About Sofa Showdown

Sofa Showdown is a collection of party games for people in the same room. One laptop or computer hosts the game on a TV, and everybody else plays from their own phone. There is no console to buy, no app to download and no controller to pass around. The host picks a game, a four-letter room code appears on the big screen, and friends type that code on their phones to join.

We built it because the best nights we know happen on a sofa, with friends shouting at a TV. Party games are at their best when everyone can join in within a minute, including the friend who does not own a console and the relative who has never played a video game. A phone and a web browser are all that takes.

What you can play

The shelf currently holds 18 games across three categories. Party & Social games are about writing, drawing, voting and reading your friends. Brain Teasers are quizzes, word races and puzzles. Live Action games get you off the sofa with your phone’s microphone and motion sensors. Every game has its own page with rules, scoring and host tips. Browse all games, or read our guides for help planning a night.

Gameplay is currently free. Players join with a room code and a nickname, with no account needed, and hosting does not currently require signing in either. An account is optional and is used to manage existing account or billing details.

Where the money goes

Sofa Showdown gives 100% of its profits to the Hayward Animal Shelter in Hayward, California. Here is what that means plainly. After covering the costs of running the service, which are payment processing, development, tools, promotion and hosting, every dollar left over from existing paid plans goes to the shelter. Not a percentage. All of it.

We tally profits every six months and donate the full amount. We will re-evaluate where we contribute after each year.

Why a shelter? We are huge animal lovers and volunteer at the shelter, and we felt this would be a good way to help and to get the community involved, and to have some fun along the way. You can also support the shelter directly through the link above.

How ads fit in

We want the games to stay free. Advertising may help with that in the future. If we turn ads on, they will appear only on content pages like this one, the game guides and the homepage. Ads will never appear during gameplay, on the join screen, in the lobby or on the TV while a game is running. Right now, no ads are shown anywhere on the site. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle data.

What we care about

We care about games that are easy to start and hard to forget. That means short rules, quick rounds and moments that make a room laugh. It means games that work for the quiet guest as well as the loud one. And it means respecting your time: no downloads, no sign-ups for players and no waiting around for a controller.

We keep improving the shelf. Some games are marked as under construction while they get polished, and games come and go as we learn what groups enjoy. If something breaks, or you have an idea for a game, we genuinely want to hear about it.

Get in touch

Questions, bug reports and game ideas are all welcome. Visit our Contact page to reach us. You can also read our Terms of Service.

Thanks for playing.