#128CharGame - by zach gage and a ton of twitter internet people
On 7/9/13 at 1:30 AM
I was working on a pen/ paper game that I wanted to share on Twitter.
After I typed out the game:
Draw 9 dots on paper. (one-handed) Alternate putting fingers on dots. First player who loses grip on a dot or can’t play loses.
I realized that it fit perfectly into a tweet. So, In addition to sharing the game, I shared a challenge for everyone else:
Dear internet, here is a crazy challenge for you. Design a game prototype where the rules fit in <=128 characters, tweet it w/
#128CharGame
A surprising number of people replied over the next two days with some fantastic games. MiniClip even tested a few out and made a blog post with the results!
So I thought I'd build a page to house all of the entries on a website in case anyone wanted to check them out. There are a lot and they range from serious games to jokes to serious jokes. I've marked my favorite entries (although clearly, that is subjective). Enjoy!
Before we start, I thought I'd share one of my favorite art works. Although it wasn't exactly designed as a game, it fits into the hashtag pretty well. It's a Fluxus work from 1960:
draw a straight line and follow it
- La Monte Young, Compositions 1960
I also just wanted to take a moment and say thank you to everyone who contributed! I definitely did not expect to get a turn out like this, and reading all of your entries was absolutly awesome.
And with that, enjoy.
-zach
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Alex Swaim
2 Players stand back-to-back w/hands at sides & count down from 3. On "Go" players try to touch other's belly button
Loren Bednar
Cut/tear up a 3x5 notecard into .5" squares, hold them 1 ft above a piece of paper with a 5-3-1 bullseye drawn on and let go.
Joshua Dennison
Do a Google image search on your phone. Hand it to a friend, 3 guesses what search was for. Object is to stump that person.
Cale Bradbury
Close your eyes while walking and try to open them just as you pass a pole
Arthur Gustafson
Two players punch each other until one player dies. The living player wins the bride of the dead player. Extra points for blood
Brian
(3-4p) phones w/browsers on incognito/private. each round 1 person names a website. whoever logs in fastest wins!
Arthur Gustafson
2 players leg wrestle, the last player to still have functional legs wins. Players with three legs need not apply. 4 legs okay.
Arthur Gustafson
Two players, first player hops on one leg while second player count. If first player keeps hopping both players lose
Cale Bradbury
Players try to guess an objects color as a hex value, take a photo & use eyedropper, closest wins
Brian
"find the spoon" text your friend a picture with a spoon hidden but visible, they have 1 min to text you back where it is
Julius Jacobsen
2*x player game. On GO!, teammembers try to change into each others clothes as quickly as possible. Audience wins.
Josh Myer
Pinch your little brother, run away. Win condition is convincing your mother that he hit you first.
Colin Bayer
two-player game: one player rolls a skeet up a skee-ball lane; the other player shoots it before the end
Bomber
If any of the red squares touch the blue squares you lose. Left mouse to repel red squares, right mouse to attract them.
Alex
Google street view your hometown (or a random town) and who finds a dog first wins
That Boy
"Carry a bag of peas. / Leave a pea wherever you go." - Yoko Ono
Luke Muscat
Everyone gets a blank A4 page at 9am. Person who has the cleanest, nicest page at 5pm wins. Play at work; sabotage encouraged.
Jonathan O Minard
Players trade keys to twitter and enlist each other's followers to join fun, spontaneous events online & IRL. The most fun wins
Kent Sheely
Explain an intricate concept in 128 characters, out loud. If you go over you're out. Last one in wins it all. #meta
Jonathan O Minard
Players trade keys to social media. Who goes the longest before being found out as an imposter wins!
Andrea S. Morales
2+ p) Player writes "Hahaha" on random FB chat windows. Each person that answers w/ "hahaha" back = 1 pt. 1st to 10 pts wins.
Jonathan O Minard
players start at remote locations in a city and wander without maps. As they link up they form a flock ~Francis Alys
John Brieger
Have someone write down 5 things you can buy in a grocery store. Use ≥3 of those items to make a person you don't know happy.
Rodney Gordon
RT or Die
Alexander Jaffe
Three players each fight to gain possession of one soccer ball, then kick it between the other two players.
Obese Chess
the floor is lava and so are your friends and family
its Drake not Blake
Each player get a bunny, looks after for a month, after the month, first one to then murder their own bunny wins.
David Kaneshiro
you sit alone on the Internet and everyone loses. It's called "The Internet."
┼Я▲N§HUᙢΛN
a #vine scavenger hunt where people have to video record specific objects to win.
MC Frontalot
Players wager for right to add rules of play. Wagers won by breaking previous rules. Game won by breaking fewest rules.
Jeff Fal
I pick a letter and a word it starts. You pick a 2nd letter and a word started by our 2-letter sequence. So on until stumped.
Pyradox
Take turns adding words to make a coherent tweet. The last word gets you points equal to how many words the other player used.
Tom De Roeck
Tag VIP: two teams, one team defends a VIP by tagging the attackers, attackers try to tag the VIP before he reaches the endzone
Jaime Woo
All at once point to player with most perceived privilege—highest count out. Whittle to 2. Like Survivor, plead to jury of out.
Marsh Ray
1st player picks tweet at random. In each subsequent turn player finds unrelated tweet to extend established sequence logically
Urustar
During a pub night steal as many coasters as you can. If a player spots you, they win the coaster
Manuel Correia
Make a joke about a current event. Roll a 6 sided dice for each retweet. Highest total wins.
