CREDIT: HANNAH THEODORE
Backyard.co is a free service that lets friends stay connected with an online gaming feature.

With summer just around the corner, it’s so hard to not want to leave your place and hangout with friends.

At the beginning of this lockdown, my friend group was struggling to keep our motivations up. That’s when we discovered some virtual ways to hangout. 

One night while scrolling through TikTok, I came across a website called Backyard.co. Backyard.co is a free service that allows you and your friends to have a game night from anywhere in the world. Each lobby can hold up to 12 people, and there are a variety of different games to choose from.


Backyard.co is a lot like Zoom but with a game feature. All you do is create an account and a lobby, then invite your friends by sharing the link.

I personally love the lobby feature because it keeps things private and there are no random people from the internet crashing the server. Plus, it gives you the freedom to talk to your friends while enjoying a friendly competition.

It’s important to connect with the people who mean most to me, especially now during these uncertain times, and since we cannot meet in person, I cherish the moments I get virtually.

On Backyard.co, there is a game for everyone. One of my personal favourites is called Doodle, where players take turns drawing and the remaining players all have to guess what the artist is drawing.

Another fun game is Wordplay, which is basically a version of Cards Against Humanity. Backyard.co offers up to 27 different games to choose from for a virtual night of fun.

Another game my friends and I have been playing online is UNO. Now, there are a few different sites to play UNO on but one of the most common ones is UNO With Friends, a rendition of the classic card game online. All the same rules still apply which makes it even more fun. My friends and I will spend hours playing these games.

Another fun game my friend group enjoys playing is Jack Box Games on the platform, Steam. We hop onto a Zoom call and one of us will share our screen. Since most of the games require you to use another device to connect to the lobby with a code, we find it easier for the person who loaded up the games to share the screen so we all can see. There are a variety of games to choose from and it often leads us to a night full of fun.

Although these times we’re living in can feel very uncertain sometimes, it is nice knowing that there are ways to still connect with friends, all while doing my part and staying home.

Over the last year, I have become more reliant on technology to stay connected with my friends, since for now we cannot do things in person. Finding websites like Backyard.co and UNO With Friends have made virtual hangouts more exciting. Not only does it enhance the virtual experience, it also grants us some fun memories to look back on.

Since discovering the wonders of Backyard.co, we now schedule weekly Zoom calls to play games. I very much look forward to these nights because it gives us a break from our typical routines and gives us a chance to connect with one another from the comfort of our own homes.