Frequently Asked Questions
About the site
Is gamingrooms.net really free?
Yes, completely free. No ads, no premium tier, no in-game purchases. The site is a hobby project and runs on a free Cloudflare Pages plan with a free Supabase backend; there is no incentive or infrastructure to monetise it. If a game becomes too expensive to host on the free tier, the most likely outcome is removing the game, not introducing payments.
Do I need to sign up or create an account?
No account needed. Type your name, pick an avatar, create or join a room with a 6-character code, and play. The site uses anonymous Supabase auth behind the scenes so the database can tell players apart, but there is no email, password, profile, or login screen.
What games are available right now?
Seven multiplayer party games. Each links to its own page (where you can create or join a room) and to the deep-dive blog article on its history and rules:
- SpyRoom — hidden-spy social deduction · history · how to play
- Hokm — Iranian trick-taking card game · rules · history
- Shelem — Iranian bidding card game · rules · history
- Mafia — social deduction with night/day cycles · rules · history
- Pantomime — charades / silent miming · rules · history
- Taboo — forbidden-word guessing · rules
- Categories — Stadt Land Fluss / Esm Famil / Şehir İsim Eşya / Scattergories · history
How many players can play together?
Each game has its own range. Hokm and Shelem are 4 players (bots fill empty seats). Mafia is 5 to 15. SpyRoom and Categories are 2 to 8. Pantomime and Taboo are 2 or more (we cap at a sensible upper bound per game). The lobby tells you the minimum and maximum for whatever room you create.
How do I invite friends?
Every room has a 6-character code shown prominently in the lobby. Friends can type that code on the home page of the same game, or you can tap Share link (uses the Web Share API on mobile or copies to clipboard on desktop) or Show QR to scan straight into the room. Both produce an invite URL that opens the join page automatically.
What languages does the site support?
Most games support English, Persian (Farsi), German, Arabic, Turkish, Hindi and Chinese. A few exceptions: Categories skips Chinese because its alphabet does not match the game mechanic. The blog and this FAQ are available in all seven languages — switch via the globe icon in the top-right corner.
Do I need to install anything?
No installation required. Everything runs in the browser. If you want a one-tap experience, you can install the site as a Progressive Web App (PWA) from your phone's browser menu: Add to Home Screen on iOS Safari, or the install prompt on Android Chrome. It launches in standalone mode (no browser address bar) like a native app, with per-game shortcuts on Android.
Does it work on iPhone?
Yes, fully. One iOS quirk: the PWA install only works from Safari (an Apple limitation, not ours). If you opened the site in Chrome on iPhone, the install banner will tell you to switch to Safari first.
Can I play offline?
The shell of the site (HTML, CSS, JS, fonts, character avatars) is cached for offline viewing, so the home page loads even without connectivity. The games themselves need an internet connection because every move syncs through Supabase realtime to the other players. Offline-only solo modes are not currently supported.
About the individual games
What is Hokm?
Hokm is the most popular Iranian trick-taking card game — 4 players in 2 fixed teams (partners sit across), 13 tricks per round, and a Hakem who calls the trump suit before play starts. First team to a configurable target (5, 7 or 9 round-points) wins the game. A 7-0 sweep ("saaz") is worth 2 points instead of 1. Read the deep-dive history or complete rules.
What is Shelem?
Shelem is Hokm's bidding cousin — same 4 players in 2 teams, but each round opens with an auction starting at 100 points where the highest bidder commits to scoring at least that many points to keep their bid. There is also a 4-card talon (gol) the winning bidder picks up. Full rules: Shelem rules.
What is Spyfall (SpyRoom)?
SpyRoom is the online port of Spyfall — 3 to 8 players, each one secretly assigned the same location except one player who is the spy. Players take turns asking each other questions to figure out who the spy is, while the spy tries to deduce the location without giving themselves away. 8-minute timer per round. History · how to play.
What is Mafia?
