Most online board games assume every player has their own device and an account. I wanted the opposite: two to twelve people sitting together, passing one phone, tablet or laptop around, with no sign-up and no internet needed after the first visit.
That idea became Pass and Play Games, a free collection of browser games: chess, ludo, checkers, backgammon, mancala, dominoes, plus party games like Imposter and Charades. I'm a business analyst by day, so I run it with a developer: I write the briefs and test everything, he builds the games.
Here's what we learned about designing for a single shared screen.
1. The "pass screen" matters more than the board
In chess, both players can see everything, so passing the phone is easy. In Sea Battle or Imposter, the next player must not see what the last player just saw. We added an optional pass screen between turns that only shows whose turn it is. It's optional because in open-information games it just slows things down.
2. Save after every move
Shared devices get interrupted all the time: a phone call, the screen locks, someone closes the tab. Every game saves its state on the device after each move and resumes where you left off. There's no account and no server involved: the browser storage is the save file. Players, scores and settings live there too, with backup/restore and a "delete all my data" option.
3. Offline is a feature, not a bonus
Pass-and-play happens on trains and flights, while camping, or at a relative's house with bad Wi-Fi. After the first visit, the games, rules and tutorials are stored on the device, and the site can be added to the home screen like an app.
Tip if you build something similar: test in airplane mode early. It shows problems you never notice on your desk Wi-Fi.
4. One device, many different users
When a phone moves around a table, it gets used by kids, parents and grandparents in the same evening. So the settings matter: light/dark theme, larger text and controls, colour-safe player colours, reduced motion, and an optional move confirmation to stop accidental taps.
5. Let the computer fill empty seats
Four-player Ludo with only two people feels empty. In games like Ludo, Dominoes, Chinese Checkers and Yacht Dice, computer players can fill the empty seats, and most two-player games have a computer opponent with adjustable strength.
6. Small things people notice
- Undo for misclicks (very common when the device is passed around)
- Rematch where the other player goes first
- Session scores so a "best of five" doesn't need pen and paper
What's next
Right now there are 24 playable games, with Hot Dice, Draw and Guess, Forbidden Words and Hot Potato coming next. Chess was the first game we built. It started as a standalone pass and play chess site before it became part of the collection.
If you want to try one, pass-and-play chess is a good place to start.
I'd love feedback from other devs, especially on offline handling and the pass-screen UX. What would you want from a game that everyone plays on one device?
I wrote this post with help from an AI assistant. The project, decisions and testing are my own.
Top comments (1)
the optional pass screen is a smart call, forcing it on open-info games like chess would just be annoying. i went the opposite way on a party-game project (everyone joins from their own phone) and the pain there was reconnects when a phone sleeps mid-round, so your save-after-every-move approach looks way simpler for same-room play. does resuming handle a half-finished turn, or only completed moves?