zihanlei/hokus-pokers

Hokus Pokers is a real time, multiplayer Texas Hold'em poker game that runs in a web browser. Up to 12 players can join a table at once, and the host can run either a private game with a password or an open public one. All the actual game logic, cards, betting rounds, and chip counts, lives on the Node.js server rather than in each player's browser, so no player can tamper with the outcome of a hand. The game covers the full set of standard poker mechanics: blinds, betting rounds, going all in, side pots, and showdown at the end of a hand. A host can kick players, edit anyone's chip count between hands, change the room password, turn player rebuys on or off, and adjust the maximum number of seats. There is also a spectator mode where people can watch a table without playing, and can request to join if the host approves. A turn timer with a visible countdown will automatically fold a player's hand if they take too long to act, and the interface includes a chat panel and floating emoji reactions above a player's seat, similar to reactions on a livestream. On the technical side, the backend is Node.js with Express, real time updates are handled with Socket.IO, and the frontend is plain JavaScript, HTML, and CSS with no framework involved. Sound effects are generated directly through the Web Audio API rather than using external audio files. Game rooms and player data are kept only in memory, meaning everything resets if the server restarts, which the README describes as fitting for a lightweight demo rather than a persistent production service. Setting it up requires Node.js version 18 or higher. After cloning the repository, running npm install and then npm start brings the game up on localhost, ready to open in a browser and start hosting or joining a table.