Mafia is the classic social deduction game with alternating night and day phases. 5 to 15 players are secretly assigned roles (mafia, civilians, doctor, detective, and so on), the mafia kills one civilian per night, and the village votes on who to lynch during the day. Last team standing wins. Our online version handles role assignment, the secret night-phase actions and the public day-phase voting. Rules · all roles explained.
What is Pantomime?
Pantomime is the silent-miming party game known as charades in English, پانتومیم in Persian, and many other names worldwide. One player acts out a word or phrase silently while the others guess. Our version supports both solo and team modes, with a built-in 3000-word catalog and the option for teams to write each other's words. History.
What is Taboo?
Taboo is the forbidden-words party game: you describe a word to your team without using any of the five taboo words listed alongside it. Race against the clock, score one point per correct guess, lose a point if you slip up. Rules.
What is Categories?
Categories is the universal letter-and-list party game played independently in many cultures: Stadt Land Fluss in Germany, اسم فامیل (Esm Famil) in Iran, Şehir İsim Eşya in Turkey, اسم بلاد جماد in the Arab world, Name Place Animal Thing in India, Scattergories in the US. Random letter, race to fill name / city / country / animal / food per round. Cross-scoring decides the points. Full history of every regional version.
Playing the games
Why does Categories have cross-scoring instead of a host who decides?
Because the loudest-voice-wins kitchen-table version of Categories causes more arguments than scoring. In our digital version, each round every player is automatically assigned to judge ONE other player's answers (rotation: player i is judged by player i−1). Each judge only marks invalid answers with ×. The 5/10 split (duplicate vs unique) is then automatic from everyone's answers — the judge never decides point values directly.
Can I play Hokm against bots?
Yes. Any empty seat in a Hokm room can be filled with a bot by the host. Bots play card-following rules correctly, lead reasonable openings, and let you practice or fill out a 4-player table when you only have 1–3 humans available. Bots are clearly marked in the lobby with a robot avatar.
I refreshed the page or lost connection. Will I lose my game?
No. Every game writes its current state to the database, and the room code is saved in your browser's localStorage. Returning to the home page shows a Resume banner ("You're in a game!") that takes you back into the same room you left. Works after refresh, after closing the browser, even after switching devices if you stay signed in to the same anonymous session.
Are my game stats tracked?
Yes — locally on your device only. Tap View stats on the home page to see how many games you've played and won per game. Hokm tracks extra detail (rounds played, sweeps, hakem-frequency, hakem-win rate). All counts live in your browser's localStorage and are never uploaded — clearing your browser data resets them.
Why is my friend not showing up in the lobby?
Most common reason: they are joining a different game's room. Categories' code "ABC123" only works on the Categories page; Hokm's "ABC123" only on the Hokm page. The codes are namespaced per game. Make sure they opened the same game you did, then either typed the code or used your invite link.
Privacy and data
What data do you collect?
The minimum needed to make the games work: an anonymous Supabase user id (no email, no password), the room code, your chosen display name and avatar id, and the game state needed to render the table for every player. Personal stats (games played / won) are stored locally on your device only and never uploaded.
Where is my data stored?
Realtime game state lives in Supabase, hosted in Frankfurt, Germany (EU region, GDPR-applicable). Game rooms are deleted from the database shortly after the host leaves or all players disconnect; persistent identifiers are limited to the anonymous user id which is rotated when you clear browser data.
Is the site safe to use? Does it set tracking cookies?
No third-party advertising or social-media trackers. The only analytics is Cloudflare's privacy-respecting page-view counter. We do show a consent banner the first time you visit so you can opt out of even that.
Technical
Where are the servers? Will it work in my country?
The site itself is served from Cloudflare's global CDN (low latency from almost anywhere on the planet). The realtime database is Supabase in Frankfurt, Germany. Most countries can reach the site without a VPN; Iranian players should generally be able to connect, though network conditions vary by ISP.
How do I report a bug or suggest a feature?
The site is a hobby project — open an issue on the GitHub repository, or message the maintainer directly. New games, new translations, and bug fixes are all welcome contributions.
Ready to play?
Pick a game on the home page and create a room — the lobby walks you through everything.
Browse all games