Games like Jackbox, without a TV

Jackbox Games makes the Jackbox Party Packs. Each pack is a bundle of party games that run on a shared screen while everyone plays from their phone.

One person, the host, buys a pack and runs it on a console, a computer or a streaming device connected to a screen. Everyone else goes to jackbox.tv in their phone's browser and types in the room code shown on the host's screen. From then on, phones are controllers: you type your answer or cast your vote on your phone, and the game shows the results on the big screen.

Only one person in the group needs to own the pack, and nobody else installs anything. Jackbox's own advice is that the host's screen should be visible to the whole room. For remote play, the host can share that screen over a video call.

It's a good format. The one thing it really needs is a screen everyone can see.

Maybe the TV is in another room, or you're at a cabin, a picnic table or a restaurant. Maybe there is a TV, but it belongs to someone who would rather you didn't touch it.

A laptop on the coffee table can stand in for a small group, as long as everyone can see it. Past five or six people, it turns into a crowd of people leaning in. At that point you want a different kind of game, one where the screen isn't the point.

Games that live on the phones

Each phone is its own screen. The host starts a room, everyone joins with a code, and the game plays out in everyone's hands at once. Pick one that runs in the browser so guests don't need an app. Of the options here, this one feels most like the shared-screen version. The guide to phone party games covers the different kinds.

Card games

A deck of party cards can do the screen's job. Someone reads a card, everyone answers, and someone judges. Cards need no battery and no wifi. On the other hand, someone has to remember the box, the cards start repeating after a few nights, and the score ends up on the back of a receipt.

Talking games

Two truths and a lie needs no equipment at all, and neither does would you rather. Read a question, go around the room, defend your answer. They're free and they work anywhere. What they lack is an ending. Nobody wins, so they fade out instead of finishing. For material, try would you rather questions or this or that questions.

Pass one phone

One phone goes around the room for charades or dares. It's easy to start, but only one person plays at a time.

The Lobbyist was built for a table with no TV. Every phone does part of the screen's job.

• To join, the host opens thelobbyistgame.com and starts a game. Everyone else scans the QR code on the host's phone or types a four-letter code. It runs in the browser, so there's nothing to install.
• A question comes up on every phone at once, with two sides. Everyone picks one in secret.
• Each phone then tells its owner which side to argue. One player, the Lobbyist, has to argue the side they didn't pick.
• Phones go flat on the table, screen up, each one showing the side its owner is arguing. Now everyone can see who's on which side, which is the job a TV would have done.
• Everyone votes on their own phone for the person they think was faking. Then every phone shows the votes, everyone's real answer and the Lobbyist, all at once.

So the shared moment still happens. It just happens on up to 10 small screens in the middle of the table. The full rules take two minutes to read.

• Sit around a table. The phones need somewhere to lie flat where everyone can see them, so a kitchen table beats a couch. A coffee table works if people sit on the floor.
• Sort out the wifi before you start. A browser game needs a connection, so put the password where people can see it, or let them use their data.
• Pick one host. They start the room and choose the deck. Fuzzy Logic and the guest deck are free. Other decks are $2.99, and only the host needs to own one. They're all on the decks page.
• Find the charger. Whoever is on 4% gets the seat by the outlet.