Thinnaiதிண்ணை/ How to play
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The house guide

How a night on the porch works.

One screen is the board, every phone is a seat. There’s nothing to install and no account for players — you knock, take a seat, and play. Every game banks porkasu that carries into your House Cup season.

1
Light the porch
Open thinnai on a TV or laptop. Your room gets a short code.
2
Take a seat
Everyone scans the QR on the TV (or opens the join page and types the code), then picks a colour + character.
3
Play for porkasu
The host picks a game from the menu. Phones become buzzers, sketchpads, dice, and ballots.
4
Bank the cup
Scores bank into your House Cup ledger — twelve weeks, one champion on the porch beam.
The TV is the stage
It shows what everyone should see — the board, the clock, the scores, the drama. It never shows a secret. The host controls it: pick the game, wrap it up, or head back to the menu.
Your phone is your hand of cards
Everything private lives here — your secret role, your answers, your ticket, your buzzer. Only you see your screen, which is what lets the porch play games that need a game master… without one.
Your first night — a one-hour lineup that always works
Three games, easy to hard on the social scale. The host just picks them off the menu in order.
Warm up · Thattu~15 min
Trivia gets every phone buzzing and teaches the room how seats, turns and porkasu work — with zero social risk.
Main event · Oorukkaaval~2 villages
Once everyone trusts their phone, hand it secrets. The accusations, the wrong banishments, the reveal — this is the night's story.
Cool down · Kirukkal~12 min
Everyone's laughing and loose — end on drawings so bad they get screenshotted.

Hidden roles

Secrets on your phone, arguments out loud — start your night here.
Oorukkaavalஊர்க்காவல்
4–8 · ~15 min
If you've played Mafia or Werewolf, this is that — a hidden Hunter stalks by night, the village debates and banishes by day. The phone deals every secret role and runs the night, so nobody sits out to moderate.
  1. 01Each player gets a secret role: Hunter (Puli), Healer (Maruthuvar), Seer (Jothidar), or Villager.
  2. 02By night the Hunter picks a victim, the Healer may shield someone, the Seer learns one player's side.
  3. 03By day everyone debates and votes one player out.
  4. 04Villagers win when every Hunter is gone; the Hunter wins when they equal the village.
Raja Mandhiriராஜா மந்திரி
4–8 · ~15 min
A King-Minister-Thief bluffing game (the classic Indian chit game). Each round, the Minister must spot the Thief.
  1. 01Every round deals secret roles — King (Raja), Minister (Mandhiri), Guard (Kaavalar), Thief (Thirudan)… each worth different porkasu.
  2. 02The King and Minister are announced; the Minister must pick the Thief out of the straight-faced suspects.
  3. 03Catch the Thief and everyone keeps their earnings; miss and the Minister and Thief swap fates.
  4. 04Most porkasu after the last round wins.

Trivia & words

Knowledge, wit, and a fast thumb.
Thattuதட்டு
2–8 · ~15 min
Jeopardy-style trivia across three rounds — a board of themed clues, and the fastest phone banks the coin (porkasu).
  1. 01Round 1 — warm-up: the board controller picks a clue; when the buzzers open, the first phone to tap answers from four choices. Right banks the coin and takes control; wrong loses it and opens the steal to everyone else.
  2. 02Round 2 — no fast fingers: everyone answers the clue privately on their phone at once. Every correct answer earns the full value — no penalty for a miss.
  3. 03Round 3 — the clutch: high-value clues, plus a hidden Daily Double (earned by whoever uncovers it) you can wager on.
  4. 04The night ends on a Final Round: everyone still in the money secretly wagers, then answers one hard clue.
Kindalகிண்டல்
3–8 · ~15 min
Daft fill-in-the-blank prompts. Write the funniest answer, then everyone votes.
  1. 01Each round you get a prompt on your phone with a blank to fill.
  2. 02Answers appear on the TV anonymously; everyone votes for their favourite (not their own).
  3. 03Votes become porkasu. Sweep every vote in a matchup for a bonus.
  4. 04A final everyone-answers-one-prompt round decides the wittiest of the night.

