Engaging explorers

We've had real trouble with getting explorers to join us for online meetings. A lot of them just refuse to do video calls and find that they have enough to do with their school work. Something that has worked well for explorers though, is games. We have played a few different games with them and get a regular number that join us for them. 

Among Us

A lot of the explorers had already played Among Us before - some of us leaders had no idea though - the game is free to download on the App Store for mobile devices. We talked on our video call, instead of the in-game chat function. It involves doing tasks and communicating when meetings are called to work out who the 'imposter' is. Explorers really enjoyed playing and played a few more games after the meeting finished. 

Skribbl.io

This is basically pictionary. It's a free website that they don't need to sign up to, you just send the link to the room. The person drawing picks one of three prompts and draws it, everyone else types in the game to guess the word. The person drawing changes after each drawing, so everyone gets a chance. It entertained the explorers for two hour and a half meetings in a row and they've asked to play again at some point. 

Jackbox

I bought Jackbox 7 on Steam to play with explorers. The person with the game needs to 'screen share' in zoom/teams/your video calling software. The players use their mobiles as controllers. Jackbox has a few different games - a favourite of ours is Quiplash. You answer the questions with funny answers and everyone else votes on the best answer. If you play any Jackbox games, make sure to scour the settings to find the family friendly option.