Video games and weed are a match made in digital heaven. A bowl full of your favorite strain is as essential to the perfect gaming session as a charged controller, but after the first exhale, the age-old question remains: what game do you actually want to play?
Well, you can stop staring at your Steam library; I’m here to help. As Leafly’s Chief Video Game Officer (honorary, self-awarded), this is a question I’m uniquely qualified to answer. I’ve got a handful of recommendations for your gaming pleasure, plus a paired strain to match. I’ve also done some digging into Leafly’s user reviews to see which games you all out there in Leafly Nation prefer to spend an evening with when you’re flying high.
Fortnite
Recommended strain: Lemon Cherry Gelato
Fortnite is an absurdly popular juggernaut and possibly the end point of all human culture. It’s also an incredible game to boot up right after at least half a joint. Fortnite’s been popular for so long that you’ve almost certainly got some experience with it, and even if you haven’t, the basic shooter controls should be familiar to any gamer, so don’t worry about blazing through what you have. Your reward? The great toy box of pop culture, where a decade of collabs have created a verified Thunderdome in which Sabrina Carpenter takes a pickaxe to Bugs Bunny while John Wick is gunned down by Goku and Hatsune Miku in a carnival of cartoon violence. Fortnite offers up these little gems of absurdity to your stoned self free of charge, and as long as the collabs keep coming, it’ll all just get funnier.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Recommended strain: Triangle Kush
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Showing you dispensaries nearA worthy entry to one of the most storied adventure game series of all time and a peerless contraption-construction simulator, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has something for whatever type of session you’re looking for. If you’re looking to completely immerse yourself in the windswept vistas and the tale of a lone hero prevailing against impossible odds, then Tears of the Kingdom will serve you better than anything this side of Skyrim. But if you instead want to giggle your head off, creating ridiculous Rube Goldberg machines or questionably constructed jalopies that explode upon contact with a single blade of grass, then Tears of the Kingdom will still deliver.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Recommended strain: Blue Dream
The ultimate virtual game of Dungeons and Dragons (so far), Baldur’s Gate 3 has a wonderful, moving story of charming characters battling their own inner darkness, but once you’re a bowl or two deep, you’re really here for the game’s reactivity. Pickpocket that shopkeeper, explode that goblin camp with 5000 oil barrels, let that bard pop out your eyeball—in short, get as far off the rails as you can as fast as you can. Where most games would throw up their hands, just like a great DM, Baldur’s Gate 3 will go along with your highdeas, getting you into situations you wouldn’t have dreamed of otherwise. If you’ve got one, bust out your wizard pipe; it really does enhance the experience of playing one of the best video games to play high.
Doom
Recommended strain: Jack Herer
Sometimes, it’s best not to overthink things, and when it comes to video games, that means Doom. Which Doom is the best one to play high? Any Doom! (Okay, maybe not Doom 3.) Killing demons is a timeless task, and from Doomguy’s first outing in 1993 to last year’s Doom: The Dark Ages, the satisfying shotgun blast will keep your high self entertained for an evening and then some. There’s no overwrought story, no dialogue trees, and no lobbies to join. Only pure, visceral action gaming, perfect for working off some stress while smoking something that helps you lock in. Happy hunting!
Mario Party
Recommended strain: Jealousy
Out of all the great games to play very high staring Mr. Video Games himself, Mario Party gets my recommendation as one of the best video games to play high, especially when your whole smoking circle is looking to pass a controller in addition to the bong. As opposed to Super Smash Brothers or Mario Kart, Mario Party almost entirely cuts the question of skill out of the equation, making for a more equitable and even party session, especially if yours is a group of mixed experience levels. While the most recent entry into the series, Jamboree, is the latest and greatest experience, any Mario Party, right down to the first one, is still a wonderful way to spend the evening. Best part of playing stoned? With everyone suitably mellowed, the chances of a friendship-ending fight over losing the last goddamn star are basically nil. Just mash the buttons, laugh, and take another toke.
Fallout: New Vegas
Recommended strain: Sour Diesel
Still holding strong after all these years, the Mojave Wasteland of Fallout: New Vegas is one of the best smoke spots to be found in the virtual world. There’s always something strange behind every corner in Fallout, and New Vegas combines the impeccable exploration the series is known for with one of the best stories to be found in mainstream gaming. Make sure you get your modstack working right before you light up; you don’t want any distractions while listening to your spurs go jingle jangle jingle as you go riding merrily along. Pro tip: The Weird Wasteland perk is a must for all cannabis lovers to get the maximum enjoyment out of your session.
