Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
WITH THE CHRISTMAS holidays well underway, you probably have some free time on your hands and the traditional board games aren’t doing the trick.
If you and your family or friends are stuck for something to do, there are some great party games that you can play using just your smartphone or tablet. In some cases, you can each use their own phone to play.
Bounden
For: iOS, Android
Cost: €2.99 (iOS), €3.50 (Android)
A game based on the ballet, Bounden requires two players to hold one side of a smartphone and follow the dance moves. There will be twisting and possibly entanglement but that’s part of the fun.
There’s a tutorial included so you can get to grips with the game before you and someone else try it out for real.
Spaceteam
For: iOS, Android
Cost: Free
A team game that is more about talking than playing, Spaceteam gives each player (2-8 players) a unique control panel with the aim of preventing your spaceship from exploding as long as possible.
The catch is the instructions you need to carry out are sent to your teammates while acting on instructions shouted out by others. It’s chaotic, it’s loud and it’s a lot of fun.
More importantly, this is a cross platform game meaning iOS and Android owners can play together.
Heads Up
For: iOS, Android
Cost: €0.99 (iOS) Free (Android)
Remember the game where you tape a famous person’s name to your head and you have to guess who they are by asking questions? This is the smartphone version of that where you guess as many words, names and characters as possible before the time runs out.
Reverse Charades
For: iOS, Android
Cost: Free
The classic game of Charades with a twist. Instead of one person acting out a suggestion, that person must guess what everyone else in their team is acting out. Against the clock, you need to guess as many as possible to win.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
For: Windows, Mac, Oculus Rift & HTC Vive, Playstation VR Samsung Gear VR, Google Daydream
Cost: €14.99 (Steam), €9.99 (Gear VR), €10.99 (Daydream)
So this one isn’t strictly smartphone – you need a Samsung Galaxy S6 or S7 or Daydream-compatible phone to play it – but it’s still an incredibly fun game and it can be played on a PC or Mac.
One person is trapped alone in a room with a bomb, and the only way they can disarm it is with the help of their friends.
The catch is they can’t see it so your job is to describe what you see and hope your friends give you the right instructions so you can disarm it. It’s best played in VR, but the regular screen is just as good.
Sing! Karaoke
For: iOS, Android (Apple TV or Chromecast optional)
Cost: Free
Instead of renting a karaoke booth, you can sing songs in the comfort of your own home using your smartphone. While it’s not essential, you can use either an Apple TV or Chromecast so the words appear on your TV while you use your phone as a microphone.
Party Doodles
For: iOS (iPad only)
Cost: Free
Designed for your iPad, Party Doodles offers enough content for you to get by using only the free version and is what you expect from a Pictionary-style game. To get the full experience, you can play it using Apple TV, using your tablet to draw while other players look at the TV and guess what it is.
An alternative for Chromecast and Android users is DoodlePad which offers the same type of experience.
Evil Apples
For: iOS, Android
Cost: Free
A game that takes its cues from the popular Cards against Humanity, Evil Apples has you and three other players trying to come up with the ‘best’ answer to a question card. The makers describe it as a ”filthy adult card and party game” so this definitely isn’t one for the kids.
Bloop
For: iOS, Android
Cost: €4.99 (iOS) €0.66 (Android)
Better suited to large screen tablets instead of phones, Bloop is a fast, frantic game designed for 2-4 players where the aim is to tap as many of their coloured squares as possible. Be warned, there will be a lot of shoving involved.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
The Greek government is really frustrating not only has Europe bent over backward to help them while Ireland like the mugs are government are pay the full price of a bailout but now they do this, I never agree with sarkozy but on this occasion I do!!
Let’s be honest, the Greeks deserve little sympathy for the disgraceful way they cooked the books to get into Europe, the way they continually run their country in the awful manner and in the way they have been expectibg everybody else to sort out their problems with no negative ramifications.
But I don’t have a problem with them having a referendum on what will be a huge financial decision made by a country that could effect millions for decades. It is a truly democratic act. Irrespective of whether or not the Greeks caused their own downfall , it’s an act of oppression for European leaders to force savage cuts without the agreement of the Greek people.
Don’t want to hear that Greece signed up to this with eu as nobody who signed upto join Europe envisaged this scenario.
While it annoys and puts the rest of us out, I think the Greek government gave its people the choice to take harsh medicine or go down a potentially harder route. For me that’s very much less efficient then taking the tough choices for your country but it’s as democratic as it gets.
