Phone as controller (second screen play)
Phone as controller is a way of playing in which each player's smartphone acts as their game controller, sending taps, swipes, typed text or drawings to a game that runs on a shared screen such as a TV.
Some people call this second-screen play, because the phone is a second screen beside the main one. Instead of buying a controller for every guest, the game shows a room code or QR code, players join with their phone's browser or an app, and the phone becomes a custom controller. What appears on it depends on the game: a thumbstick for a racing game, a keyboard for a writing game, a canvas for a drawing game, a private hand of cards for a bluffing game.
This design has two big benefits. It scales, because a room of eight needs no extra equipment. And it allows privacy, because each phone can show private information such as a secret role or a hidden answer, which a shared screen cannot. The weak point is the network, since every tap travels over wi-fi or mobile data, so a game with quick controls has to keep delay low.
All of Bossfeed's party games work this way and run in the browser, so there is nothing to install.
Bossfeed party games - six free games where your phone is the controller.
Party games where your phone is the controller - what you need and which games to start with.