Why card games don't work on a TV, and how to fix it

Put a party game on the TV and the room gathers around it. Try the same with a card game and you hit a wall in the first minute: a card game is about what you can't see. The moment your hand is on the big screen, there's no game left.

That's why a card game on a TV usually ends up as one person playing while everyone else watches. It doesn't have to be that way. Everyone in the room already has a second screen in their pocket.

Split the game across two screens

Every card game has two kinds of information. Some of it belongs to the table: the cards in the middle, the pot or the score, whose turn it is. Some of it belongs to one player: the cards in their hand.

A TV is good at the first kind. It's big, everyone can see it, and it gives the room one place to look. A phone is good at the second kind. It's private, and it's already in your hand, the way a fan of cards would be.

So the TV is the table and the phone is your hand. That's the idea KARDX is built on. You open a table on the TV, everyone scans a code, and their cards arrive on their own phone. Nothing to install and no accounts to make.

What makes a card game good on a shared screen

Not every card game suits this. After building one and starting the next, here's what we look for.

The table is worth watching. In Texas Hold'em, five cards are turned face up in the middle and everyone builds their hand from them. The whole room reacts to the same card at the same moment. Games where everything interesting happens inside your own hand make for a quiet TV.

Turns are quick. A group loses interest when one person takes a minute to move. Games with a small set of choices on each turn (fold, call or raise; play or pass) keep the room in it. A turn clock helps too.

It's fine to be out of the hand. If you fold early in poker, you still want to see how the hand ends. A good group game is one that's fun to watch between your own turns.

People can come and go. Game nights are loose. Someone arrives late, someone leaves to answer the door. A game played hand by hand lets people sit in from the next deal without restarting anything.

The computer does the bookkeeping. Shuffling, dealing, counting chips, working out who won a split pot: none of that is the fun part. A screen-based game should take all of it off the table.

Games to try, by the size of your group

Two to twelve players: Texas Hold'em

Hold'em is the best fit we know of. It works with almost any number of players, the shared cards give the TV something to show, and a hand takes a couple of minutes. Beginners can play their first hand after a short explanation, and the chips are play money, so nobody has anything to lose.

It's the first game on KARDX, and you can open a table right now. If your group is new to it, Texas Hold'em for beginners covers the rules, and how to host a poker night covers the evening.

Short of players? Bots can fill seats. One person and a few bots is a good way to learn before the guests arrive.

Exactly four: Big Two

Big Two is a shedding game for four (there are versions for three, but KARDX deals four hands): 13 cards each, and the first to play them all wins. It's fast, a little cutthroat, and the middle of the table matters on every turn, because you have to beat what's there or pass. If you grew up with it you may know it as Choh Dai Di or Deuces.

It's the next game we're building for KARDX.

Games that need a real deck, for now

Plenty of great group card games aren't on KARDX. Hearts and Spades are trick-taking classics for four. President works from four players up, is best with five to seven, and gets loud. Crazy Eights works with children at the table. For these you'll want a real deck and a real table. A TV can still earn its place by keeping score.

Setting up the room

A few things we've learned from playing this way:

• A laptop plugged into the TV is the surest setup. A smart TV's own browser can work, but they vary.
• Sit where you can see the screen. There's no need to face each other. A couch and a couple of chairs is a card table now.
• Turn the sound on. Press Enable sound on the TV. Hearing the deal and the chips does a lot to make it feel like a table.
• Let people watch. Friends who don't want to play can follow the table on their phone and send reactions.

Try it

A card game works on a TV when the screen shows what the table shares and the phones hold what each player hides. Pick a game with quick turns and a middle worth watching, let the computer shuffle, and the couch does the rest.

To see it, open a Texas Hold'em table on your TV, have two friends join from their phones, and deal one hand. When the flop comes, look at the room instead of the screen: if everyone is looking at the same place at the same moment, the split is working.