No Man’s Sky
Recommended strain: Skywalker OG
After No Man’s Sky’s disastrous launch, you’d be forgiven if you’ve written of the game forever. But in the big 2026, after a legitimately heroic effort by the devs to bring the game nearer and nearer to what was promised, I strongly recommend checking this one out while stoned. Never has there been a game that captures the space exploration fantasy so beautifully, and if you’re already out in the stratosphere, then it just makes the fantasy that much stronger. Put on a podcast, a vibey record, or just embrace the beeps and buzzes of your spaceship as you explore, trade, build, or fight, whatever the evening calls for. See you, space cowboys.
Stardew Valley
Recommended strain:Forbidden Fruit
If you’ve ever looked at your weekly schedule of corporate grind and dreamed of lighting a joint and getting away from it all, Stardew Valley is the game for you. It’s a charming fantasy of rural life, with a gameplay loop built around days and seasons that feel like a warm massage all over a stoney brain. Grow crops, tend animals, explore the mines, fall in love, all with some of the most wholesome pixel art to be found. Stardew Valley is a vibe, and you will be most receptive to its frequency when you’re elevated. Head to the country in the evening with a joint in your hand, and afterwards, the stress of the real-life work week will feel just a bit more manageable.
What cannabis strains do you pair with video games?
Those are my recommendations, but what do you all think? We took a deep dive into Leafly’s user reviews to scan for which games earned a mention, and which strains seemed to be the most popular with gamers. Here’s a map of the network of strains and games.
Each connection represents Leafly visitors’ strain reviews mentioning specific video game titles. Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and Minecraft are our big winners, with Blue Dream, OG Kush, and Durban Poison as the most common points of crossover.
Let’s take a look at what some of you reviewers said about them.
Cannabis strains that helped gamers focus
There’s nothing quite like plopping down with your favorite video game and feeling completely immersed in it, thanks to the help of a good focusing strain. Here are a couple of strains our reviewers called out as performance enhancers:
Looking for cannabis strains to help you stay on your game? Check out this list of focusing strains on Leafly.
Cannabis strains that were paired with creative gaming
Another way cannabis and video games pair beautifully is through creativity. Many games have a creative component that cannabis can cater to, whether you’re building a mod list for Skyrim or constructing a glorious palace for yourself in Minecraft.
What other strains can help pique your creativity in the virtual realms? Refer to Leafly’s full list of creative strains to find out.
Cannabis strains that blew gamers’ minds
Leave it to cannabis to ensure you have a great time even when you’re beyond your ability to operate a controller. These reviewers prove that sometimes it isn’t always about winning; it’s about having fun.
What are the most popular video games according to Leafly visitors?
The graph below shows which games were most commonly talked about in Leafly cannabis strain reviews. The larger the bubble, the more popular the game. Grand Theft Auto is king, with Call of Duty, Minecraft, and Pokémon close behind. These games are popular in their own right, but based on our user reviews, cannabis sure brings something special to the experience, too.
Which cannabis strains are most popularly paired with video games?
It should come as no surprise that Jack Herer, Blue Dream, GG4, and OG Kush are among the most popular video game partner strains—they’re some of the more prolific varieties available. But it also makes sense that these classics pair so well with video games when you look at their effect profiles.
Jack Herer is a strain seemingly custom-built for gaming; its focusing, energizing effects are ideal for a tense online shooter, and our data bears that out. It’s most commonly listed with games like Call of Duty and Counter-Strike.
Blue Dream offers a balance of relaxation and creativity, perfect for something like Minecraft, while GG4 and OG Kush are both strains that help you wind down at the end of the day, which matches well with something low-key like Pokémon or Stardew Valley.
The chart below indicates the most popular cannabis strains for playing video games. The larger the bubble, the more frequently that strain is consumed when gaming. And, of course, each bubble’s color is designated by which strain type it is, with red representing sativa strains, purple representing indica strains, and green representing hybrid strains.
Which video game genres are most popular among cannabis consumers?
If you’re curious as to which genres are preferred among cannabis consumers, we broke the data out into a pie chart. Action & adventure games were the clear favorite, followed by shooters and role-playing games.
Time for you to weigh in! Which video games do you enjoy most while high, and what cannabis strains make them even better?
