TV games with no phones
Eleven of the eighteen games in Read the Room need nothing but the television and its remote: no phones, no controllers, no wifi to set up. The television shows the prompt, the picture or the word and keeps the clock, and the room does the rest by pointing, arguing and shouting.
The eleven games
- Most Likely ToOne prompt, and everybody points at once
- 4+ players
- No phones
- 20 prompts free
- Back to the ScreenOne person faces away while the room shouts clues
- 4+ players
- No phones
- 3 rounds free
- TickA bomb, a word, and the remote you do not want
- 3+ players
- No phones
- Included with any plan
- Say ThreeThree of them, before you can think
- 3+ players
- No phones
- Included with any plan
- Am IEveryone knows who you are but you
- 3+ players
- No phones
- Included with any plan
- Hot SeatThe room guesses what you would do
- 3+ players
- No phones
- Included with any plan
- Pick OneTwo options, one moment, everybody commits
- 2+ players
- No phones
- Included with any plan
- Rank ItFive things, one order, no sides
- 2+ players
- No phones
- Included with any plan
- Real or NotTwo claims, one true, and a streak
- 2+ players
- No phones
- Included with any plan
- Over UnderTwo things, one number. Higher or lower?
- 2+ players
- No phones
- Included with any plan
- Who KnowsPick a level and keep going, or split into teams and race
- 2+ players
- No phones
- Included with any plan
How a game with no phones works
The television does the work: it shows the prompt, the picture or the word, keeps the clock and plays the sound. The remote has one job, usually OK for the next one. Where a game has a turn order, the remote is how it moves: in Back to the Screen whoever is guessing holds it, in Hot Seat it is passed round the room, and in Tick the remote is the bomb.
Why the wifi can be off
Each of these games keeps its cards on the television. The words, questions and prompts are fetched when the television is online and kept for when it is not, so a game deals a full deck with the wifi off. Where a game has a voice reading to the room, that part needs a connection, and the game is complete without it.
And the games that do use phones
Seven of the eighteen games use phones, for what only a phone can do: hold a secret, or hold a pen. The television shows a QR code and the game opens in the phone's browser, so guests still install nothing. Party games on Android TV and Google TV explains how, and the whole list says which game wants which.
Questions
Is this like Jackbox?
It is the same idea, a party game on the television, with one difference that is the point of this page. Jackbox games are played on everyone's phone, and here eleven of the eighteen games need no phones at all. The seven that do use phones open from a QR code, in the phone's browser, with nothing to install.
Do we need a controller?
No. The remote you already have is the whole controller.
Do guests install anything?
No. Eleven of the games use no phones, and the ones that do open in the phone's browser.
Which of them are free to try?
Two of the eleven are free to try, each with a real slice of the game: no card, no account. The rest are included with any plan, which also unlocks every game that uses phones.
Put it on the television
Read the Room is on Google Play for Android TV and Google TV.