25+ Games to Play With Friends Over Text [Ice Breakers]

Moving to another place for college or a job doesn’t mean you should miss out on the fun social games you played with your family and friends.

Here are our top picks for games to play with friends over text.

Games To Play With Your Friends Over Text

Since texting is such a popular activity in the current day and age with phone users texting a little less than an hour daily, here are some family-friendly game ideas or games to play with your boyfriend or girlfriend over text:

1. Never Have I Ever

“Never have I ever” is one of the most popular and fun texting games you can play with your friends or partner to get to know each other better. 

Although the original version is a drinking game (you drink if you have done something that the other person “has never” done), you can instead assign points for things that you have or haven’t done in your life and declare a winner based on that.

2. Kiss, Marry, or Kill

“Kiss, marry, or kill” is one of those online texting games that’s almost exclusively played with close friends.

In the game, you and your friends take turns and pick three people– celebrities or people you know– and one friend in the group has to pick who they want to hypothetically kiss, marry, and kill.

3. I Spy

You have probably played the “I spy” game as a kid with your family on long road trips and if you’re willing to add a little twist, you can turn it into one of your favorite games to play on text too.

All you’ll have to do is tell your friends where you are (ex: at a bus station, in your college room) and pick something you see. They can then ask you questions that lead up to the answer and make guesses.

4. In Character

If you and your friends know each other well or have a favorite pool of actors and singers that you all follow, you might consider giving “In Character” a go.

In this game, you pick a person and text the rest of the group words and phrases that the character would say. Typically, the winner is the one who stays in character the longest, but you can also guess the person that your friends chose to make it extra challenging.

5. Name the Song

Friend groups that have similar taste in music can test each other’s lyrics knowledge with “Name the Song”.

These types of games to play over text involve sending your friends lyrics from a song and having them guess the title. If they guess the song on the first try, you lose your turn and a point. Anyone that guesses a song correctly gets a point.

6. Would You Rather

One of the most interesting games to play with your girlfriend over text, “Would You Rather” is a game where you’re presented with two, equally terrible, bizarre, or difficult scenarios– and you have no choice but to pick one. 

The questions can also be great debate starters.

7. Finish the Sentence

If you, your friends, or your family often come up with quirky and funny responses, then you’ll find “Finish the sentence” one of the most fun games to play over text.

As the name of the game suggests, one of you sends an incomplete sentence in the group chat and the rest have to finish it. 

You can decide on the type of endings the others should opt for (for example: funny or true) before you start the game.

8. Abbreviation 

Texting abbreviations are incredibly common, including in business. And if you and your friends are up for a challenge, you can put your knowledge to the test by texting solely in abbreviations.

The rules of the game are simple: You abbreviate your text and then the other person has to figure out what it means based on cotext. You can stick to existing abbreviations like PNP, or come up with some new ones.

9. Trivia

If you truly want to test your knowledge on a broader range of topics, one of the most popular games you can play over text is “Trivia.”

You and your friends will need to choose a specific category that you’re both familiar with and ask each other questions. Every correct answer is worth a point and the winner is whoever collects 10 points first.

10. Friendship Tag

If you’ve recently reconnected with an old friend, one of the games to play while texting is “Friendship Tag,” which can help you figure out how well you remember details about each other and remind you of the good old times.

You can ask each other questions about your personal preferences or things that happened at places you visited together.

You can also play this game with your current friends or your significant other.

11. Riddles

If you know a lot of riddles or are willing to do a quick Google search and find some online, this is one of the simplest games over text you can play.

In Riddles, you tell your friend(s) a riddle and wait for them to give you the correct answers. You can set the number of tries they have individually or as a group and award them points for correct guesses.

12. Emoji Challenge 

Similar to the abbreviation game, the “Emoji Challenge” is also a guessing game but instead of communicating in abbreviation, you and your friends or family members text each other in emojis only.

This game is one of the best texting games, regardless of whether you’re looking to improve your emoji game or want to play a little emoji-involved trivia like the meaning of each heart emoji or the Skull emoji. You can guess movie titles, everyday activities, and play any other category you can think of.

13. Most Likely To

“Most likely to” is one of the few texting games to play that can help you learn what your friends think of you and vice versa.

The entire premise of the game revolves around questions that start with “Who is more likely to…?” For example, “Who is more likely to become successful?” 

Once someone asks a question, everyone pitches in their answer.

14. Unscramble 

In “Unscramble,” you pick a word, mix up the order of the letter, and let your friend guess the word. 

