Runs in the browser · no account
The table is set.
Pull up a chair.
Four games for a group, played from your phone. Three use a big screen as the board; the fourth lives entirely inside one phone that goes round the circle. No sign-up, no download, nothing to install.
Heads up: the games themselves are still in Italian. These pages are ready, the tables aren't yet — English versions are on the way, one game at a time.
How an evening on TableNight works
Three stepsThere is no manual to study and no app to install. For three games out of four the mechanism is the same; only what happens on the board changes. Waterbomb is the exception, explained below.
- Someone opens the room on a big screen A laptop plugged into the TV, a tablet propped up in the middle of the table, or just the family computer. That screen becomes the board everyone can see, and a four or five character code appears on it.
- Everyone else joins from their phone They open the site, type the code and pick a name. No account, no email, no phone number. Anyone arriving late joins with the same code.
- You play by watching the board and answering on your phone The questions, the timeline or the village at night live on the shared screen. Answers, votes and secret roles stay on each person's phone, where nobody else can see them.
From there the game changes, not the procedure. If you can use one of these three, you can use the other two.
The games
CatalogueFour games, four different evenings. The quiz is the fastest to explain and holds a big crowd together; Cronos works best in teams, when people are in the mood to argue; Full Moon wants time, dim light and at least six people who can look each other in the face; Waterbomb is the one for five spare minutes, when nobody feels like setting anything up. Each card below leads to the game page, with full rules, tips and the button that opens the room.
Team Quiz
Timed questions on the board, answers from your phone, a leaderboard that reshuffles every round. And you can write the questions yourself, about the people in the room.
Rules and how to play → 02 / HISTORYCronos
Does the printing press come before or after the compass? Each team places its cards on the timeline and decides by majority. Then the card flips and you find out who was right.
Rules and how to play → 03 / DEDUCTIONFull Moon
It's the night of the full moon and somebody in the village changes shape. In the dark a person vanishes; at dawn you argue and vote. The site plays narrator, so everybody gets to play.
Rules and how to play → 04 / WORDSWaterbomb
Hot potato with a single phone. A prompt on the screen, one word each, then pass it on. The clock is hidden: when it runs out, a water balloon soaks the screen of whoever is holding it.
Rules and how to play →Why the browser and not an app
The choiceA group game has one enemy, and it is the friction before you start. If playing requires eight people to download the same app, create an account, verify an email and remember a password, the evening is over before it began — especially when somebody's phone is full and somebody else would rather not install anything in a stranger's living room.
That is why TableNight has no app. The games are web pages: they open with an address, behave identically on Android, iPhone, tablet and computer, and leave nothing installed when the evening ends. Anyone who plays often can add the site to their home screen and get an icon indistinguishable from an app's, without going near a store.
The same logic applies to accounts: there aren't any. You join with a name you choose on the spot and a room code. There is no profile to fill in, no match history, nothing to delete afterwards. The name you type is visible only to the people in that room, and it disappears with the room.
This choice has exactly one cost, and it is only fair to say it: the game servers shut down when nobody is using them. The first person to open a room in the evening wakes them up and may wait up to a minute. Everyone who joins after that notices nothing. It is the trade-off that keeps the site free.
Guides for the evening
Read firstThree pages written for whoever is hosting: how many people you actually need, how to keep a distractible group together, and how to play when half the table is three hundred kilometres away.
Frequently asked questions
FAQDo I need an account to play?
No. You join with a room code and a name you pick on the spot. We never ask for an email, a password or payment details, and there is no profile to create.
Do I have to download an app?
No, the games run in the browser. On a phone it helps to add the site to your home screen: it opens full screen like an app, but takes up no space and never updates in the background.
Why does a game sometimes take a while to start?
The game servers sleep when nobody is playing and wake up for the first person who arrives, so the first launch of the evening can take up to a minute. After that it is instant, and nobody joining after you waits at all. While you wait, the site shows a screen with a few tips instead of leaving you staring at a blank page.
Can we play remotely?
Yes, over a video call: one person shares the screen with the board, everyone else answers from their phone. The dedicated guide has the setup that avoids echo and lag problems.
How many devices do we need?
One big screen for the board and one phone per person. The board can be a laptop, a tablet or a TV with a browser. If you are playing in teams, Cronos works fine with a single phone per team.
What does it cost?
Nothing. The site is free, there are no paid tiers and there are no purchases inside the games. Domain and server costs are covered by the ads shown on the site pages.
Are the games available in English?
The site pages are; the games are not yet — matches are played in Italian. Translating the applications is under way, one game at a time.
Who's behind this
One personMy name is Domenico Catalano, I work as an RPA developer in Palermo, and TableNight is what I build outside working hours. There is no editorial team and no studio: the games, the code and the text on these pages are all mine, and they grow one piece at a time.
If a game got stuck, if a quiz question is wrong, or if you have a game in mind that would fit here, the fastest way to tell me is the form on the contact page. Messages come to me only: no public comments, no reviews on display.