Shared Board Game Timer

The Shared Game Timer is a board game timer (a.k.a. turn timer) that can help keep board games from running too long. The idea is simple—track how long each player is taking. Simply knowing that one's time is tracked is often enough to keep players from falling into Analysis Paralysis.

There are many board game timers out there, but the Shared Game Timer has quite a few unique features.

Multi-Device Syncing ⭐ Admin Timer ⭐ Rounds ⭐ Player Order ⭐ Pause ⭐ Undo ⭐ Remote Controls, Presentation Mode, Speech Synthesis ⭐ Analysis Paralysis Alert ⭐ Wake Lock ⭐ Online Gaming & Chrome Extension ⭐ Track VP and Money ⭐ Score Sheet

⭐ Multi-Device Syncing

Most other game timers work only on a single phone, forcing players around a table to either reach across the board to end their turn, or the phone is handed from person to person, or worse, some unfortunate player is 'in charge of the timer'.

With the Shared Game Timer, each player has their own phone with a view of the timer and ability to do things like end their turn, pass their round etc. All phones are updated whenever something changes (usually within a second).

Too many phones cluttering the table? No problem. Players can share phones.

⭐ Admin Timer

If a game has 'admin' tasks, e.g. cleanup between rounds, when it isn't really anyone's turn, you can activate Admin Time, which is a separate timer that tracks how much time is spent on, well, admin.

⭐ Rounds

Games can be set to have rounds. Once a round ends, it automatically activates Admin Time giving you time to change player order, clean up, etc. Rounds can end in a few different ways, configured during game creation.

⭐ Change Player Order

In many games, turn order may change throughout the game, and reflecting this in the Shared Game Timer is easy.

⭐ Pause

You can pause the game, say when the pizza arrives. Unlike Admin Time, this time isn't tracked or accounted for in the final game total.

⭐ Undo

Did you accidentally press the wrong button? Simply undo. Whoever's turn it was before resumes as if you had never touched that button.

⭐ Remote Controls, Presentation Mode, Speech Synthesis

You can control the timer using cheap Bluetooth remote controls. This makes it possible to put the phones away completely and enjoy your board games with no digital screens cluttering your gaming table.

One device should remain visible so players can see whose turn it is. The Presentation Mode makes this device visible at a distance, so you can move it off-table, perhaps to a nearby window or shelf.

Finally, activate the Speech Synthesizer and the device will call out the name of players when it is their turn, further removing the need to look at any screen.

⭐ Analysis Paralysis Alert

You can choose to have a 'tick tock' sound play after a specified amount of time to kick players out of Analysis Paralysis.

Multiple alerts may be configured for different times. If you use the Voice Synthesizer, then the turn time (in minutes) is spoken out loud instead of the 'tick tock'.

⭐ Wake Lock

If you use the timer on a phone, you can tell it to keep the screen on so you don't have to unlock your phone all the time.

⭐ Online Gaming and the Chrome Extension

The timer works great for online gaming like Tabletopia or Tabletop Simulator.

There is even a Chrome Extension that will put an overlay of the timer over the game allowing you to control the timer without taking your eyes off the action.

⭐ Track VP and Money

You can track Victory Points and Money using the timer. This is meant primarily for online games where handling VP and money tokens with the mouse can be tedious. As such, it is fully integrated into the Chrome Extension.

⭐ Score Sheet

When a game is finished, you can choose to fill out a score sheet. You can quickly add scoring categories that are then available for all players to fill in, and the timer sums up the final score.