“Best apps to play games with friends during coronavirus lockdown - The Independent” plus 2 more

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• Best apps to play games with friends during coronavirus lockdown - The Independent
• Jewish General set to roll out game-changing app in coronavirus battle - Montreal Gazette
• While parents Zoom, their kids are flocking to an app called Roblox to hang out and play 3D games - CNBC

Best apps to play games with friends during coronavirus lockdown - The Independent Posted: 24 Apr 2020 01:10 AM PDT More than a third of the world's population is currently under some form of coronavirus lockdown as governments attempt to stem the spread of the deadly pandemic. This has left an estimated 3 billion people stuck indoors for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, staying social while social distancing has never been easier thanks to a near-endless array of online chat and gaming apps that can help keep you connected while in isolation. Even the World Health Organisation is urging everyone to stay at home and play games, so here's our pick of the best. You can trust our independent reviews. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections, which are formed from real-world testing and expert advice. This revenue helps us to fund journalism across The Independent. Houseparty failed to make much of an impact when it launched in 2016, but since isolation measures came into force it has become a cultural phenomenon. As the name suggests, it offers a way to hang out and party with friends while couped up at home. Houseparty's popularity has soared in recent weeks (Houseparty) Alongside simultaneous video calls, Houseparty comes with in-app games to play while chatting. There are also separate virtual "rooms" that users can switch between, just like at a real house party. It does have some annoying features – like constantly bombarding users with notifications – but these can be fixed by fiddling with the settings. The social video app is free to use, requiring just an email address and phone number to set up an account. Despite Facebook's dire reputation when it comes to protecting people's personal information, it still remains – by far – the most popular and feature-filled social network. Facebook's Gaming tab is one of the key reasons it continues to attract and keep hold of users, as it offers a way to play games with contacts or the more than 2 billion users of the platform. Read more The feature migrated from Facebook Messenger last year, where it was previously hosted under the Instant Games section of the messaging app. It comes with classics like Pac-Man and Space Invaders, alongside more modern games like Farmville and Super Dash. Classic board game apps Almost all classic board games have an online equivalent, often with identical gameplay adapted for playing on tablets and phones. Not all of them have completely succeeded in making the transition from tabletop to digital, as some don't allow players to join friends online. Unlike other online games, you'll have to pay to play Monopoly Among those that have achieved this include Risk, Uno and Monopoly, though unlike many of the other online games listed here they often come at a cost.​ Words With Friends was already well established long before coronavirus forced people indoors, having ridden one of the first ever waves of viral game apps in 2009 alongside the likes of Angry Birds and Doodle Jump. Essentially a Scrabble clone built for phones, it comes with an interface designed for interacting online. Words With Friends is so addictive it once got Alec Baldwin chucked off a plane It is also possible to join a random game with other app users, so despite the name you're not actually limited to playing just with friends. The 2017 sequel offers a familiar sanctuary for millions of people who are already acquainted with the franchise. The biggest trivia app in the world features 1,200 topics containing more than 600,000 questions to challenge people on everything from general knowledge to basic maths problems. Quiz Up offers the chance to play head-to-head battles against friends of start entire tournaments against people. 1/15 A rose is delivered by drone to a woman on Mother's Day in Jounieh, Lebanon AFP/Getty 2/15 Women dance on their balcony as a radio station plays music for a flash mob to raise spirits in Rome Reuters 3/15 A skeleton stands on a balcony in Frankfurt, Germany AP 4/15 The film Le ragazze di Piazza di Spagna is projected on a building in Rome AP 5/15 A woman uses a basket tied to a rope to pull a delivery of groceries up to her balcony in Naples, Italy EPA 6/15 DJ Francesco Cellini plays for his neighbours from the rooftop terrace of his flat block in Rome Reuters 7/15 A woman gestures from her balcony in Barcelona EPA 8/15 Cellist Karina Nunez performs for her neighbours at the balcony of her flat in Panama City Reuters 9/15 DJ Nash Petrovic live streams a set from his roof in Brooklyn Reuters 10/15 People applaud medical workers from their balconies in Modiin, Israel Reuters 11/15 A Brooklyn resident relaxes in a hammock hung on their balcony Reuters 12/15 Residents toast during a "safe distance" aperitif time between neighbours in Anderlecht, Belgium Reuters 13/15 Musician Adam Moser plays for neighbours from his balcony in Budapest, Hungary Reuters 14/15 A man and his son on their balcony in Brooklyn Reuters 15/15 A man sits alone on a roof terrace in Rome Reuters 1/15 A rose is delivered by drone to a woman on Mother's Day in Jounieh, Lebanon AFP/Getty 2/15 Women dance on their balcony as a radio station plays music for a flash mob to raise spirits in Rome Reuters 3/15 A skeleton stands on a balcony in Frankfurt, Germany AP 4/15 The film Le ragazze di Piazza di Spagna is projected on a building in Rome AP 5/15 A woman uses a basket tied to a rope to pull a delivery of groceries up to her balcony in Naples, Italy EPA 6/15 DJ Francesco Cellini plays for his neighbours from the rooftop terrace of his flat block in Rome Reuters 7/15 A woman gestures from her balcony in Barcelona EPA 8/15 Cellist Karina Nunez performs for her neighbours at the balcony of her flat in Panama City Reuters 9/15 DJ Nash Petrovic live streams a set from his roof in Brooklyn Reuters 10/15 People applaud medical workers from their balconies in Modiin, Israel Reuters 11/15 A Brooklyn resident relaxes in a hammock hung on their balcony Reuters 12/15 Residents toast during a "safe distance" aperitif time between neighbours in Anderlecht, Belgium Reuters 13/15 Musician Adam Moser plays for neighbours from his balcony in Budapest, Hungary Reuters 14/15 A man and his son on their balcony in Brooklyn Reuters 15/15 A man sits alone on a roof terrace in Rome Reuters This app is also built to help connect people who share the same interests – and there's millions of people using it on both Android and iOS. Players can adjust their settings to find other people to test themselves again, while each topic comes with its own community where members can post about their favourite quizzes or even make their own.​ The selection of party games offered by Jackbox Games makes this collection arguably the best option for hosting a proper game night. Its catalogue includes the wildly popular drawing game Drawful 2, the witty word challenge Quiplash, and the bluffing game Fibbage. These games are built for online streaming play, with one person capable of firing up a game for up to 10,000 (!) guests. Drawful 2 has been likened to a juiced-up version of Pictionary (Jackbox Games) In 2015, then-editorial director of Jackbox Steve Heinrich wrote in a blog post: "Our goal is to keep making party games that everyone – and maybe someday, literally everyone – can play simply by pulling out their phones." As part of a Covid-19 promotion, Jackbox Games is giving away Drawful 2 for three weeks. Helpfully, Jackbox has also provided a complete guide for how to play with friends and family remotely. It involves setting up a video conference through apps like Zoom or Google Hangouts – so requires a decent internet connection – but once set up it might be as close to a real-life party that it's possible to get. Read our roundup of the best dating app features to help you find love in the time of corona here IndyBest product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust. On some occasions, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to bias our coverage. The reviews are compiled through a mix of expert opinion and real-world testing.

