36 games to play with your boyfriend, in person, on a call or over text

Competitive games for when you both want to win

Start here if the evening needs a scoreboard. Most of these are quick enough to play several rounds, which matters, because losing once is unbearable and losing three out of five is a discussion.

• Wordle race: you both get the same five-letter word and six guesses each. The boards stay hidden until you have both finished, then whoever solved it in fewer guesses takes the round. A hint reveals one letter’s position, and admitting you used it is part of the game.
• Connect 4: the classic, one phone each. Play it live on the sofa or one move at a time across a working day, with the result going on the room leaderboard so nobody can dispute the running total.
• Codenames for two: one of you is spymaster and sees the key, the other sees eighteen face-down words. One-word clues with a number, seven agents to find, four bystanders, one assassin to avoid, and a dummy team quietly uncovering one of its own words every turn to keep you honest. You pick the clock per turn at setup.
• Jumble: five scrambled words, the same for both of you, and you tap the letters back into order. Hints place the next letter but are counted against you, and your times are compared at the end.
• Word search: one 9x9 grid, six hidden words, both of you hunting on the same grid at the same time. Drag an arrow over a word to claim it. Only the count of words found is shown, not which ones, so you never quite know what he has and he never quite knows what you have. A hint makes a first letter glow.
• Escape room: the one where you are on the same side. Five puzzles against the clock, and each phone shows only half the clues, so you have to describe what you can see and listen to what he can. Answers are tapped in on keypads, letter pads and visual grids, there is a hint if you are stuck, and the rooms are procedurally generated so there is always a new one.
• Speed sudoku: open the same puzzle on two devices or print it twice, start a timer, and the first correct finish wins. Loser makes the tea.
• Rock paper scissors, best of fifteen: pointless as a single throw, oddly gripping over fifteen once you start reading each other’s habits and pretending not to.
• The estimate game: one of you names something measurable, such as how many steps from the front door to the corner shop or how many teabags are left in the box, you both guess, then you check. Closest takes the point.
• Fastest to find it: name an object in the house, a specific receipt, the spare key, the good scissors, and the first one back with it wins. On a call, set the object in each other’s home instead.

Fun games to play with your boyfriend when you just want to laugh

No scores here, or at least none that matter. These are for the evenings where the aim is to make each other laugh until one of you has to go and stand in the kitchen.

• Emoji charades: four prompts each, films, dishes, places and shared memories, described in up to eight emoji and nothing else. He guesses, you judge, and a hint reveals the first letter when a boat, a fish and a crying face are getting you nowhere.
• Story ping-pong: a ridiculous opening line, then one sentence each until the story hits ten lines. It is turn-based, so it can run through a whole afternoon over text, and the finished stories stay in the room to be read back later, ideally aloud.
• Two truths and a lie: three statements each, one of them false. He picks the lie, you pick his, and there are points for a catch. It gets better the longer you have been together, because the true stories get stranger.
• Accents only: choose an accent each and hold it for a full conversation about something mundane, such as what to have for dinner. First to break loses.
• Terrible film pitch: give each other two unrelated nouns and pitch a blockbuster in sixty seconds. The listener plays a bored studio executive and is allowed one hard question.
• Wrong answers only: ask each other real questions, the capital of Australia, how a fridge works, and mark each other purely on the confidence of the wrong answer.
• Impressions: each of you does an impression of the other ordering a coffee, complaining about the wifi or answering the door to a delivery. The subject scores it out of ten for accuracy and is usually harsh.
• Alphabet argument: have a mock argument in which each line must start with the next letter of the alphabet. Getting through Q, X and Z without laughing is the whole game.
• Draw it blind: describe a photo from your camera roll without naming anything in it while he draws it with his eyes shut. Swap. Keep the drawings, they age well.

Slow-burn games that unfold over days

These are for couples who like something running in the background: a game you pick up for two minutes a day and finish at the weekend. They suit long distance especially well, because nobody has to be free at the same time.

