How your phone works as a controller
The game always runs on one device with you, the host, and every phone talks to it: directly on the same Wi‑Fi, otherwise through our relay server at gathergames.de, which only passes messages along.
The host runs the game
The Apple TV – or, without a TV, an iPhone, iPad or Mac – knows the whole game state: who holds which cards, whose turn it is, what’s allowed. It checks every move against the rules and sends each device the part of the game it’s allowed to see.
Your phone sends input
When you tap a card, type an answer or steer in Corner Chaos, your phone sends just that input to the host. You see the result on the game table and on your phone.
Secrets stay on your phone
Your role in Village at Night, your dice in Little Max or the clue giver’s key card in Cover Word appear only on your own phone. The TV shows what everyone is allowed to see.
Finding and connecting
The host announces itself on the Wi‑Fi via Bonjour. That’s how the Gather app finds it on its own, as long as you’ve allowed local network access. If the host is online, it also registers its room with our relay server; the QR code then shows gathergames.de/join/ with the room code, otherwise its Wi‑Fi address.
Without the app, the QR code opens the browser controller. On the same Wi‑Fi the host serves this page itself; through gathergames.de it comes from our website – either way with nothing to install and no account.