Jewish General set to roll out game-changing app in coronavirus battle - Montreal Gazette Posted: 09 Apr 2020 12:00 AM PDT Article content continued We apologize, but this video has failed to load. First, starting as early as next week, triage nurses will use the app to screen arriving emergency-room patients for telltale symptoms of the respiratory illness. Without having to touch a patient, a triage nurse will hold a smartphone in front of a patient's face and in less than a minute the app will measure three vital signs: heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation in the blood. Patients with abnormally elevated heart and respiratory rates as well a low oxygen-saturation reading will be isolated immediately for further investigation. Second, the Côte-des-Neiges hospital will use the app in its COVID-19 wards, giving it to some of the patients so they can monitor their vital signs in their negative-pressure rooms. This should result in nurses entering those rooms less frequently, which in turn will help conserve the scarce supply of gloves, masks and other personal protective equipment worn by medical staff.

While parents Zoom, their kids are flocking to an app called Roblox to hang out and play 3D games - CNBC Posted: 09 Apr 2020 11:08 AM PDT Welcome to Bloxburg Roblox Erin Sowerby's nine-year-old daughter, Catherine, would typically spend two hours a day at swim practice and the rest of her day at school and with friends. Now, with social distancing in order, there's no school or swimming, and Catherine only gets to spend time with her family in Fort Myers, Florida. To stay in touch with friends, she's using the gaming platform Roblox. Launched 14 years ago to create immersive experiences for kids, Roblox has become the second-highest grossing iOS app, according to the latest data from AppAnnie, by putting out millions of games that let kids build digital houses, adopt pets and run around theme parks together. The technology wasn't designed with a pandemic in mind, but usage has spiked since COVID-19 forced kids like Catherine to stay indoors. "It's not just mindless entertainment, which makes me feel a little better about it," said Erin Sowerby, a consultant, who's now working from her home in southwest Florida. "It's replacing a lot of the socializing that she doesn't get in person because she's here with me or with her grandparents." Millions of parents across the country are suddenly being force to juggle full-time work, parenting and homeschooling, all while keeping their kids inside, away from their friends and hopefully sane. Extensive screen time is inevitable in many households, but Roblox has emerged as an alternative to the undesirable experience of letting kids watch endless YouTube videos and cartoons. Roblox Chief Business Officer Craig Donato said usage surged 40% in March from February, and the app trails only YouTube in terms of the biggest money makers on iOS, according to AppAnnie. It's the opposite story from what's facing most of corporate America, including once high-flying start-ups like Airbnb, Toast, ClassPass and Bird, which are slashing costs and, in many cases, cutting jobs.  Roblox expects $1 billion in billings this year, largely from in-app purchases. The company, based in San Mateo, California, sends 25% of that money to developers, who use software called Roblox Studio to make games for the app. Roblox doesn't disclose revenue, but data site SensorTower estimated in November that sales in 2019, up to that point, had climbed 30% from all of 2018 to $435 million. Developers earned more than $110 million last year. Virtual birthday parties The games are free to play and gamers can purchase digital currency called Robux to buy premium features. For example, at a theme park, players can pay to build a customized jukebox or make taller rides, and in a ninja game, they can pay to improve their speed. There are also subscriptions for a certain amount of Robux a month.  Some parents are hosting their kids' birthday parties on the site, establishing virtual rooms that their friends and relatives can enter with their avatars. Sowerby said her daughter uses Roblox to adopt pets and construct buildings, adding that she's "goaded me into buying some Robux a couple of times." In addition to highlighting the social functions of its games, Roblox has been rolling out features to help educators incorporate the gaming tools into their remote learning plans. "It's a space where kids can do unstructured play, which is super valuable," said Donato, who joined the company in 2016 from Nextdoor. "Now everyone is locked at home, and this thing we've been focused on is even in more demand." Parents still want to know that their kids are safe and not being approached by creeps on the chat boards. Roblox includes numerous parental controls that adults can use to turn off socializing features or manage communications. Donato said the company also uses a combination of human moderators and software to monitor what people are saying and filter what's appropriate based on the player's age.  