How to Play Channel Games on Discord (Including Chess and Poker)

Discord lets you play games and watch YouTube directly on your voice channel. Find out how you can use this to add more fun to your servers.

Discord is a popular communications app designed with gamers in mind. However, as more people have discovered the utility of this tool, it has since expanded to other genres, like fan groups and productivity pages.

And to further expand on its capabilities, Discord has added channel games to its voice chat. This lets you communicate and play without ever leaving the app. Read on and learn how you can use it on your own server.

New Discord Activities to Explore

The new Start an Activity feature allows you to play games and watch YouTube on a voice channel with your friends. Although still in beta, you already have a choice of activities, which include Poker Night, Chess In The Park, Doodle Crew, Word Snacks, Letter Tile, Spellcast, and Watch Together.

However, since it's still in development, the Activity function is only usable in the official Discord server—the Discord Games Lab. If you join a voice channel in any other server, the Start an Activity feature won't appear.

Though this might sound like a letdown, don't give up just yet. Luckily, you can use a Discord bot to activate this feature on your server. But before doing that, explore how you can use this on the official Discord server first.

How to Start an Activity on Discord Games Lab

1. Join the Discord Games Lab server.
2. Go through the Rules and FAQs of the server. You must tick the "I have read and agree to the rules" checkbox and press Submit.
3. Once everything is set, scroll down on the left panel and join one of the server voice channels.
4. Under Voice Connected, click the rocketship icon that reads Start an Activity.
5. Select an activity. In this example, we're going to play Chess In The Park.
6. A window will appear, asking for authorization for the activity to access your account. Click on Authorize to allow it.
7. And if a window pops up asking for authorization to use your microphone or camera, don't forget to click on Allow so that your friends can see and hear you.
8. Once the game loads, you'll go to the Park View where you can see ongoing games. Under the boards, click Create Game.
9. Select the looks you want for the board and the pieces. You can also decide whether you want the game to be locked or not. Locking a game will remove it from Park View, and players can't join without a table code.
10. Click Create Game.
11. Once the game starts and the board is set, click the game name located top-left of the board. This will display the table code for your game.
12. Share the table code with your friends so you can play against them.

Related: How to Find the Best Discord Servers Worth Joining

How to Join an Existing Activity on a Discord Channel

1. Join a Discord channel where a user is hosting an activity. You can see if there is an ongoing activity under the channel title.
2. Click the rocketship icon under Voice Connected. Then choose Start [Activity Title] to launch it.
3. If you haven't previously authorized the activity app, an authorization window will appear. Click on Authorize to start it.

How to Host a Channel Game on Your Own Discord Server

1. Invite the Activities bot to your server.
2. In your server's text chat, type in the command below:

   /activity

   Discord will bring suggestions for the rest of the command. You'll have to choose a voice channel and then an activity. If your channels have permissions, don't forget to allow the Activities bot access.
3. Press Enter.
4. The bot will reply with a link. Click on it to go to the activity you just started.
5. You will now see the rocketship button under Voice Connected.
6. Have fun chatting and playing!

Note: Once you leave the activity, the rocketship icon will disappear. To relaunch the activity, you have to use the activity command.

If you're interested, check out the GitHub for the Activities bot to learn more about it.

Related: Discord Tips and Tricks All Users Should Know

Talk and Play on Discord

Even though Discord was first introduced and branded as "Chat for Gamers", Discord has, over time, gained popularity for both gaming and productivity.

And as Discord becomes more and more ubiquitous, the team behind it is trying to add fresh features and expand the app to something further than just a voice chat platform.

About The Author