Hotseat or hot seat is a
multiplayer mode provided by some
turn-based video games, which allows two or more players to play on the same device by taking turns playing the game. The term was first used as a reference to playing a PC game and trading seats with the other player, but the mode dates back to
early 1980s arcade games.
A notable example of games that use this mode is the ''
Heroes of Might and Magic'' series, which allows up to 8 players to play locally on the same computer.
Hotseat multiplayer has also seen prominence on some
console video games, especially certain multiplayer games that are intended to be family-friendly, within the
party genre, or both. For example, the
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
games ''
Wii Sports'' and ''
Wii Sports Resort'' have certain sports, such as golf, that require its competitors to take turns. Players share a
Wii Remote, the system's
controller
Controller may refer to:
Occupations
* Controller or financial controller, or in government accounting comptroller, a senior accounting position
* Controller, someone who performs agent handling in espionage
* Air traffic controller, a person ...
, which the current player has possession of during a turn.
Hotseat play allows players to play a multiplayer game with only one copy of the game on only one device. Since hotseat play is usually defined as turn-based by nature, the duration of a game may extend beyond that of a comparable real-time networked multiplayer game where each player can take action at the same time. Some games allow hotseat and networked players to compete with each other in the same game, while maintaining turn-based play. In those cases, hotseat enables players to play on fewer than physical computers.
See also
*
Play-by-mail game
*
Split screen gaming
References
Video game gameplay
Esports terminology
Multiplayer hotseat games
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