NFC carts — tap to play
Turn a cheap NFC tag into a physical cartridge that launches a game on tap
Pixl8 can write a "play this game" NFC tag from any game in your library. Tap the tag to the back of your phone and the game boots — a little physical cartridge for a digital game. It's free, and it takes about ten seconds to make one.
What you need
- — An NFC-capable Android phone (most modern phones have it).
- — A blank NFC tag or sticker. The common cheap ones — NTAG213 / 215 / 216 — all work; even the smallest holds what's needed.
Make a cart
- 1. Long-press a game in your library and choose "Write NFC cart".
- 2. Hold a blank tag to the back of your phone until it says "Written!".
That's it — the tag now points at that game.
Play it
With your phone unlocked, tap the tag to the back — Pixl8 opens and plays that game. It works with any game in your library and with the built-in featured games, including multi-file (multicart) games.
The tag doesn't contain the game — it's just a small link that names it. So it launches a game only on a phone that already has that game: in its library, or as one of the built-in featured games. On your own phone that's everything you own; on someone else's phone it works only if they have the same game too.
So sharing a tag depends on what it points to. A tag for a featured game works on any Pixl8 install — and if a friend taps it without Pixl8 yet, the tag first sends them to the Play Store to install it, then plays. A tag for a game you downloaded yourself only works once the other person has that same game in their library too — a fresh install ships with just the featured games, not your downloads.
How it works
The tag stores a tiny link that names the game by its content — a fingerprint of the cart — rather than a file path. When you tap it, Pixl8 looks that game up in your library and launches it. Because it's a content fingerprint, a tag written on one phone also works on another phone that has the same game. Nothing about the tag phones home; it's just a short link Pixl8 recognises.
A note for cart authors
No game is copied onto the tag — not the code, art, sound, or any cart data. The tag holds only that short fingerprint link, a few dozen bytes. It's a bookmark, not a copy: it can only launch a game the phone already has, from carts each person downloaded themselves. Pixl8 doesn't distribute, host, or bundle anyone's game onto these tags — a tag with no matching game in your library simply does nothing. Think of it like a physical shortcut to a game you already own, not a cartridge that carries one.
Make it look the part
A bare sticker works fine, but half the fun is the presentation — tuck the tag behind a printed label or a little cartridge card and you've got a shelf of real cartridges to pick from.
Drop in your carts, print an A4 sheet at 100%, and cut them out. It all runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded. Cards are standard NFC-card size, so the tag sits neatly behind one.
If a tap does nothing
- — Check NFC is on (Settings → Connected devices) and the phone is unlocked with the screen on.
- — Touch the tag to the right spot — usually the upper-back of the phone. Move it around slowly if the first try misses.
- — "That game isn't in your library" means the tag names a game you don't have — add that game, or use a tag written for one you own.
The short version: long-press a game → Write NFC cart → tap to play. Cheap tags, no subscription, works offline.