Donato said the coronavirus wasn't a topic of conversation when Andreessen Horowitz led a $150 million funding round in late February at a valuation of about $4 billion. Marc Andreessen and David George, a partner at the firm, wrote in a blog post at the time that over 2 million developers are building on Roblox "without the up-front costs, risks, and failures of the traditional top-down game publisher model."  Roblox CEO David Baszucki Roblox The developer platform is an important part of Roblox's surging popularity. Roblox Studio, where kids can learn how to make games without having to know how to code, includes templates and instructional videos so kids can build their own worlds and even learn how to publish games. Computer education company iD Tech is seeing the boom firsthand. The company, which has spent 21 years conducting in-person tech camps and added online courses a few years ago, has introduced a new slate of week-long virtual classes, teaching kids from 7 to 19 how to design on Minecraft, code games with JavaScript and learn Roblox. The discounted cost is $400 for the week and classes, which are taught over Zoom, have a max of five kids. Ricky Bennett, a vice president at iD Tech, said the class on designing Roblox games is the top-selling virtual course. College students, who would normally teach at the summer camps, are eager for the work, Bennett said, and parents are looking for ways to keep their kids productively occupied while they're trying to get work done. "One of the things that makes it attractive for parents is that the kids can be entertained," said Bennett, who lives in the Phoenix area and has four kids age 11 and under. During the class, "I know my kid is being supervised by an adult, having a social experience that's contained in one place and won't be running around in the background of my calls," he said. Developers have the time now Buildbox, another game development platform that caters to non-coders, is seeing a similar trend. The company offers a free developer kit and charges monthly subscriptions for more advanced creators. Ad-tech start-up AppOnBoard acquired BuildBox in mid-2019, and it's rapidly become the company's core business. Jonathan Zweig, AppOnBoard's CEO, said Buildbox subscriber growth has climbed 2,850% since Feb. 26. Zweig says that BuildBox is particularly attractive to developers who have advanced beyond Roblox and want a broader set of tools. The 16 to 26 age range is its sweet spot, he said, which includes high school and college students who are now stuck indoors. Many of the games they make are for younger kids. Ben Scriven, who lives just outside of London, is building for that audience. He's 39 and has been working as a TV editor. But his passion is game development, which allows him to combine his skills in music, graphic design and filmmaking. He started making games using Buildbox several years ago on his hour-long commute to and from work. Now that he's home, Scriven has decided to concentrate on making his next game, a sequel to his previous title, Nite Fighter, which involves operating a fighter pilot and appeals to the Call of Duty crowd, he says. With the new game, Scriven has to not only make it fun but also focus on the monetization, working with a publisher and selling ads. Ben Scriven waiting for the train Ben Scriven Scriven has two young kids to support, and he's counting on the game to pay the bills, though he's still a couple months from being ready to publish it. In the meantime, his family is living off savings.  "It's always been a dream for me to make arcade games — ever since I was a kid I wanted to do it," Scriven said. "Now I've got an opportunity to do this full-time, to buckle down and really make a go of it. I can't go into London anymore." Back in the U.S., Lesley Stordahl is adjusting to a work-from-home schedule while her two kids, 12 and 9, adapt to remote learning. Jasper, who's in sixth grade, has a group of friends that text and play Roblox together. Odessa, a fourth grader, isn't as much of a gamer, but has recently gotten into Roblox and enjoys roaming around the digital amusement park.  While their parents take Zoom calls and deal with their full slate of assignments, they're looking for as many kid-friendly activities as possible. At the same time, they're trying to be frugal, uncertain of what the future has in store. "We're doing our best not to spend a lot of money, and Roblox is great because there's a variety without the cost," Lesley Stordahl said, in a video call with her kids from their home in Brooklyn, New York. "I want to make sure they're still having social experiences and not losing touch with friends." WATCH: How to get the most out of working from home

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