How can you successfully use information hiding as a mechanic in local multiplayer games? Information hiding is such a key element in many card and board games. It creates interesting and dynamic social situations that video games are missing. Poker is a game that’s almost entirely about information hiding; you keep your hand a secret from the other players to maximize your chances of winning the pot. I hide my money when playing Monopoly so no one will know how rich I am. In the gangster board game Ca$h ‘n Gun$ one player is randomly assigned to be the undercover cop. In order to win, that player has to hide his true identity from the other players while working behind their backs to bring them down.

Information hiding as a mechanic is especially relevant in today’s postmodern world. Information is flowing constantly in all directions. The people in power are the ones who are able to control and manipulate that information. Even the open world that is the internet has information gatekeepers (think of how much Google controls what information you do and do not see).

So given that this is an interesting and relevant thing, I’ve been trying to think about how it can be applied to local multiplayer video games. If everyone is sitting on the sofa looking at the same television screen, how can you deliver information to a single player without the others seeing it? Controller vibration is one option, but not all controllers vibrate. The Xbox 360 wireless controllers, for example, stop vibrating when the battery level is low. The Dreamcast had a nifty interface with their Visual Memory Units (VMUs) that plugged into the controllers. Similarly, you can connect your DS and PSP to your Wii and PlayStation 3 respectively. But these are all impractical, hardware-dependent solutions. Is a software solution possible? What would that look like?

Please solve this problem for me :)