With Zoom becoming an academic necessity for the remainder of the semester, many students are finding ways to use it to connect with friends and family in creative ways during quarantine.

According to Sensor Tower, the Zoom mobile app has been downloaded about 28 million times since March 2020.

#ZoomJam has begun challenging game designers to come up with various games to be played through the application.

“Since we’ll be spending so much time there [on Zoom], we thought it would be a good idea to engage game designers in figuring out how to use Zoom to do other things with each other- playful things like the micro social games on sites…”, the #ZoomJam homepage states.

The deadline for game submissions is April 24, 2020. Submissions must have a list of rules no longer than 500 words and must be playable with the free or educational version of Zoom. Winners will be announced on May 3, 2020.

Aside from making games, users are playing games with each other through the video-chatting application as well as finding ways to watch movies together.

Bloomsburg University freshman Hailey Stein stated: “I use Zoom to watch movies with share screen, study groups and work chats. I also use Cards Against Humanity online and Skip-Bo online.”

Skip-Bo is a free Microsoft card game that allows two to four online players to compete in order to discard all the cards in their stock as fast as possible. The game can be found in the Microsoft Store and is PC only.

“[This game is] not through Zoom, but it’s fun to share your screen.” Stein stated.

Kutztown University sophomore Sydney Zeigler uses Zoom to watch movies with her boyfriend while they’re apart.

“If you screen share on Zoon and share your Vudu or Netflix on your screen it works, and you can also her the movie audio.” Zeigler said.

The blog Two Scots Abroad has composed a list of 12 games people can download and play through Zoom. From Jackbox to Karaoke, there are various ways Zoom users can get creative and find ways to connect with classmates, family, and friends!