Games in a chat (askr Play)

Start a game

1. Tap +On the left of the message box. Under Do something together, Games, tap Play a game.
2. Pick a gameEach one says about how long it takes and how many players it needs.
3. Set it upA theme if you like, How hard (Normal or Harder), and the game's own options.
4. Tap Start the gameaskr posts the game's start line, with what it costs, and the first round follows.

• @askr let's play on its own lists the games.
• Typed, a game also takes with pictures, out loud, harder, and a number of rounds, such as "10 questions".
• One game runs in a chat at a time. While it is on, a chip over the message box names the game and its round, with the countdown, and takes you to it.
• Play is not offered in askr Anon, or to someone only watching a public chat.

The seven games

Harder means less time and tougher material. Murder mystery and Spot the bot start with a lobby: tap I'm in, and the game starts after two minutes, when the table is full, or when the host taps Start now.

A round

The round card

Under askr's newest game message: what the round asks, a countdown, who has answered and never what, and your answer box.

Your answer

It stays yours until the verdict, and you can change it until the round closes. In trivia you tap an answer. In a vote or an accusation you pick a name.

When a round closes

On its timer, when everyone has answered, or when the host taps Next.

The verdict

askr judges each round and tells everyone in a message of its own, with the scores so far.

The host

Whoever started the game, and the person who started the chat. They can skip ahead with Next and stop the game with End, which gives the scores so far.

• A game never takes the chat's turn: people can still ask @askr anything while it runs.
• A few thumbs down on askr's narration and it keeps to a line and leaves the jokes to you.
• Two rounds that nobody answers end a game. Trivia ends after three questions with no answer.

Results, Rematch and Make it harder

• Every game ends on a results message and its card: the winner, the scores, and the line of the game, which is always a player's own words.
• Rematch plays the same game again with all-new material. Make it harder does the same a level up.
• Share, for whoever started the game, publishes a page of its own with the result and the words that start the same game. The chat stays private.
• A finished game can count for the chat's league, and shows on its players' profiles where they chose that. Profiles and leagues.

What a game costs

• The start line says what the game costs, as a range, and the card keeps count: what was spent so far, and at the end what it cost.
• Whoever starts a game pays for all of it, as for an @askr message: from the chat's credit, or from their own balance in a chat of their own and where each person pays for their own. The other players pay nothing, and whoever taps Rematch pays for the next game. Who pays.
• A game that cannot pay for askr's next step pauses and says so. Resume picks it up once there is credit.
• If askr cannot reach its model the game pauses too, and Resume tries again. Nothing is charged for a step that did not come.
• Answers, votes and trivia's marking cost nothing. Pictures and reading out cost more, and the option says so.

Games askr invents

Invent a game, under Do something together, Games in the + sheet, has askr write a new game for your chat from an idea. Typing works too.

• An idea that is one of the seven games starts that game. Anything else, askr writes: a quick version first, with one screen and one way to play. Its price is in the sheet and in the start line before anything is spent.
• The game's card sits under askr's message and shows the build as it goes. Play opens the game for everyone in the chat at once, and the game tells the chat who won.
• Stronger version has a stronger model write it again, at the price on the button, and it is then offered as the rematch. Change it asks askr for a change, priced first.
• A game that does not come, or that askr's safety check holds back, costs nothing.
• An idea that reads as big, such as "a huge open world we all build in", is offered Quick or Deep. Deep has askr plan the game and build it step by step, up to the most you set, and Keep building on a game's card goes on with any game the same way. Build something big.
• A game askr writes can run on a 3D or a physics engine, keep each player's own progress, and share one big world with the chat. Engines and saves and worlds.
• Games that move in real time, such as a race or a shared board, carry each player's moves to everyone as they happen, and someone who joins late catches up. A card marked Plays live says what that costs: about $0.002 for 12 players over 10 minutes.
• Whoever asked for a game pays for it, in the same way as for a hosted game. A guest cannot ask for one, and neither can a chat whose rules switch Code and sites off.

A game askr wrote for you can go on Explore and into the Arcade. The Arcade, cups and leagues.