Sparkwarden

Sparkwarden is a life counter for Magic: The Gathering built around one idea: the device lies flat in the middle of the table, and every player's panel is rotated to face their own seat. No passing the phone around, no reading upside down.

TAP, DON'T FIDDLE Each player gets a big, flat color block. Tap the + half for +1 life, the − half for −1. The running change floats above your total so everyone can see what just happened.

2 TO 6 PLAYERS Panels line up along the long sides of the device, with the odd player at the end. Works in portrait and landscape, on iPhone and iPad. Rotate any panel a quarter turn to fit an unusual table.

CASUAL AND COMMANDER Casual starts at 20 (or any life you choose). Commander starts at 40 and adds commander tax and commander damage, which also comes off your life. Life stays one tap away on the table; everything else is behind the button down the side of your panel. Tap it and your seat fills the screen: life with the same tap halves, one big tile per commander at the table in its owner's color (top half +1, bottom half −1), and full-size poison and tax counters. Partners get a second tile and tax counter, and your own commander has a tile in case it gets stolen. A poison counter sits on every panel.

WHO GOES FIRST? When a game starts, tap "Who goes first?" and a light spins around the table, lighting each panel as it passes and slowing down until it stops on the starter. Or dismiss it if last game's loser is going first.

OUT IS OUT A panel dims when its player is eliminated: 0 life, 10 poison, or 21 combat damage from a single commander.

MADE FOR THE TABLE • Names, colors, and seating are remembered between games. • Long-press a panel and drop it on another to trade seats — counters come along. • The screen stays awake while a game is running. • End Game asks before it resets anything.

NOTHING ELSE No ads. No accounts. No analytics. No network access. Sparkwarden is free and open source (MIT).

Sparkwarden is an independent app, not affiliated with or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast.