What is Hot Potato?
Hot Potato is a party game for two to four devices. The screens on the table become one field, and each player's own screen is their zone. One steaming potato slides from screen to screen, right across the seams.
Each player has a fuse, counting down big in the middle of their screen. It burns only while the potato is on their screen, so the whole game is getting rid of it.
How a match goes
Touch the potato and flick it toward another screen. It slides, bounces off the edges and crosses wherever two screens meet. A potato that stops on your screen is still yours.
When your fuse hits zero, poof: you're cooked and out, and a fresh potato drops onto someone else's screen. The last one standing wins; with two players, the first one cooked loses.
It gets hotter as you play: every so often the fuses burn faster and the potato slides farther.
Power-ups show up on the screens: a slingshot that launches the potato at full speed, double trouble that drops a second potato on someone else for a few seconds, and ice that stops your fuse.
What you need
2 to 4 devices: phones, tablets or a mix, iPhone and Android together, laid flat with their edges touching.
Each device shows its own part of the field, upright for the player holding it.
Ways to play
- Hot potato
- One potato, power-ups, and a fuse of 12, 20 or 30 seconds, picked before the match.
Why it's fun at a table
It's the party game everyone already knows, played on the phones on the table: loud, quick, and over in about a minute.
The seam is the best part: your flick leaves your screen and lands on your friend's a moment later, fuse ticking.
Everyone plays at once, so nobody waits for a turn, and Rematch starts the next round at the same table.
Hot Potato: questions and answers
Can I play Hot Potato on two phones?
Yes. Any two to four devices work: phones, tablets or a mix. Push them together, screens up, and the potato slides from one to the next.
Can I play it alone?
No. Hot Potato needs two to four devices: the potato has to have somewhere to go.
How long is a match?
About a minute or two. The fuses burn faster as the match goes on, so it never drags.
What if a device drops out mid-match?
The match pauses on every device while it reconnects. With three or four devices, the rest can play on without it; with two, the match ends if it doesn't come back.
Is it free?
Yes. Open bigboard.games in the browser on each device; there's no app and no sign-up.