Board Games

Board games on phones and a screen, for family games when the board stayed at home.

  • shared screen
  • phones

2026

I always forget my favourite game on holiday: Pictionary. And it is hard to improvise one with three sheets and a pencil: you need words, lots of them, that the players don’t know. So in August 2026 I made, to play with family or friends, a companion that draws the words and holds the track, the dice and the hourglass, while keeping the paper and the pencil: it is much more fun.

Other games we love as a family soon followed, Avalon and Catan (try them if you don’t know them), then everything needed around them: games that everyone joins from their phone, with no account, with a six-letter code; a game master who runs the table; actions that can be corrected so no one ever gets stuck; and each team’s points, over one or several games, down to the evening’s tally. The table’s screen shows the board in 3D, each phone keeps its secrets.

The site is online, in four languages, and we are the ones playing on it. In short, a good time, even without the boxes.

Pictionary on the shared screen: the 3D board of 55 squares, two teams’ pawns, and beside it team Bauhaus’s turn, its drawer and each team’s progress.
Pictionary on the drawer’s phone: the word to draw, “Ragot”, for her alone, with its translations, the button to start drawing and the hourglass at 1:30.
Pictionary on a phone: the two dice thrown for team Bauhaus, a five and a three, at the same moment as on the shared screen.
Catan on the shared screen: the island dealt at random, its nineteen tiles in their wooden frame and its harbours, and beside it the three players, their cards and the log.
Catan on the phone of the player whose turn it is: “Your turn, place a settlement”, the same island, small, and her hand, still empty, with the trades open with the bank.
Avalon on a player’s phone: her card, Merlin, loyal servant of Arthur, and the servants of Mordred only she can see.
Avalon on the shared screen: the isle of Avalon in 3D, the quest board, every vote on the proposal and, below, the team setting out on the quest, waiting for each to play their card.

What was done

  1. 01

    The site and its three games

    A site that gathers Pictionary, Avalon and Catan: the evenings, their players and their games, to resume or look back on, on one device or on everyone’s phone.

    Next.js · React · TypeScript

  2. 02

    The game engines

    Each game with all its rules: Pictionary’s 55-square track and 260 words in four languages, Avalon’s roles, quests and Lady of the Lake, Catan’s island, bank, harbours, robber and cards. The server holds the truth: phones send intents, dice land on the server.

    TypeScript

  3. 03

    The rooms

    One room per game, joined with a six-letter code or a QR code, with no account; each phone keeps its seat and reconnects by itself, and receives only its own view.

    Server-sent events

  4. 04

    The history

    Each game written as a sequence of events: undo, redo, rewind, resume an abandoned branch, and the game master’s corrections.

    TypeScript

  5. 05

    The boards

    Each game’s board in 3D on the shared screen, and its small version on every phone.

  6. 06

    Accounts and hosting

    Evenings and statistics saved per account, each seeing only its own; twelve-character access codes; the site hosted online.

    Supabase · Fly.io

  7. 07

    Languages and voices

    In French, English, Spanish and German, light or dark; Avalon’s narration recorded in English, read by the browser’s voice in the other languages.

    Web Speech

Isometric drawing of a table, with the game master’s laptop, open, and four phones lying on it. By step: the three game boxes; a QR code on a phone and lines joining it to the others; the screen brought forward; a phone lifted, its private view; on the screen, the Pictionary track with its pawns and two dice, then Avalon’s map with its five quest sites, then the hexagonal island of Catan; an undo arrow on the host’s phone; a scoreboard on the screen.

How it works

  1. Scroll: the drawing follows.

  2. 01 / 09

    Gather the table

    Three games on the shelf: Pictionary, Avalon and Catan. An evening gathers its players and its games, to resume or look back on later. For each game you choose: one device passed from hand to hand, or everyone’s phone.

  3. 02 / 09

    Join the game

    The host opens a room; the others scan its QR code or type a six-letter code, with no account, and give their name. A locked or recharged phone keeps its seat. The host plays too, or only holds the table.

  4. 03 / 09

    Watch the shared screen

    On the table’s screen, each game’s board in 3D: the Pictionary track and its pawns, Avalon’s realm and its quests, the island of Catan. The dice land there at the same instant on every screen, and anyone can open it on their phone with one button.

  5. 04 / 09

    Keep your secrets on your phone

    Each player receives only what they are allowed to see: the word for the drawer alone, their Avalon card face down until touched, their vote and quest card behind a cover, their hand of Catan. On a single device, you hold to reveal, and the secret hides itself again.

  6. 05 / 09

    Play Pictionary

    Two to six teams on a track of 55 squares, whose category changes every five steps. The hourglass, from 30 seconds to five minutes or with no limit; 260 words in four languages, at three difficulties or rising towards the finish; all-play rounds, and the final word to take on the last square.

  7. 06 / 09

    Play Avalon

    Five to ten players seated in table order, the roles of your choice, Merlin and the Assassin always there, the Lady of the Lake if you like. Night falls, teams are proposed, voted on openly or in secret, then set off on quests; a voice narrates the game, and the Assassin names Merlin.

  8. 07 / 09

    Play Catan

    The whole game, for three to six players: the island drawn at random, base or extended, the bank, the harbours, the robber, the development cards, trades offered to the table or the bank. Hands show only as card counts; points, the longest road and the largest army count themselves.

  9. 08 / 09

    Correct a mistake, resume a game

    A mistake can be corrected: move a pawn, adjust a score, hand over the turn, name the leader, declare a winner. The game master undoes a move for everyone, and an abandoned game can be resumed. If the network drops, the phone reconnects and finds the game where it was.

  10. 09 / 09

    End the evening

    Each game has its ending: the winning drawing, Avalon’s revealed roles, Catan’s open hands. The evening keeps its statistics: wins, rounds won, turns at the pencil, times as Merlin, winners, roads and armies. In French, English, Spanish and German, light or dark.

Specifications

Collection
Personal products
Date
2026
Role
Design and development
Built with
Next.js · server-sent events · Supabase · Fly.io
Platforms
shared screen · phones
Scale
3 games