Weekly on a Friday afternoon, we spend half an hour virtually playing online games as a team. Sounds great, right? When we started working remotely back in the spring of 2020, we realised that we missed the sociality that you get from office-based working. So, this was the perfect excuse to enjoy some social time while working in a distributed, virtual team.

It's nice to have a bit of face time where we're all relaxed, and it means we get to know each other better and improve working relationships. This is especially important when new people join. Also, it's just a bit of fun - work hard, play hard!

Half an hour is enough time to allow us to blow off steam but doesn’t take too much time out of the working day. Obviously, if we have any customer related meetings or high priority tasks then they take precedence and there’s no pressure to join every week.

We have a few regulars, but it’s usually a mixed bunch of people across a few teams. Here's an average week with a somehow well-timed screenshot (promise it wasn't posed!).

Our favourite games are:

• SmashKarts - Mario Kart but just shooting each other, no racing. It’s a 3D browser game with simple controls where you can have a private game just for your team. Warning - it gets pretty competitive!

• Haxball - Top-down football enjoyed by both football and non-football fans. It’s a 2D browser game with simple controls. Similarly to SmashKarts, you can have a private game just for your team.

• Skribbl - Pictionary. It’s reasonably straightforward and a good introductory game.

If we have enough people and we're feeling competitive, it's also fun to go into breakout rooms to discuss tactics. It means you don't get to roast the opposition on the fly, but it can make for a more interesting game - this works especially well with Haxball.

Other games that we’ve played in the past:
Powerline - Massive snake browser game. It’s fun, but you can’t make private lobbies so there’s less team interaction.
Among Us - Remember when this was a trend? I’m not sure that everyone got the hang of it, but it was fun at the time. It’s a bit like Cluedo , only as an app.
Jackbox Party Pack - Lots of games in one. It is a paid for app, but only one person needs to pay. You can use your phone or computer. It’s really funny and not complicated to play.​​​​

Join us

If you want to join in the fun, we’re often hiring - you can find all our job listings on our website.