Draw & act

The room is the game — no typing required to have fun.
Kirukkalகிறுக்கல்
2–8 · ~12 min
Your phone is the sketchpad, the TV is the easel. Draw the secret word; the porch types its guesses.
  1. 01One player draws the secret word on their phone — it appears live on the TV. No letters or numbers allowed.
  2. 02Everyone else types guesses; the earlier you get it, the more you score.
  3. 03The artist banks points for every teammate who guesses right, so draw clearly.
  4. 04The chalk passes; everyone takes a turn at the board.
Charades
4–8 · ~15 min
Two teams, one actor, ninety seconds. The card is on your phone — no words, no lips, all limbs.
  1. 01Players split into two teams; the actor's phone shows a secret title (Kollywood, Hollywood, or an everyday scene).
  2. 02Act it out silently while your team shouts guesses aloud.
  3. 03Tap “They got it!” to score — a quick call earns a speed bonus. “Pass” if it's hopeless.
  4. 04Teams alternate actors; most points across the night wins.

Family night

Everyone plays, aunties included.
Tambolaதம்போலா
2–8 · ~15 min
Bingo (a.k.a. Housie). Private tickets on phones, the TV calls the numbers — every claim verified instantly, no caller and no arguments.
  1. 01Each phone gets a private 3×9 ticket. The TV calls numbers on a timer.
  2. 02Tap a number on your ticket to daub it once it's been called.
  3. 03Claim a prize the moment you complete it — Jaldi 5, a line, or the Full House.
  4. 04The server checks every claim; a bogus claim is called out and play goes on.

The old classics

The board-game favourites — a change of pace between the big games.
Paramapadhamபரமபதம்
2–8 · ~10 min
The original snakes & ladders. Ladders lift you, snakes swallow you — square 100 exactly wins.
  1. 01Everyone starts on the step. Tap to roll the die and climb the numbered board.
  2. 02Land at the foot of a ladder to leap up; land on a snake's head to slide down.
  3. 03Roll a six and you roll again.
  4. 04You must hit square 100 exactly — an overshoot stays put until your next turn.
Pallanguzhiபல்லாங்குழி
2–10 · ~10 min
Like Mancala — the Tamil classic. Two benches sow shells around a carved board; the fuller bank takes the night.
  1. 01Seats split into two benches, south and north — teammates take turns sowing for their side.
  2. 02On your sow, tap one of your side's pits. The shells sow one-per-pit around the board; an occupied next pit scoops and keeps the sow going.
  3. 03Any pit that lands on exactly four shells is a pasu — banked by that side on the spot, even mid-sow.
  4. 04If the pit after your last shell is empty, you capture the pit beyond it and the sow ends. When a bench runs dry, both sides sweep home — the fuller bank wins.
Dayakattaiதாயக்கட்டை
2–4 · ~15 min
Like Ludo, with old stick dice. Race two coins home to the centre — roll a 1 to set out, a capture sends a rival back.
  1. 01Roll the two stick dice on your turn. A thaayam (a stick showing 1) opens a coin from home and earns a bonus roll.
  2. 02Move a coin forward by the dice total, racing it around the board into the centre veedu.
  3. 03Land on an opponent's coin on a non-safe square and it goes home. The ✕ squares are safe.
  4. 04First to bring both coins home takes the night.
Sozhiசோழி
any · seconds
The house randomizer. Four cowrie shells settle who rolls first, who reads next, who fetches the snacks.
  1. 01Tap to toss four cowrie shells.
  2. 02The count of shells that land mouth-up picks a seat.
  3. 03Use it any time the night needs a fair coin flip, turn order, or a tiebreak.

Porch questions

The things everyone asks the host mid-game.
My phone locked / the app closed — am I out?
No. Open the same link again and you're back in your seat — the porch holds your chair while you reconnect, and your name, colour and score are all still yours.
Do we need to download anything or make accounts?
Never. It all runs in the phone's browser. The host opens the room; players just scan the QR or type the code.
How many people can play?
Ten seats on the porch. If more turn up, they can heckle from the couch — or watch the board from anywhere with the room's watch link.
My phone says “No TV on this porch”?
The code was probably mistyped — codes look like THN-7Q2. Tap “re-enter the code” and copy it carefully off the TV.
What's porkasu?
The porch coin. Every game pays it out, and it banks into your House Cup — a twelve-week ledger with one champion on the beam. Bragging rights only, but the bragging is the point.
Can we play the same game again?
Every finale has a “play again” — and Thattu picks from ten themed boards (or writes one on your topic), so trivia never repeats itself.
Sound
Every sound on the porch — the die tumble, the snake’s slide, the little cheer when a guess lands, and the soft looping night-time score that plays under it all (toggle with ♪ on the TV) — is generated live in your browser with the Web Audio API. There are no recordings and no samples, so there is nothing to license and no one to credit: it is all effectively public domain (CC0). The VOL slider on the TV controls everything.
That’s the whole porch.
Open a room on the nearest big screen and pull up a seat.
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