The phones are the board
Most party games for phones put the game on a TV and turn the phones into controllers. Here there's no TV: the phones lie flat on the table, edge to edge, and together they are the board. The puck, the potato or the moles travel from one person's screen to the next, so everyone watches the middle of the table instead of a screen on the wall.
That makes it easy anywhere there's a table: a kitchen, a café, a train with a tray, a family dinner. Nobody installs anything, and nothing needs plugging in.
Short rounds, loud rooms
These are the fast ones. A fuse in the hot potato game for 4 lasts 12, 20 or 30 seconds and burns faster as the match heats up. An air hockey duel runs to 5, 7 or 11 goals, and with more players everyone gets five lives. 4 player snake holds up to 12 snakes, bots included, with a border closing in. Whack-a-Mole sends every bopped mole straight to someone else's screen.
Tilt Run is the calm counterweight: everyone tilts their own phone to pass one marble round the table, and the whole group wins or loses together.
Bigger groups
A table holds up to four devices, and several people can share one: most of these games seat up to 12 players, bots included. Someone arriving late opens bigboard.games, joins the table and plays the next round.
Two people can share a phone in every game here, a goal, a zone or a joystick each (in Tilt Run they hold one tilt together), so six friends fit on three phones without anyone waiting a turn. Everyone needs only a browser: no app, no account and nothing to pay.
Questions
Do we need a TV?
No, the phones lie on the table and are the board.
Are the rounds short?
Yes, a Hot Potato fuse lasts 12, 20 or 30 seconds and burns up to three times faster as the heat rises.
Is it good for a family game night?
Yes, kids and grown-ups play at one table, and Tilt Run is co-op, so nobody loses alone.
Is it a free Jackbox alternative?
Yes, if what you want is everyone playing from their own phone with no TV, no app and nothing to buy. It plays differently: the phones lie together as the board instead of acting as controllers.