How do I play PC games on my tablet with a controller?

A tablet on a stand is the perfect console for a bed, a kitchen table or a hotel room — big screen, no cables, a controller in your hands. But the PC games are on the PC, and the tablet apps for streaming them either leave black bars on the 16:10 screen or turn your controller into a pad the game does not quite recognise.

You also want more than a controller: a quick tap on a menu, a pen for a strategy game, a keyboard to type a password. Most clients treat the tablet as a big phone and stop there.

And every time you sit down it is the same ritual: open the host panel on the PC, type the PIN, fix the resolution, pick the pad again.

A tablet is a different device from a phone: a wider screen at 16:10 or 4:3, direct touch that makes sense on a large surface, and often a pen. A client that only knows «fit / fill / stretch» and a virtual gamepad cannot use any of that.

The controller side has the same root cause as everywhere else: streaming tools emulate a generic pad on the PC. The fix is to forward the actual USB device the tablet sees, so Windows loads its official driver.

1. 01

   Install ChimpDeck on the tablet and the host on the PC

   Android 8.0 or later with a hardware H.264/HEVC decoder on the tablet; Windows 10/11 with an NVIDIA graphics card on the PC. The Windows installer brings the host, the USB bridge driver and the virtual display adapter in one go.

2. 02

   Pair without a PIN

   Open the PC page on the tablet while both are on the home network; confirm the six-digit number the PC shows. A reinstalled app is recognised and re-paired silently.

3. 03

   Plug the controller into the tablet

   Over USB it reaches Windows as the real device, rumble included; over Bluetooth it works as a virtual Xbox 360 controller, without rumble for now (coming soon). If it does not show up, these are the usual causes.

4. 04

   Let the PC take the tablet’s shape

   The host learned the tablet’s size at pairing — 2560×1600, say — and serves it on a virtual display, so no bars on the 16:10 screen. Your monitor is set aside and comes back when you stop.

5. 05

   Use the expanded layout

   On a tablet the app uses a two-pane layout with a side rail. Touch can be a trackpad or direct absolute touch, pen input is injected natively on the PC, and on-screen or physical keyboards type on the PC with key repeat.

6. 06

   Take it with you

   The same session works away from home with nothing opened on your router, and a network drop pauses the session on the PC for up to 10 minutes instead of ending it.

• The tablet’s exact resolution

  16:10, 4:3 or whatever it is, learned at pairing and served full screen.

• A real controller on the PC

  The USB device itself, official driver, four rumble motors — and the pad can act as a mouse with a long press.

• Touch, pen and keyboard on the PC

  Trackpad or absolute touch, native pen injection, keyboards with key repeat, clipboard both ways.

• A layout made for the size

  Expanded two-pane layout with a side rail, one press per setting, no dropdowns.