Zoom pilot · Help

A game night, wherever you are.

Four Card Golf uses Zoom for the conversation and our existing game for the cards. Each friend plays from their own private view.

Just want to play on a call? You do not need the Zoom app: choose Friends on the website, create a room and send its link to your friends. Everyone keeps their own cards on their own device.

Before you begin

This is a pilot, not a publicly approved Zoom Marketplace release. Everyone joining needs access to the pilot; an in-meeting invitation does not grant test access. Check that each friend can add and open the app before arranging your game. Use a current Zoom desktop app and sign in. Your organisation may need to approve apps before you can add them.

The pilot has been checked in Zoom on Mac. Windows and wider accessibility testing are still in progress. If your device or account cannot use the pilot, the website friends room works alongside your call instead.

Add Four Card Golf

  1. Open the Zoom game page. When pilot installation is available, choose Add the Zoom pilot.
  2. Review the permissions on Zoom’s own consent screen. Complete installation in the same browser.
  3. Choose Open in Zoom, then start or join a meeting.
  4. In the meeting, open Apps and select Four Card Golf.

Play together

  1. Choose a nickname. The first player chooses Classic or Extreme, 2–6 seats including themselves, and 1, 3 or 9 holes.
  2. Choose Invite friends in Zoom in the lobby, or Invite at the table, and select your friends. Inviting does not start screen sharing.
  3. Each friend opens the app in the same meeting, enters a nickname and chooses Join the table.
  4. Wait for all your friends to take a seat before starting. The table host can start once at least two players are seated, with computers filling any spare seats you choose.

Everyone in that meeting who has pilot access and opens the app finds the same table. Different meetings and breakout rooms have separate tables. This pilot uses one table per meeting or breakout room. Website room links do not join a Zoom table.

Keep private cards private

Do not share your screen or this app while playing. Everyone needs their own copy of the app. The pilot does not start Zoom’s shared-screen Collaborate mode. When Zoom reports that the app is being shared, the game hides its table; this cannot protect against every form of desktop recording or external screen capture.

Comfortable on a call

Sounds start off in Zoom so they do not interrupt the conversation. You can turn card sounds on from the table. Use Help for a quick rules reminder without leaving the game, and Card values for Extreme powers. In a narrow panel, the previous and next opponent buttons let you inspect every seat. The active computer’s hand is brought into view as its turn starts. Use Zoom’s Pop out control for a larger table.

Settings includes reduced animation and an untimed opening peek. Use Tab to move between controls and the visible Close or Back to the game button to dismiss help; Zoom may also react to Escape. Opening help does not pause the shared game. No advertisements are shown in the Zoom app.

A quick test with friends

Start with two people, Classic and one hole. Then try Extreme with a computer or two. This gives you a short first game and a chance to check the important bits:

  1. Join: check that invitations work and you both reach the same table under the correct nicknames.
  2. Private cards: each person should see only their own opening peek. Keep screen sharing off.
  3. Follow the action: take the only discard, replace a card, and watch any Extreme switches. Both players should see the same public moves.
  4. Finish: knock, watch the final turns, compare each hand with its score, then use Next and the final totals.
  5. Reconnect: between turns, have one person close the app for over two minutes while the other keeps the table open. Reopen it in the same meeting with the same account and reclaim the seat.
  6. Play again: try a rematch and, when comfortable, a three-hole game with more friends or computers.

If something feels confusing, that is useful feedback too. Use Report a problem in the table settings so the report includes the current game’s basic technical context.

If someone disconnects

A computer covers a disconnected seat after two minutes. Reopen the app, using the same Zoom account in the same meeting, and choose Take my seat back. Voluntarily leaving an active game hands the seat to a computer immediately. Moving to a different breakout room changes your table.

Something not working?

  • Not available to add: the pilot may not yet be activated for your account, or your organisation may block apps. Ask the person organising your test to check pilot access; no need to change your account’s security settings.
  • Start or join a meeting: open the game from the Apps button inside an active meeting, not just Zoom’s main window.
  • Table full or already started: ask the host to finish the match. The current pilot does not support spectators or replacing another player.
  • Installation expired: start again from the game’s installation button and complete it within ten minutes.
  • Connection interrupted: keep the app open while it reconnects. Report persistent errors from the table settings, or use the button below.

Something not right?

Tell us what you clicked and what you expected. Please don’t include personal information or your room link.

Includes recent error references and basic technical details, not your cards or reconnect cookie. Reports are kept for up to 30 days in the dashboard.

Contact HUGO.FM ↗

Tell us whether you were using Mac or Windows, your Zoom version, the game mode, the number of people and computers, and the last action before the problem. Do not include meeting links, passcodes, full names or private cards.

Remove the app

  1. Sign in to the Zoom App Marketplace.
  2. Open Manage, then Added Apps (or your app library).
  3. Select Four Card Golf and choose Remove.
  4. Confirm removal in Zoom.

This revokes the app’s Zoom authorisation. Other players can continue their game, with a computer covering your disconnected seat after two minutes. Removal does not immediately erase shared cards or scores: rooms expire after 48 hours without a saved game update and expired records are removed during routine cleanup. Request earlier deletion through the HUGO.FM contact form. Removing the Zoom app does not remove a separately saved website game or your browser preferences. You can keep playing on the website and add the pilot again if your account remains eligible.

Privacy and support

The game does not request access to your recordings, contacts, chat messages or audio/video streams. It verifies the current Zoom participant and meeting to assign the right seat and table. Our database keeps keyed, pseudonymous identifiers instead of raw Zoom IDs. Installation tokens are used transiently to open the app, not stored for ongoing account access. Zoom games use our server even when the other players are computers.

Read our Zoom privacy details, storage notice and pilot terms. For help or data requests, use HUGO.FM’s contact form. Please never send passwords, installation codes or private card details.