You can also opt for a text version of “Scrabble”: Text your friends a word and let them come up with other words using the letters from the selected word. They play against the clock and the person with the highest number of unscrambled words wins the round.

15. Unpopular Opinions

“Unpopular opinions” is a great way to start debates with your friends and family and see where you stand on hot-button issues.

In the game, one of the players tells the others their unpopular opinion. The rest weigh in with their own commentary. 

The best part about it is that it’s not like the typical 2 person texting games: There are no winners and losers and you can choose to discuss whatever topic you wish.

16. Gun To Your Head

In “Gun to your head,” as the name suggests, you’re given a hypothetical situation with an almost impossible choice. It can be one of the most fun games over text if you ask the right questions.

The questions should, ideally, be tricky to answer and they can be about you or your close friends. 

17. What Movie Is This?

If your friend group or your family are movie buffs, there are games you can play through text.

In “What Movie is This,” one member of the group chat picks a line from a movie, and the others have to guess the title. You can agree to limit the pool of movies to a certain genre or make it extra challenging and guess the actor who said the line as well.

18. Storytime

If you’re not up for a typical game, one of the things to do over text is “Storytime,” which might prove to be a great alternative.

The game is simple but requires a certain amount of creativity. One of the people in the group sets the scene and the rest build on each other’s snippets.

19. WWYD (What Would You Do)

If you’re a fan of text games to play with a hypothetical scenario that requires a bit of imagination, you should give WWYD a try.

Here’s an example of how this game goes: “Imagine you are home alone, and you sneeze. Your phone rings at that same moment. You answer and the person on the other side of the line says, ‘Bless You,’ and hangs up. What would you do?”

20. Last Letter Game

The last letter game’s rules are simple enough: You text a word to your friend(s) and they have to come up with a word that starts with the last letter of the word that you send.

This is one of the best texting games online if you’re looking to test your vocabulary knowledge and learn a few new words, and it typically gets harder as the game goes on.

To make it more interesting, you can set a time limit and choose a specific category.

21. Rhymes

If you think you can rhyme, then this game can help you show off your skills.

To begin, text your friend a word or a phrase and they have to respond with something that rhymes with your message. If they can’t think of anything, you earn a point.

22. Truth Game

The well-known “Truth and Dare” game isn’t exactly text-friendly unless you move to a video app like Snapchat, or are willing to stick to online dares only, which might be limited in number.

The “Truth Game” takes out the “dare” from the equation and lets you ask your friends anything you’ve wanted about their personal life and preferences. If they answer it, you (as a group) move on to the next person in the chat. If they don’t, they’ll have to do the punishment you all agreed to at the start of the game.

Please note that if you opt to go for Snapchat, you will need to create a public profile.

23. Categories

“Categories” is a fun and challenging game that forces players to think on their feet.

Before you begin, everyone in the group chat should agree on a category. Once you do, you’ll have to name as many things in that category within a given time frame.

When the clock runs out, the person with the most words wins the round.

24. The Laughing Game

“The Laughing Game” is one of those fun text games that comes with a twist.

At the start of the game, the group has to decide on a number of answers (for example: “flowers,” “fly,” “bees,” and “gaming.”)  Then, when the game starts, anyone who’s asked a question can only respond with one of the pre-set answers.

25. Text Strip Questions Game

If you are part of the immense Tinder userbase or other similar dating apps, "The Strip Questions" is a great game to play with your match if you want to spice things up.

The “Text Strip Questions” game is exactly what it sounds like: You ask each other a question and if you get it wrong, you’ll have to remove a piece of clothing.

It’s one of the few question games to play over text that’s mostly aimed at couples. To prove that you follow the game’s rules, you’ll need to send a picture to your partner, showing that you’ve “stripped.”

26. Lightning Fast

The lightning-fast game is a fast-paced word association game. It’s one of the best games to play over the phone with a friend who is nimble and enjoys word games.

When you send them a word, they will have to reply with the first word or phrase that pops into their mind. You can set a time limit and decide when you want to take turns.

27. Hangman

In Hangman, one person in the chat thinks of a word, tells the rest of the group chat how many letters that word has, and the rest guesses that word, letter by letter. 

If you’re up for a challenge, you can play on longer phrases, or choose a specific category of words to include in the game. 

Typically, the group is allowed seven wrong guesses, but this can be modified based on the level of difficulty.

Bottom Line

If you’re looking for games to play with friends over text, there are plenty of popular social games that can be adjusted to a texting format, like “Never Have I Ever,” “I Spy,” and “Hangman.” There are also many games that you can play online solar or with friends, like “Riddles” and “Trivia.”