Hotseat or hot seat is a multiplayer mode provided by some computer games and video games (usually turn-based games), which allows two or more players to play on the same computer using the same single set of input devices (e.g. mouse and keyboard), by taking turns using the input devices. The name hotseat comes from the fact that in order to use the input devices, the players will sometimes take turns sitting in the seat where the input devices are located.

For example, the PC game Master of Orion II is controlled using mouse and keyboard. When several players play this game in multiplayer hotseat mode, each player will use the mouse and keyboard for some time once per game turn. The method of hotseat computer multiplayer gaming is quite similar to that of many non-computer board games such as Monopoly, where the players also take turns moving their pieces on the board.

In some games with hotseat multiplayer function, an element of the competitive multiplayer gameplay is that not all information is available to all players. In this case, the hotseat players have to make sure that other players can't look at the game while they are taking their turn.

Hotseat multiplayer functionality is of course not possible in realtime multiplayer games such as StarCraft or Quake, because hotseat cannot handle the case where two players meet in the game and move in real-time.

See also

• Play by email
• Split screen gaming

Computer and video game gameplay | Competitive computer and video gaming | Hotseat | 热座模式