A Conference Game Has Five Seconds to Make Sense

Nobody at a conference came to play a game, and most of them aren't gamers. They came for the talks and the people, and you have interrupted that. So a game that works in that room is held to a stricter standard than anything you'd play with friends on a couch.

I like hosting events, and these are the things we've noticed.

Five seconds

People look up from a conversation, glance at the screen, and decide. If they can't tell what is happening in about five seconds, they go back to the conversation. So the game has one thing to do and one score. Draw a loop to steal paper. Pick the lowest number nobody else picked. If it needs a slide of rules, it won't work here.

It also has to be fun straight away, because nobody is going to give it a second round out of politeness. And keep it short. A round should be over before anyone's attention is.

It helps to say one sentence about what people are going to see before it starts. Then stop talking and let them figure it out. If the game fits the room, they will.

The phone is the controller

The people who do want to play are looking at their phone. A QR code goes up on the big screen, they scan it, and a few seconds later they are in the game with their name on it. The controls should be as easy as you can make them: one thumb, one thing to do, and no instructions, because nobody will read them. There is no app and no account, and they type nothing. If joining takes longer than a round, they're gone.

Some people won't scan a QR code from a screen they don't know, and they're right to be careful. Reassure them before you ask. Say what it opens: a plain web page in their browser, with nothing to download, no account and no card. When the round is over they close the tab and it's gone. Keep the address next to the code for anyone who'd rather type it.

Most of the room is only watching

Most people in the room will never scan the code. They are the audience, and the screen is for them. It has to be a show: the whole crowd on one canvas, a camera that follows whoever is winning, a podium at the end.

What it can never be is a lobby. A screen that says "waiting for players" to a full room has already lost it. Spectators don't want to wait, and they don't want to be bored while the game sorts itself out.

What that looks like

The clearest example I have is Inkline XXL. On the laptop plugged into the projector you press Present. A QR code fills the corner of a big sheet of paper. Phones scan it, tap Ready, and a little painter with their name pops onto the paper, so the screen is already alive before anyone presses Start. Then it's 45 seconds of up to 63 people closing loops and stealing each other's paper, while the camera tours the leaders for everyone watching. Podium, and go again with whoever walked in since.

A clip of people using it at an event:

Every game that works this way on antics is at antics.gg/games/conferences: a presenter view for the room, phones as controllers, nothing to install.

If you're making one

Design for that room from the first prompt. The phone is the controller and the screen is the show. Assume the players aren't gamers, five seconds of attention, one gesture, a round under a minute, and a spectator view that is never a waiting screen. Build the audience's view first and the player's view second. Most games are built the other way round, and it shows the moment they go up on a projector.

If you've got a talk or an offsite coming up and want a game on the screen, the list is above. If you'd rather make your own, start here.