format with a Doctor, a Seductress, a Commissioner and a Maniac who plays for himself.

You do not need a human game master: the server deals the roles, switches day and night, runs speech timers and voting, and mutes microphones when the rules say so. Everyone sees and hears each other over video, which is exactly what makes bluffing work.

• Mafia online — both modes and how to start
• Mafia rules — speeches, voting, night and victory
• City Mafia — roles and the step-by-step night

Board games for two

Long backgammon (narde) and carrom are tables for exactly two players. The server rolls the dice in backgammon and calculates every carrom shot, so both players always see the same board, and nobody can argue about a roll. The camera and microphone work right next to the board, so a game with a friend in another city feels like a game at one table.

Syndicate is an economic board game for 2–4 players with auctions, trades and building. Its rules page is currently available in Russian; the game interface itself is translated into English.

• Long backgammon online — rules and how to play with a friend
• Carrom online — rules, the queen and fouls
• Syndicate (page in Russian) — economic board game for 2–4 players

Movie night and word games

In the Movie room one participant shares their screen with sound from a computer, and up to twelve people watch together, talk over cameras and write in the chat. Viewers can join from a phone.

Omerta also has three word games — Hidden Code (a team word-association game like Codenames), Guess the Word (explaining words against the clock, like Alias) and Hint Taken (one-word hints). Their word lists are Russian, so they are best for Russian-speaking groups.

• Watch a movie together (page in Russian) — how the shared screen works
• All Omerta games (page in Russian) — the full catalogue

How to get your group together

Sign in with email or Telegram, create a table for the game you want and send your friends the link — to a messenger, a group chat or Telegram. A table can be locked with a password so only your friends can sit down. The interface is available in English: it follows your browser language.

You can play on a phone, a tablet or a computer. Games with voice need a browser with microphone access, and Mafia also expects the camera to be on during a game, because seeing faces is part of the game.

Not enough friends online?

The table list always has open games where you can join other players. Mafia gathers ten or twelve people, backgammon and carrom need only two. Many players are Russian-speaking, so English-speaking groups usually create their own private table and invite friends.