About PartyGames

What this is

PartyGames is 49 party games that run in a browser. One person creates a room, everyone else types the code, and the game starts. There is no app to install, no account to make, and nothing to pay for.

It is built for the way people actually play: a living room with six phones in it, a video call with colleagues in three cities, a family that wants one game everybody already knows the rules to. Every game is refereed by the server, so nobody has to remember whose turn it is or keep score on paper.

Why there is no signup

A party game has about thirty seconds before the room loses interest. An account screen spends all of it. So there is no login: a room exists for as long as people are playing in it and then it is gone, and the only thing we ask for is a display name — which can be anything.

The trade-off is deliberate and it cuts both ways. Nothing is saved for you between sessions, because nothing about you is stored in the first place. What that means in detail is in the privacy policy.

How it is built

Everything runs on one Node process: the pages, the REST API and the websocket layer that keeps every phone in a room in sync. Game rules live on the server rather than in the browser, which is the only way a game with hidden information — a secret role, a hand of cards, a word one player must not see — can be honest.

It is a side project, maintained by one person, and it is free because it costs very little to run. There are no ads, no trackers sold on to anyone, and no paid tier waiting behind a wall.

Where to start

The full list of 49 games is the honest answer, but it is a lot at once. The 24 browse pages cut it down by who you are playing with and why — family, office, video calls. There are also free tools and question lists that work whether or not you play here, and a blog about running a game night.

Getting in touch

Bug reports, a game that is not working, or a rule we got wrong — the contact page has the ways to reach us.