What we do
We are lifting board games into the 21st century - digital & accessible for visually impaired & blind people. But don't misunderstand: We don't make digital games especially for people with visual impairments. We develop entertaining games that can easily be played together by both sighted and visually impaired & blind people.
Why are we doing this?
Unfortunately, comparatively little consideration is given to the quite large group of 83 million blind people in the world in the field of entertainment. Nowadays it has become very easy to take visually impaired people into account in the development process.
Here we close a gap in which we create with the help of voice-over & other text readers from entertaining card and dice games to complex role-playing games an offer with which exciting and funny game evenings are no longer reserved only for sighted people.
How did we come up with the idea?
Marc's uncle has been completely blind since the age of seven. When I saw how he uses the iPhone, I was very impressed. Apple is an absolute pioneer in the area of accessibility and should be a role model for many in this field. So why not start with providing more accessibility in the field of entertainment as well?
What else makes our games stand out?
Couchgames.wtf games are designed to be played during a cozy sit-in or even cool party. To play, each player only needs a smartphone and one of the players needs to have an account with us or the app installed. With this, he can open a game and invite all his friends easily via WhatsApp, SMS or carrier pigeon. All other players can simply play the game using the pre-installed default browser. Visually impaired players still activate the accessibility mode on the start page and off they go! A smart TV can replace the analog board on the table and display the current game. So you can get even the most reluctant gamers to play without any big hurdles!
Of course, in times of pandemics and curfews, our games can also be played remotely. All you need is a software that takes over the communication part. We invite all players to our great Discord server, where we also offer support for questions and problems. You can find the link here: www.couchgames.wtf/contact
All games are available in English, German and Spanish.
Our Second Game...
...is called "No Clue" and has been available free of charge in the AppStores since 28/08/21. It is an unusual quiz game in which you are asked crazy guessing questions: How far was the Voyager 2 probe from Earth on July 19, 2021? Or how many tons of garbage are produced worldwide every year? You log in your answer. When every player has done that, you see the answers of every player. You select the supposed worst answer and then get points for the best answer and for correctly identifying the worst answer. Of course, you can also spend a little money in our apps. For example, to get more questions, or to hide the ads.
Feedback from the visually impaired community
I just finished my first self-initiated No Clue game with 4 decks and against my brat. I lost, but I still think the game is just great! Great also because everything is designed super accessible for blind and visually impaired and on the other hand is also kept attractive for sighted people.
Even completely blind, I wish for many more games on this great accessibility level. Great, dear people of Couch Games! Please keep it up!
- Martin, 62, completely blind
Watch the Space! My Little Secrets was a lot of fun. I'm happy to volunteer as a tester when it comes to the poker app.
- Robbie, from the DBSV youth magazine in the podcast
Who are we?
York Burkhardt (34) and Marc Hinz-van Schwamen (34) were both born in Langenhagen. We played together in the soccer club since we were 6 years old, went to school together and now also work for the same employer in IT. During the time in the 7th grade we started to do LAN parties. When others spent their nights gambling, we sat down next to each other and developed a passion that led us to the foundation of couchgames.wtf today: developing games. Couchgames.wtf is a part-time project and is completely financed & operated by us from our own private funds and a lot of hard work.
What's next?
Now we're setting out to start a real revolution in a very established area of card gaming. We're launching an inclusive poker app that digitizes the experience of playing real-life poker. This is all about playing together with friends - without real money stakes in our app. If you are interested, you can follow us on our social media. There we will always keep you up to date.
Our vision is to become a digital game publisher and work with great game creators to bring great games to the market in digital and accessible formats for visually impaired & blind people. We also want to set a new standard for accessibility in games for the visually impaired.
marc.hinz-vanSchwamen@couchgames.wtf
www.couchgames.wtf
+491608900246