Kestrel's Hall
Free board games in the browser. Play with friends by sending a link, or alone against the house. No accounts, no adverts, no timers, and nothing sold.
Wiz-War
Steal treasure. Blast through walls. Outwit your friends.
2 to 6 players · an unofficial rebuild of Tom Jolly's 1993 board game
Play at wizwar.kestrelsnest.social →
Waving Hands
Duelling wizards. Two hands each. The right run of gestures is a spell.
2 to 12 players · Richard Bartle's pencil-and-paper duel, 1977
Play at hands.kestrelsnest.social →
Hnefatafl
The Viking board game. One king, one throne, four corners, and a ring of attackers closing in.
2 players · the Norse tafl game, by the Copenhagen rules or Linnaeus's 1732 Tablut
Play at tafl.kestrelsnest.social →How a table works
- Open a table and you get a four-letter code and a link. Send it to a friend; they sit down and you begin.
- No one home? Every game seats the house: an automaton, a housecarl, a rival wizard. Play now, alone.
- Nothing to sign up for. Your browser holds your seat. Close the tab and come back; the game is where you left it.
- Watchers welcome. Anyone with the link can sit in the Peanut Gallery and, if the host allows, join the table talk.
- Something went wrong? Every table has a report button that reaches the keeper, pinned to the exact moment.
The keeper
I am Eric, and I keep these tables from Athens, Georgia. These are games I have loved at a real table, rebuilt so friends can play them from wherever they are, with the door left open for anyone who wanders in.
Send word to eric@ericwagoner.com, @kestrelsnest.social on Bluesky, or @eric@toots.kestrelsnest.social on Mastodon. I roost at blog.kestrelsnest.social.
The hosting
The games are free and will stay free. They run on small servers that cost a few dollars a month; anyone who wants to chip in toward the hosting can at ko-fi.com/kestrelsnest. Nothing is unlocked by it and nothing is withheld without it.