Date Night Hacks — Gaming Edition

Gamers Unite! Even if you aren’t a gamer, you can still enjoy this list of games with your Significant Other or someone you’re just getting to know. It could also be a fun alternative idea for a mid-week date.

Animal Crossing

One of my favorite games to play with my boyfriend lately has been Animal Crossing. It is a game for the Nintendo Switch and it is so much fun. The main object of the game is making your livable island while doing a bunch of fun tasks. It is a great wind-down game and you can even visit your friends’ islands to pick fruit, catch butterflies, and catch fish. My favorite thing about the game is that we regularly have a laid back date day by playing this game. You don’t have to be in the same place to play it, all you need is an internet connection and a Switch.

If this didn’t convince you enough to buy and play the game, the Washington Post did a story on a couple whose wedding was canceled because of the lockdown and their friends surprised her with a wedding ceremony in the game. It is not legally binding, but it was adorable!

This is hands down one of my favorite games to play with my boyfriend, and you should check it out.

Also, this here is my first Animal Crossing date with my boyfriend on the first day of island life (it was raining)

Minecraft

Who hasn’t heard of Minecraft? You must have seen the memes around it or your little cousin might be playing it right now, but trust me, it is a great couple’s game as well. You can even buy the game on the iPhone or Android if you don’t have a gaming console.

In this game, you can mine and craft your custom world by using the resources you find. It’s another great chilled out game, where your conversations will take precedence over the actual game. Don’t get me wrong, it is a fun date day activity, but it is also one of those games where if you’re bad at small talk, you can just talk about the game. You can talk about how you want your world to look and what things to make. You can have small conversations to ease yourself into more in-depth conversations.

If you are like me, then quality time is very important to you. I love spending time getting to know people I am interested in and this game is so good for doing just that. My boyfriend got me into this game and we spent hours just talking on the phone while playing. A disclaimer though: my boyfriend lives more than 8,000 miles away. So, we have tested this game in a relationship. In our early years of dating, we’d joke about going on a date in Minecraft to plant trees and flowers. I still laugh about the weird and funny conversations we had because of the game. It made us feel like an old couple talking about home life.

Words with friends

A great phone game to try, not only with your love interest but friends as well. It is like Scrabble and it is a great game to play between conversations. What I mean is that while at work or on a commute when you can’t talk to your SO or the person you’ve just started dating, this is a good way to stay in contact without talking or texting. If you both like word games, it will likely get competitive, but it shouldn’t require too much of your focus.

This game is another good way to stay in touch with your SO, love interest, the person of interest, without requiring constant attention or during times when you’re unable to hangout physically every day. It’s a very non-committal game, so just play when you want!

Overcooked 2

Overcooked is available on PC, Mac OS, Linux, Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. It is a great cooperative game to cook food with your partner and serve it to customers. It might sound simple, but it is a test of patience.

If you want to see the true temperament of your date, this game is the one for you! It can get frustrating working together as the levels progress, but it is a great way to get in sync with your partner. My boyfriend and I have had countless days of playing this game and getting equally frustrated but all in good fun. Coming to think of it, don’t play it on the first date… second or third, maybe!

This game isn’t your typical ‘ let’s talk and play’ kinda game, it needs attention and could be one of the date day activities that you plan if you’re stuck indoors. Again, like all of the games on our list, you don’t need to be close to each other, you just need the game, good internet, and a whole lot of patience!

Fortnite and other free to play battle royale games

This is the only super competitive game on our list. Fortnite, along with other Battle Royale games are a good opportunity to play a game with each other, against random gamers. The goal of the game is to eliminate everyone until you alone stand victorious at the end of the game.

The game is a learning curve, but the reason I like it is that it supports crossplay between different platforms such as mobile, console, and PC or Mac. If you don’t know the game too well, you can always learn it together. Fortnite allows gamers to choose different modes to play in, you can choose the Duos option so it’s just you and your partner against 98 other people (how Romeo and Juliet), pair up with two more people in Squads, or you can chill out with their Creative mode and just play a bunch laid back games and challenges with your partner.

My boyfriend was really into this game, and when it came out on mobile, I got into it. He taught me how to play the game, but liked it so much, I played it by myself as well and eventually, I became better than him! Fortnite is fun to play even with your friends and you can start a game whenever you want from wherever you are because you’ll always find people playing it.

Jackbox Party Pack

We all at some point are likely to introduce our friends to the person we’re dating. It can be awkward, and sometimes it’s tough to encourage conversation.

Jackbox Party Pack comes with fun group games that can help you break the ice between your friends and your love interest. It can get competitive, there are a lot of laughs, and it’s just wholesome fun. The only downside is, if you aren’t playing the game in the same vicinity, you’ll need to set up screen sharing and be on a call with everyone, but this game is still worth it!

Being in a long-distance relationship for me means that both my boyfriend and I need to find creative ways to hang out with each other’s friends. Jackbox helped with that. It feels like game night every time we play! If you’re stuck indoors and require some socializing without leaving the comforts of your home, let me introduce you to Jackbox Party Pack.

Also, as an introvert, this is a great way to meet friends and break the ice before you meet them face-to-face.

If you’re looking for someone to try these games out, or are on the market for love — try using the brand new Butterflies Dating & Social app.

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