The pandemic has caused millions of people throughout the world to lose jobs, stay out of school and to be stuck at home wondering when “normal” life will return. Most restaurants and other public places have limited capacity in view of the social distancing guidelines. One cannot walk into a supermarket without having to wear a mask and stay six feet away from everyone. These are undoubtedly challenging times.

How can someone cure boredom during this pandemic? Movies and television shows offer some choices, but it is, at best, a passive activity. A great option is to host pandemic party games for your family and friends. The point of these games is to be active and social, two things which are now difficult to do.

Board Games

The pandemic creates the perfect excuse to play board games with friends and family, whether traditional ones or Covidopoly19, the new game from CatgoryTen of Connecticut. While the game, like many other games, embodies some aspects of the well-known game Monopoly, there are numerous differences. For example, spaces on the board represent locations affected by the current pandemic. Instead of four railroads, there are four leading hospitals of the world. Rather than Chance or Community Chest cards, there are “Ventilator” and “Mask” cards, designed to provide facts about the novel coronavirus and pandemic. As an example, one mask cards reads: “You wash your hands well as soaps degrade the virus’ fatty protective layer, deactivating it. Get $150.” Some of the cards inject humor into an otherwise difficult and tragic context of the pandemic. For instance, another mask card reads: “During the pandemic you ask yourself who are these people in your house and do you really need to feed them all. Pay $100”

The game pieces include people and objects of relevance to the pandemic. Players may choose to be a mask, a sanitizer bottle, an aerosol spray, a ventilator, toilet paper and the like. Alternatively, a player could choose to be a person such as Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Dr. Anthony Fauci, etc. The game also provides a snapshot of the current time in our history. Interestingly, and one wonders if CategoryTen is making a political statement, a family depicted on the game box and the game figures such as Joe Biden and Angela Merkel are wearing a mask, whereas President Trump is not.

Online Video Gaming

Other options include online video games. There are endless arrays of multiplayer video games available on the internet. One can play the span between online board games to 3D first-person shooter games, which can be violent seeming and is therefore not recommended. Free online games can be found at Pogo.com.

Isolation Twister

Isolation Twister is a modified version of the classic game “Twister.” In traditional Twister, two or more players have place hands and feet on different colored circles of the same plastic mat. It is the “closeness” and the body contortions sometimes necessary that makes twister a fun game. In the pandemic, some modification is warranted – for instance, one player per mat. The first person to fall loses the game.