Family party games on your phones

At a family party almost everyone has a phone, from the eleven-year-old cousin to grandad. Usually that means everyone is staring at their own. Phones can be used the other way round too: as playing cards and game boards that bring the whole family together around the table. With the games on HoyHop, nothing needs installing and nobody needs an account.

What you need

• a phone or tablet for each player, or for each pair,
• an internet connection, ideally the home Wi-Fi so nobody uses up their data,
• one person to set up the rooms,
• paper and a pencil for the scores.

For younger children it helps to have a tablet with a bigger screen ready. Anyone without a phone plays as a pair with someone who has one.

Getting everyone into one game

Crazy Eights and Ludo can be played online, both for two to four players. The steps are the same:

1. The host opens the game and taps Play with friends using a code.
2. They choose a mode. If children are playing, kids mode is the right choice, because the host lets every player in personally.
3. A five-character code and a QR code appear on the host’s screen.
4. The others point their phone camera at the QR code or type the code into the home page at hoyhop.net.
5. Everyone picks a name, such as Quick Dog, and an animal.
6. The host starts the game.

The code contains no vowels and no characters that are easy to mix up, such as zero and O or one and I. Read out across the table, it is hard to get wrong. More details are in How to play online with friends using a room code.

If there are not enough players, the computer can take an empty seat. That is handy when only three people end up at the last table.

One network can enter a wrong code at most ten times a minute; successful joins don’t count. When lots of people join a tournament over the home Wi-Fi, connect one table at a time.

A Crazy Eights tournament

Crazy Eights is ideal for a party. Most adults know some version of it, and children learn it in one game. A game lasts five to ten minutes.

With eight to twelve people, a tournament like this works well:

1. Split into tables of four. Each table is one room with its own code.
2. Each table plays three games. A win is worth three points, and the runner-up with the fewest cards left gets one point.
3. The best player from each table moves on to the final table.

Agree on the rules before the first game. The game has many house variants, and two of them can be switched on before play: drawing three for a seven, and the Seven of Hearts bringing a player back. In a tournament, every table should use the same settings. The rules are in Crazy Eights rules, the Central European way if anyone needs a reminder.

A contest for everyone at once

At most four people can play in one online game. With a big family, it is a good idea to add games in which any number of people can compete at once. That is what the daily challenges are for. On any given day they are the same for every player in the world, so everyone plays exactly the same thing on their own phone.

• Daily Word. Everyone guesses the same word. Whoever needs the fewest guesses wins, and if there is a tie, whoever finished first. Once you are done, do not give away a single letter until everyone else has finished.
• The Solitaire daily deal. The deal is the same for everyone and can be solved. The game measures time and number of moves. The fastest player wins, or the one with the fewest moves, whichever you agree on.
• The Block Fit daily challenge. Everyone gets the same 30 shapes in the same order. The highest score wins.
• The Hide and Seek daily challenge. The same picture for everyone. Time, hints used and missed taps all count. It is especially good for children.

Each daily challenge has a share button once you finish. If you are split across two rooms, or someone is joining from far away, you can send your results to the family group chat.

A Ludo final

Ludo is the game to finish with, because luck plays a part and anyone can win. Send one player from each generation to the final: a child, a parent, a grandparent and an aunt or uncle. Everyone else watches over their shoulders and cheers.

A game takes ten to twenty-five minutes. If you are short of time, agree beforehand that the first player to get two pieces home wins. The game will not stop by itself, but it is easy to check.

Keeping score

A simple table on paper is enough: names down the side, games across the top. Give the same points in every game, for example three for first place, two for second and one for third. Children love to add up the points themselves, and hardly notice they are practising sums.

Tips from experience

• Charge the phones beforehand. Online play drains the battery faster than everyday use.
• Sound is off by default. With several phones at one table, that is a good thing. Anyone who wants it can switch it on with the Sound button.
• Messages instead of chat. During the game, players can send ready-made messages such as Nice move! or One more?. Nobody can type their own text, which you will appreciate when children are playing.
• If someone’s connection drops, the game puts them back in their seat as soon as they reconnect. If it is their turn and they are not back within 45 seconds, the computer plays for them.
• Breaks. Between tournament rounds there is time for cake. If you leave the game open on the phones, the room lasts an hour without a move. If everyone closes it, it disappears after two minutes, and after the break you will need to open a new one.

Playing on phones at a party is not a replacement for a card table, but it makes a good addition. It is most useful when there are more players than packs of cards, or when some of the family cannot make it and join from home.