Board Game Timer
Give each player a time bank for the whole game, chess clock style. Only the player whose turn it is loses time, and one tap hands the clock to the next seat.
Chart
Settings: players, time, names
How to use the board game timer
Choose 2 to 8 players and the minutes on each clock in Settings (10 minutes each by default), and type the players' names if you like. Tap the big clock, or press Space, to start the first player's time. At the end of a turn, tap again and the time bank of the next player starts running while yours stops. The tiles below show every player's remaining time, and the current player's tile is dark.
Turn order in many games is not a simple circle. Tap any tile to hand the clock straight to that player. Pause stops every clock during a rules discussion or a snack break, and Undo gives back the last hand-over, including the time.
Prefer a fixed time for each turn? The turn timer does that. For a two-player game with presets such as 5+0, open the chess clock.
Time banks, bonus time and running out
A time bank is the total thinking time a player has for the whole game. It only goes down while it is that player's turn. With Seconds added after each turn above 0, a player gets that many seconds back each time they end a turn, which keeps a long game moving without punishing quick players.
When a bank reaches zero a horn sounds. What happens next is your choice in Settings: Keep counting below zero shows the overtime with a minus sign so the group can settle it later, and That player is out and skipped ends their turn at once and leaves them out of the rotation. Beeps in the last 10 seconds warn the player first; set that to 0 to turn them off.
The stats table lists each player's turns, average turn, longest turn, total time used and time left, and the chart shows the minutes used per player.
Keyboard shortcuts
- Space or Enter: pass the turn to the next player (the first press starts the first turn)
- 1 to 9: give the turn to that player
- P: pause or resume
- U or Ctrl+Z: undo
- N: new game
- F: full screen
- M: sound on or off
Holding a key down passes only once.
Questions
What is a good amount of time per player?
It depends on the game and the group, so there is no rule here. Many groups start with a generous bank, see who runs short, and adjust next time. The stats table shows the average turn per player to help you decide.
Can I change the minutes in the middle of a game?
Changing the minutes or the seconds added per turn starts the clocks again from full with the new time. A toast lets you undo it if that was a mistake.
Does it keep time if the browser is closed?
Yes. The running clock is worked out from the time the turn started, so closing the tab or refreshing the page loses nothing. Your players and times are saved in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere.
Can I share the setup with my game group?
Press Share link to copy a link with the number of players, their names and the time settings. Opening it offers to load that setup with full clocks.
More in Scores and games
Put this board game timer on your website
Free for classrooms, clubs, blogs and shops: paste this code into any page. It works the same inside your site, and counts stay in each visitor's own browser. For a dark version, add ?theme=dark after /board-game-timer/ in the code.