How to start
- Open bigboard.games on every device and tap Start a table on one of them.
- The others join by themselves on the same Wi-Fi; elsewhere, scan the QR code or type the four-letter code.
- Lay the devices edge to edge, screens up, as the drawing shows, and pick the game.
Three goals on one rink
Three players need a rink with three ends. Lay the devices in a line, end to end, and the one in the middle turns sideways: its player sits at a long side and defends a goal there. Or make a T, a facing pair with the third device across their end, turned to face them.
Every player has a mallet and a goal at their own edge, and the puck crosses every seam where two screens meet. There is no safe pass in a three-way rink: a shot you block can rebound into the third goal as easily as back at the shooter.
Five lives, last one standing
Free-for-all is the usual three-player game. Everyone starts with five lives, and every goal you let in costs one, whoever shot it. At zero your goal is walled off, the felt says Out, and the puck bounces off where your goal was while the other two play on.
The last player with lives left wins. Comeback goals still apply when they are on: a player who has let in more than the others defends a narrower goal mouth, so whoever is down to one life is hard to finish off. With a fourth, 4 player air hockey adds teams to the choice.
A bot and a dropped device
Air hockey 2v2 takes four players, so three always play free-for-all. Two friends and a computer player work too: the bot takes the third seat, with a goal at the edge of the rink.
If a device drops out in free-for-all, its goal is walled off and the rest play on. When it was the middle of a line, the rink closes up over the gap, so the two ends meet across one seam.
3 players: questions and answers
Does each player start with 5 lives?
Yes, in free-for-all every goal you let in costs one of five.
Is a player at zero lives walled off?
Yes, their goal closes and the puck bounces off it while the others play on.
Can three play in teams?
No, teams take four players; three always play free-for-all.
Can the phones lie in a T?
Yes, a line or a T: two facing, the third across their end.