📖 Story Chain

🕹️ How to play

1. Start from an opening line: The page opens on a ready-made opening line like 'At 3 a.m., the vending machine downstairs started singing.' Tap New line until you like one, set the number of players (4 by default) and hit Start the chain. Names, laps, mode, card level and the timer are tucked under More settings — you can ignore them.
2. Add your sentence: The screen shows whose turn it is in big letters and deals two keyword cards. Tap one and work that word into your sentence — draw 'umbrella' and say 'He opened the umbrella and a cat fell out.' Then tap I'm done and the phone moves on. Typing your line into the note box is optional.
3. Stuck? Use the exits: Pick the other card, swap both cards once per turn (the timer gives you one extra swap when it runs out), or tap Freestyle and say anything. Said something you regret? Undo last line takes the story one step back with the same two cards.
4. End it and read it back: The last sentence is dealt from the golden ending pile so the last player can land the story. Short on time? End early from the menu. The reveal plays the opening and every line one by one with the teller's name and the keyword highlighted, plus a copy-all button.

📖 Rules & variants

Turn order and length: players go in seat order and each says exactly one sentence per lap. Choose 1, 2 or 3 laps; the story is players × laps sentences long, not counting the opening. Four players on two laps is eight sentences, about five to eight minutes. The final sentence is always told from an ending card. It is cooperative — no points, no winner, no voting.

Keyword cards: every turn deals two cards and you keep one. A kept card never comes back in that game; the other goes to the bottom of the deck. You may swap both cards once per turn, and if the optional timer runs out you get one more swap — it never skips you or takes anything away. Easy cards are people, places and objects; Standard adds actions and feelings; Hard adds plot twists like 'power cut' or 'time rewinds'.

Two modes: in Spoken mode the phone sits in the middle of the table, the whole story stays visible and typing is optional. In Write mode you pass the phone: each writer only sees the previous line and its author, has to type a sentence, then hides it and hands the phone on. Because nobody sees the full story, the reveal is usually gloriously disconnected.

Undo, end early, end game: in Spoken mode Undo last line goes back one turn with the same cards, choice and note restored (once in a row). End early turns the current sentence into the ending. End game clears the round without saving it.

Reveal and badges: the story plays back line by line (tap Show all to skip). If a typed line contains its keyword the word is highlighted; untyped lines read '(Mia used "umbrella")'. Three no-ranking badges light up: every line used a word, no swaps at all, and a landed ending. The last five stories stay on this device so you can reread or copy them.

House rules: one-word chain (each player adds just one word), forced openers (every sentence must start with 'Suddenly' or 'Luckily'), or a narrator who holds the phone while everyone else just talks. Teachers can use Easy cards and one lap so every student practices building a sentence around a given word.

❓ FAQ