On the shelf
Tonight's games
Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for, and they work on whatever anyone happens to be holding.
Letter Rip
One letter, twelve categories, and a clock. Name something in every category that starts with the letter — and hope nobody else wrote the same thing.
Start a roundBunkum
Everyone invents a definition for a word nobody knows. Then everyone votes for the one they think is real. Fool the family, take the points.
Start a gameBackgammon
The oldest game there is. Race your fifteen checkers home before the other one does — and knock them back to the start on the way.
PlayWordhoard
A crossword game you play a turn at a time. Lay your tiles, build on each other’s words, and take your move whenever suits you — nobody has to be on at the same time.
PlaySafehouse
Two teams, one-word clues. Your spymaster points you at your agents with a single word — find them all before the other side does, and whatever you do, don’t touch the mole.
PlayDoodlebug
One of you draws, everyone else guesses — and the quicker you get it, the more you score. The easy words come with a picture for whoever’s drawing, so a little one can take a turn too.
PlayLarkspur
Lord Larkspur is dead, and one of his guests did it. Walk the house room by room, ask your questions, and be the first to name who did it, with what, and where.
PlayWho's at the table
The whole family, four households
The family part of this page is locked, so the names aren’t sitting on the open internet. Type the family word once and this phone will remember it.
Over a call
How this works with everyone spread out
The call and the game are two separate things, on two separate screens. That’s the whole trick, and it’s why nothing has to fight for room.
Everyone joins the Signal call on a computer — big faces, and it works from anywhere in the world.
One person opens a game on their phone and reads out the room code. Four letters.
Everyone else opens it on their own phone and types the code in.
Play on the phone, react out loud to the computer. The talking is the game.
Big faces on the computer, the game in your hand
Because the call lives on a laptop and the game lives on your phone, nothing overlaps and nothing gets covered up — everyone stays full size on the screen while you’re writing. It also means whoever’s furthest away only needs the call to hold up; the game itself is a few kilobytes and barely touches the connection.