car-game
Pre-launch — in active development

A game console for the back seat. No WiFi at home required — the car is the network.

car-game is a small offline device that turns the back seat into a local game lobby. It broadcasts its own WiFi network, just like in-flight WiFi — join with any phone or tablet, no app to install, no account to create, no internet connection needed to play.

Illustration of a glass-panelled game interface glowing on a tablet mounted in the back of a car at night
Live screenshot — the running app Screenshot of the AutoSpel lobby running on a phone: two players in the waiting room with their ready status, and the Ik ben klaar button
What it is

One device, its own network, a lobby full of games

The device — a small single-board computer — hosts the game server and every game asset itself. It is not peer-to-peer, and it never depends on a phone signal, home WiFi, or a cloud account. Everything needed to play already lives on the device.

Joins like in-flight WiFi

The device broadcasts its own network. Connect a phone or tablet the same way you'd join airplane WiFi — a captive portal opens automatically and the game lobby loads.

Nothing to install

No app store, no download, no account, no password. Everything runs in the browser that's already on the device you brought.

Fully offline

No internet is needed to play — the car doesn't need signal, and neither do you. An internet connection is only ever used, opportunistically, for background software updates.

Who it's for

Families with kids roughly 4 to 14

The driver is deliberately not a player — that's what makes drawing games, arcade rounds, and screen-focused play possible in the first place. A realistic session is two to six riders, dropping in and out as kids doze off or a fuel stop happens.

Klein (4–7)

Playable without being able to read — icons, pictures, color and audio carry the game. Nobody is left behind by not knowing the rules on sight.

Groot (8–14)

More depth, more reading, more strategy — games built for older kids without talking down to them. Mixed groups get age-agnostic "bridge" games that work for everyone at once.

The flagship game

Draw & guess — a scribble and a skilled drawing both work

It's the heart of the catalogue because it's naturally age-agnostic: a four-year-old's scribble and a fourteen-year-old's drawing are both fair game to guess. Five variants are designed, including a classic guess-the-drawing mode, an evocative "Dixit"-style prompt round, a telephone-game chain, a bluffing mode, and a copy-the-reference mode. Winning is about creativity and luck, not who's oldest.

Beyond draw & guess, the catalogue is still being built out across categories like fast-social party rounds, luck-based co-op arcade play, memory, and word games — each tagged with an age range and a motion-comfort level so a family can dial the mix to what actually works for their kids.

The visual bar

Built to look premium, not like a toy

Jewel-toned glassmorphism throughout: a slowly shifting mesh background, frosted glass cards, iridescent gradient buttons, and custom line-art icons everywhere — no emoji, no generic clipart. It's a deliberate constraint, not a nice-to-have, and it applies from the youngest player's icon-only screens up through the most detail-heavy stats view.

Design mockup — this screen is not built yet Screenshot of the AutoSpel scores mockup showing a trip scoreboard and points-per-category bars

Where things actually stand: this is a pre-launch project. A single prototype device exists; the design and one working game mockup are further along than the production hardware and software. The screenshot above is a real, working interface mockup — not a finished, shipping game. Nothing here is available to buy yet.

Curious how it actually connects?

The onboarding page walks through the real, designed connection flow — join the WiFi, let the captive portal open, pick a game.

Read the onboarding flow