• Memory lane: each of you writes a few questions about your shared history, with the answer, and the round opens once you have both written. You answer his from memory, near-miss spelling is accepted automatically, and you judge the answers to your own questions. It quietly rewards paying attention over years.
• Newlywed game: six questions a round, three about you and three guessing what he will say. Answers stay private until both are in, then they are revealed together, and the person being asked about judges the guesses. Points go on a room scoreboard, and questions do not repeat for a month, so it can be a weekly fixture.
• Would you rather, the long version: eight dilemmas a round, private picks revealed side by side. Matches feed a compatibility percentage that builds over weeks, which settles arguments far better than any single evening could.
• The playlist swap: one song each per day for a fortnight, no explanation allowed until the end. Then go through the list together and defend every pick.
• Book club for two: the same novel, a chapter a night, one message each with a reaction. No spoilers, no skipping ahead, and a proper conversation about it when you both finish.
• The long letter: start a shared note and add a paragraph each every few days, about anything at all. Read the whole thing aloud on a date night once it fills a page.
• Family tree by memory: over a week, each of you tries to draw the other’s family tree from memory, one branch a day, with cousins, pets and the uncle nobody mentions. Corrections happen at the weekend.
• Bucket list drafting: one entry each per day, in a shared note, for a month. At the end, agree on three to actually do and book the first one before the conversation ends.
• Slow draughts: a board left out on the table and one move each whenever you pass it. The long-distance version is a photo of the board after every move.

Five-minute games for the gap before bed

Short enough to fit between brushing your teeth and turning the light off, and short enough to keep up on a weeknight when neither of you has anything left.

• Question of the day: one question, two private answers, revealed once both are in. It takes about two minutes, builds a daily streak, and is the easiest habit on this list to keep going.
• High, low, buffalo: the best bit of the day, the worst bit, and one thing that fits neither. Two minutes each, and the rule is that nobody tries to fix anything.
• Predict the day: each of you predicts one thing that will happen to the other before six in the evening. Check at bedtime, and a correct call is worth a point.
• Three-word review: review something you both experienced today, a meal, a walk, the weather, in exactly three words each. Compare notes and argue about the adjectives.
• The one-minute mystery: pick an object within sight and give three clues without naming it. He has one minute to guess, then it is his turn. On a call, use something in your own room.
• Hum it: hum a song for ten seconds, he names it, then swap. Keep a running tally through the week and settle it on Sunday.
• Coin flip with a veto: for any trivial choice you have been circling, takeaway or cook, film or walk, flip a coin. The loser gets one veto a week and has to use it wisely.
• Compliment tennis: one specific compliment each, back and forth, no repeats, until someone stalls. Specific means the way he always checks the oven is off, not just nice.

Games to play with your boyfriend online, on a call or over text

Every phone game above runs from one room link, so the online version is the same game. One of you starts a room, sends the link, and you are both in. Live on a video call suits the fast ones, Wordle race, Word search and Jumble, where you want to hear the muttering. The rest are turn-based, so a Newlywed round or a Story ping-pong can sit open through a working day, or across time zones, with each of you taking a turn whenever you get a minute.

The classics are more forgiving over text than you might expect. The playlist swap, the long letter, wrong answers only and predict the day were practically built for it. The trick with anything over text is to keep each turn small: one song, one sentence, one prediction. A lot of what gets filed under couple games for boyfriend and girlfriend is really just conversation with a bit of structure, and structure is exactly what a text thread lacks at half past ten on a Wednesday.

How the two-phone version works

The question games here, Newlywed, Question of the day, Would you rather and Memory lane, all work the same way. One of you starts a room and sends a link; there is no signup and no account. You each answer on your own phone, and your answer stays private until both of you have submitted. Then everything is revealed at once, side by side, so neither of you can shade an answer to match the other’s.

In the Newlywed game the person being asked about judges the guesses, and the points land on a room scoreboard that keeps a running total. Question of the day adds a daily streak. Would you rather turns your matches into a compatibility percentage that builds over weeks. None of it needs you in the same place at the same time; the round simply waits until the second answer arrives.