I’ve been building Fafaa (فافافن), a free browser-based party game platform designed for Arabic-speaking groups. The game runs on a shared computer or TV screen while each player joins from their phone using a room code. There is no app to install and no account required.
The basic interaction model will be familiar to anyone who has played shared-screen party games such as Jackbox: one screen hosts the game, while everyone’s phone becomes their controller. The difference is that Fafaa is being designed around Arabic players and Arabic-language party games rather than treating Arabic as an afterthought or a simple translation layer.
Why I started building it
I like the shared-screen format because it turns a browser into a social space. One person can put the game on a larger screen, everyone can keep their phone in their hand, and the room becomes part of the experience.
I wanted to explore what that format feels like when the language, humor, questions, and visual presentation are designed for Arabic-speaking groups from the start. That means making the game easy to join, but it also means paying attention to the details that make a joke or a question feel natural instead of translated.
Fafaa is an indie project, so I’m learning by building the games and watching people use them. The goal is not to make a big claim about the whole Arabic gaming market. It is to make a few good games that friends can open quickly when they are together.
How Fafaa works
The flow is intentionally simple:
- One person opens Fafaa on a computer or TV and starts a room.
- The game shows a room code on the shared display.
- Each player opens the join page on a phone and enters the code.
- The shared screen presents the game, while the phones handle private input, answers, drawing, or voting.
That split creates an interesting design constraint. The display has to be readable from across a room and entertaining for people who are watching together. The phone interface has to be focused enough that players can act without constantly looking up for instructions.
It also means the real-time connection is part of the game design. Joining, waiting for everyone, showing the next round, collecting answers, and recovering from a phone or browser hiccup all need to feel like one continuous experience.
Designing for Arabic instead of just translating
Arabic support is more than changing the direction of a layout.
The wording of a question changes the pace of a round. A joke can depend on a familiar phrase. The length and shape of Arabic text affect buttons, cards, prompts, and score displays. Right-to-left interfaces need to be considered at the component level, not patched in at the end.
I also want the important identifiers to remain visible in their original form. The platform is Fafaa (فافافن), and the games keep their Arabic names rather than receiving made-up English titles. An English-speaking developer can still understand what each game does, while Arabic-speaking players can recognize the names they will see on the site.
That balance is useful for the product itself. The article, onboarding, and technical explanations can be in English when that makes them clearer to a wider audience, while the game content can stay rooted in the language and cultural context it was made for.
The games currently on Fafaa
The library currently has three games, each aimed at a slightly different kind of group session.
أرجوك لا تخدعني
This is a question-and-deception game for 2–12 players. A strange fact appears with its real answer hidden. Each player writes a believable fake answer, the fakes are mixed with the truth, and everyone votes.
You score by identifying the correct answer, but also by making other players believe your fake answer. The current format is 10 questions across 3 rounds, played with a shared screen and phones.
شخابيط
شخابيط is the drawing-and-deception game, listed for 3–10 players. It explores the same social energy through visual prompts instead of only written answers: drawing, guessing, and the uncertainty around what someone was trying to communicate become part of the joke.
Keeping the Arabic name matters here. I’m not trying to force every game into an English product taxonomy. I’d rather explain the interaction clearly and let the original names stay attached to the experience.
أنا الدافور
أنا الدافور is the knowledge-and-speed game, currently listed for 1–8 players. It can work as a shared-screen group game, but it also supports a solo challenge.
That makes it a useful contrast with the deception games. Not every session has a large group ready to join, and not every player wants the same kind of competition. A platform can have a recognizable identity while still offering different ways to play.
The technical side of a shared-screen game
The browser-first decision is partly about accessibility and partly about architecture. A native app would add another installation and distribution step before anyone could play. With a browser, the host can open a URL and players can join from devices they already have.
The trade-off is that the application has to coordinate several clients in real time. There is a shared game state, a display that should not reveal private answers too early, and phone interfaces that need to submit input at the right moment. The system also has to handle late joins, refreshes, changing rounds, and the ordinary unreliability of real-world Wi-Fi.
Those constraints make a party game a surprisingly good web-development project. The interface is visible to everyone, the timing is social, and small pieces of friction become obvious immediately. A button that is technically correct can still be too slow to understand when ten people are waiting for the next round.
What I’m working on next
Fafaa is still evolving. The next improvements I’m thinking about include more games, smoother onboarding, clearer room and join states, more polished animations, and better handling of the small interruptions that happen during a group session.
I’m also interested in the less glamorous work: making sure long Arabic strings remain readable, making the shared display work at different distances, and testing the experience on the mix of phones and browsers that people actually bring to a gathering.
If you speak Arabic or regularly play local multiplayer and party games, I’d especially love feedback on how intuitive the joining flow and game presentation feel.
You can try Fafaa. Everything runs in the browser, so one person can put the game on a larger screen and everyone else can join from their phones.
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