bitcards
A downloadable game
Platform for multiplayer card games where the phone acts as the referee. Made as part of #bitjam
The game uses the camera and an embedded barcode scanner to work out which card is played, which card is drawn, and, by extension, which cards are in a player's hand.
It comes with two games Higher! and Memory. Memory is a single player game, Higher! is for 3 or more players. Both have downloadable instructions and cards that should be printed in addition to installing the app.
Download
Install instructions
Required Stuff
You'll need an Android phone, some friends (also with Android phones), and a printer to play the game.
Scanning
Your phone will need a camera. If your camera is particularly weak, you can try playing the game with the phone face-down as the rear camera tends to have better resolution. If you do decide to do this, you will probably want to tape some thick paper over your flash otherwise it will blind you.
The barcode scanner is not particularly robust, so it might need multiple attempts before it registers. Once a successful scan occurs, the screen will go red for 2 seconds, you should remove the card from in front of the camera at this point.
If you have trouble getting the camera to focus on a card without feedback, you can long press on the screen to see what the camera is seeing, which might help.
Making your own games
Each card contains the rules for your game hidden in the QR code, so you can make your own card games simply by creating and printing new games.Source code in case you need it or want to make your own cards/games
