About

Couch Party is a free collection of party games you play together in one room: the TV is the game board and your phones are the controllers.

Why it exists

Lots of great games are built for one person staring at one screen. Couch Party takes those ideas, such as word puzzles, trivia, drawing and reaction tests, and turns them into something a whole sofa of people can play at once. It is made for family nights, friends coming round, and the hour after dinner when nobody can agree on a film.

The aim is that anyone can join in. There is no app to download, no sign-up and no controller to learn. If you can scan a QR code and tap a button, you can play, whether you are eight or eighty.

What is in it

There are eight games so far: Word Rush, Brain Buzz, Squiggle, Green Light, Fib Finder, Higher or Lower, Emoji Decode and Odd One Out. Each takes about five minutes, and scores carry over from game to game. The how to play page explains them all. More games are on the way.

All the questions, puzzles, sounds and artwork were made for Couch Party. The country facts and flags come from open data sets.

How it works

The big screen runs the game. Phones only send small messages, such as “I tapped answer B”, so it works on almost any phone and uses very little data. Rooms are temporary: a room disappears after it has been unused for a few hours.

Who makes it

Couch Party is an independent project run by Kain, an individual based in the UK. Ideas, bug reports and suggestions for new games are very welcome: see the contact page.