Stable door, horse bolt, shutting afterwards …. Etc etc
what an outrageous suggestion to let the people affected by the austerity measures decide their fate …thank god our government aren’t that foolish and continue to do our thinking for us
I’d welcome a referendum here. It’d be good to see those who advocate a rejection of the IMF and a unilateral default lay their cards on the table. I think the response of the Irish people would be interesting when they see the figures.
ok to all the people who may have had a sarcasm by pass… i will spell it out plainly… we should have had a referendum 2 years ago but those in power (in their wisdom) decided that they know whats best for US and we should just put up and shut up and take the austerity medicine …in order to protect their own elitist asses….
Where do they expect the money to come from? Is it not a clever tactic by papandreou to make them tow the line a bit? Surely they’ll have to vote yes whether they really want it or not and then he proceeds effectively with the support of the nation, rather than taking the blame for the decision himself, the whole country make the decision which in turn might diminish the civil unrest……either that of they kick off big style, vote no and then he’s F*****d!!!
The wording of the referendum will be vital. They probably won’t define what No means. If it was defined as ‘Greece unilaterally defaults and leaves Euro’ then Greeks might vote Yes. If it is defined ‘Greece will reject this deal and look for a better one’ then it will probably be a No vote.
But I can see the ECB etc getting rightly frustrated with this. They might frame the No vote as being a rejection by Greece of the Euro and just accept that Greece is defaulting and leaving the Euro. it’d be very tempting to be rid of the Greek problem once and for all. Taxpayers in Germany would love the idea. But the worries about how bad Greece might get would probably be too much. However bad Greece is, it could get a hell of a lot worse.
I Presume a referendum will take months to arrange (and probably be lost) and all the while the rest of Europe suffers more Market turmoil. I also presume no mention was made by the Greeks of a referendum when agreeing to an extremely generous bailout package. If that be the case, the deal should be taken off the table and let Greece paddle it’s own (very leaky) canoe outside of the Eurozone. Better to stand back and watch Greece burn rather than fiddle while the rest of us do.
We are watching what will be the end of euro. Greece will never be able to service there debt, Italy is now in trouble with Portugal,Spain,Belgium & Ireland all waiting in the wings. Hopefully they find away for members to return to there own currency’s and dissolve the euro. Not an easy task I know.
We all know this going to end in tears, so why keep dragging it out. Let’s ended it know and start the rebuilding process sooner rather than later.
Europes grand fudge began to unravel yesterday before Greeces referendum announcement.
China’s official statement on Sunday that it will not be bailing Europe out put the initial spanner in the works.
EU leaders proposal is heavy on aspiration but light on concrete measures.
Europes crisis may well overtake events before any Greek poll.
At long last.. the turkeys will have a say on Christmas.
This is brilliant move. Watch the suits shaking in their boots and remember keep laughing when they start the scaremongering. The fairy story called capitalism a la brothers Grimm is coming to an end.
End it now guys and put away your lovely lecterns over there in Brussels. Professional unelected bullying is not a real job anyway and I fear you will all find it quite hard back with the rest of us in the real world here on planet Earth
Home of democracy allows its citizens exercise democracy at the ballot box. Seems reasonable. How many in Ireland would have voted through the Cowen-Lenihan bak guarantee?
Depends on the alternative. No doubt you wod paint No, and unilateral default, as being fantastic. Let’s have your vote nw and see how things stand. Let’s see if the unions are happy with the bailout or want a default. Lets see if the multinationals are spooked by a unilateral default. Let’s see how Sinn Fein plan to balance the books when the country has no access to borrowing.
Let’s see some facts and figures. I want to see this populist message that telling the IMF to get stuffed will mean that the government will be able to spend more money really get explained in detail to the Irsh people.
The Cowen-Lenihan bank guarantee shifted the private debts of the banks onto the sovereign balance sheet, the taxpayer balance sheet in effect. The knock on effect has produced NAMA, the majority of its debt is due to just 650 borrowers, and bumper bank recapitalisations. Meanwhile, in the midst of all this ‘recovery’ and fixing ‘systemic’ banks such as Anglo and INBS, credit is tighter than ever, property prices are still falling, mortgage distress is worsening, insolvencies in SMEs are ‘levelling out’ after four years of a flood, unemployment is topped at an artificial ‘low’ of 450k due to emigration, record numbers in third level and in various schemes. Having referendums on policies that carry the risk of bankrupting one if not two generations, and tearing up the social fabric of families for decades, do not strike me as unreasonable.
3 holes in EU’s debt plan. Not including any hint as to how renewed growth is to be achieved.
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/10/31/european-debt-deal-holes/?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29&utm_content=Google+International
Only growth will resolve Europes crisis.
http://ukhousebubble.blogspot.com/2011/10/only-economic-growth-can-resolve.html?m=1
have your say