Every big night has the same problem: more people than seats. Games for large groups online make it sharper, because a person with no seat can only watch a screen. A bored watcher drifts to their phone, and soon the call is half empty. This article is about turning that person back into part of the evening, using the watching feature I built and a few jobs that need no seat. It applies to a game night with friends, a birthday on a video call, or any evening of free party games online that outgrows its seats.
How does watching work?
The host switches watching on in the lobby. After that, up to twenty people can follow the table without taking a seat. A watcher sees the game but cannot play, and sees nothing that is meant to be hidden: no secret words, no answers to open questions, no cards in someone's hand.
A watcher in the lobby sees how many seats are free. If there is one, a button offers it. If the table is full, the watcher is offered a place in the next game instead. So a watcher always has a way in.
Should you let people watch at all?
Yes, with one warning. The site cannot leak a secret to a watcher, but a microphone can. If the group is on a call, a watcher who can see the drawing may work out the word and say it aloud. Ask watchers to stay quiet until the round ends. It is a social rule, and it only takes one sentence.
What jobs does a watcher have?
Give each watcher something small and visible.
- Scorekeeper: write the totals as each round ends and read them out.
- Prediction keeper: before the game, collect guesses about who will win, then reveal them afterwards.
- Next-in-line captain: pick the order in which watchers take free seats.
- Commentator: narrate the game for the call, as a radio host would.
Do not make a watcher the timekeeper. A watcher's screen is not quite as instant as a player's, and a clock that is a beat behind causes arguments.
How do you rotate seats fairly?
Rotation is simple arithmetic. Say twelve people want to play a game with eight seats. Label them A to L and split them into three groups of four: A to D, E to H and I to L.
| Game | Playing | Watching | |---|---|---| | One | A to D and E to H | I to L | | Two | E to H and I to L | A to D | | Three | A to D and I to L | E to H |
Each game has eight players and four watchers. Each person plays two games and watches one, which is as fair as twelve people can get. Pick three games that seat eight: Trivia Tavern at 14 minutes, Draw and Guess at 20 to 25, and Who's the Spy at 20. Add them up and the evening runs 54 to 59 minutes, plus a few minutes between games.
Other sizes follow the same idea: whoever watched one game plays the next.
What do you tell watchers before the game starts?
Say three things, out loud, in the call. You are part of this, and here is your job. You can see the game but not play it, and you will not see any secrets. Your turn comes in the next game, and the order is on the captain's list.
That short script takes twenty seconds. It does most of the work, because a watcher who knows the plan feels like a person in a queue, while a watcher who has been left to guess feels left out. Repeat it at every game change, since the watchers change too.
Where do I find all this?
The host turns watching on in the lobby of a table on Boardit. The setting is per table, so you can leave it on for the games that draw a crowd and off for the games that do not.
Which games are easiest to watch?
In my view the ones with something to see. Draw and Guess is easy to follow because there is a picture to look at. Snakes and Ladders is easy too, since the board explains itself. A quiz is harder to watch, because the interest is in the answers, and the answers stay hidden until the reveal. Who's the Spy gives a watcher the least, because the secret is the whole game.
Judging the evening by who was bored
At the end of the night, ask the people who watched one game whether they felt part of it. If they say yes, your jobs worked. If they say they were waiting, shorten the games or add a seat by moving to a bigger one. The honest measure of a big night is the person who sat out longest, not the one who won.
Ahmed Moaz builds Boardit, a free browser game site.