Marsh Ray
Add or remove a letter from a famous person's name to make a new brand of dog food.
Urustar
Race with other players to get a high five from a stranger
Urustar
Stay in a public bathroom longer than your opponent
Paul Warne
PHONOFIND (2-?p) P1 counts 60. Others record taunts on phones, loop playback, hide phones (audible spot) Best finder-time wins
JK
I choose a category. (Chicken dishes). First to pack the most into a reply tweet that gets RT wins. Cacciatore, nugget, breast
Kevin Glass
Everyone buys chocolate and piles in the centre. On Go! Everyone eats chocolate. Last one to be sick wins!
Mike Smallhorn
2+ players. Tape paper to backs. Get as many papers as you can. If your paper is taken, you lose, and your papers are out.
Bob Koon
Main character can only go forward or turn right (left in the UK). Must plan route accordingly. Bonus points for fewest turns.
Brochefort
Players try to live as long as possible without opening a door. Last to open a door wins.
Ricardo Mendes
you have a gun, with no ammo. you have to bluff your way out of a Western town.
Robert C. Jr.
Lemmings-like rts only with smarter lemmings.
Sarah Pavis
try to think of an easily explainable idea for a new game. tweet it with . if @helvetica retweets you, you win!
Brochefort
Players propose on Twitter. First to get a RT by @helvetica wins.
Static Void Games
2 players take turns unfriending people on facebook. First person to get a message "why did you unfriend me?" loses... or wins?
anonymous commenter
Penguins with jetpacks. Movement is either flight or belly slides. It's a game, so, there are also machine guns.
Vieta kur es feiloju
Game for 2 guys. Try to smack the other guy.
Zach Zebrowski
You are a cactus. You must choose which parts to grow and which die while you wait for the rain. Other cacti are thirsty too...
Adam Philbin
Mime Sweeper: Players perform a mime of a street sweeper. Last player standing wins. Single players must continue till death.
Kevin Williams
Two players. Flip a coin; winner punches loser as hard as possible in the face, gains one VP. First player to earn 50 VPs wins.
Brochefort
All developers of the company stop internet access. First one to replug it loses.
Kevin Conner
BYO preferred coffee-making device and beans, attempt to make the best cup in shortest time. Winner keeps all beans.
Rudd Zwolinski
retweet as many games as you can in 24 hours. If people start complaining that you're tweeting too much, you win
Tom Killingbeck
Players create original, intriguing games on Twitter using <128 characters & #hashtag. First retweeted by game's designer wins.
Auriea
go outside, watch the sun set, name all the colors you see til its too dark to see anymore, keep naming the colors you see.
Kevin Conner
Conduct an online-only political campaign for a minor local office using a pseudonym and wrestling mask; win on genuineness.
Saintis Darkhood
Players take turns calling friends at 04:00 and ask "what's up." First to get real answer wins.
Tim James
Each player puts £5 on the table, must then convince the majority as to why they should keep the whole pile. bribes allowed
Jesper G Krogsgaard
Have party. Everyone throws their phone in the punch-bowl. Take turns in picking one phone up. Last phone in the bowl wins it.
Auriea
call a phone number to hear the most beautiful singing in the world. seek to find out where in the world it comes from. drown.
Joe Berger
You're an egg. Lv1 boss = teaspoon. Lv2 boss = toast. Lv3 boss = egg-slicer. Lv4 boss = Robert DeNiro in Angel Heart
Adam Philbin
Escape From Starbucks: Players must write encoded messages on customers' coffee cups to get help and formulate an escape plan
Tom Hubbard-Green
Draw 1 card per player per day. Loser 1st to draw Joker & not be able to buy new pack of cards in 24 hrs.
Chris Hallberg
3+ players. Stand in a circle. Only move your arms. On your turn you can take one step. Hit a player's hand, their out. #Ninja
uosuɥoɾ uǝq
Mexican stand-off.
Kevin Williams
Like, Settlers of Catan, right, but rethemed to take place entirely in Elvis' colon.
Takashi S. Omoto
Open as many books as players and start reading the last letter of every line. First to find a valid English word wins the game
Chris Hallberg
At a meeting, text back/forth with other player(s). Discipline = Elimination. Bonus points:loudest ringer, longest relevant txt
Kevin Williams
Each player is randomly assigned a different religion, an arsenal of weapons and 10,000 Zealotry Points. No one wins.
Polarstern
Fold #origami out of bank notes, show it to the next in line. If he doesn't recognize the object, burn note. Play until broke.
Andy Wallace
Player take turn poking holes in a piece of paper with a pencil. First one to cause a rip that connects two holes loses.
Stevie McDonald
Google search an ordinary yet unrelated adj-verb-noun mix with SafeSearch off. First person to get a NSFW pic loses/wins.
Mike Wallis
Post a closeup pic of something on your desk to twitter. 1st person to get a "wtf is that?" wins.
Kevin Williams
Take turns suggesting a game to play. First game that everyone agrees to wins. Spend Alcohol Points to improve your chances.
Daniel Nayeri
100 pennies per player. Each turn, blind bid. Player w/ highest bet wins 1pt. Run out of pennies = -1pt, most pts wins.
Ramsey Nasser
You are born. You will eventually die. Try and have a meaningful and fulfilling life.
Kevin Zuhn
Leader picks a secret letter. If a player speaks that letter, they lose! Write the letter to win. Write anything else and lose.
Mike Smallhorn
For programmers: Point when you type a ; after non-code sentences. Extra point if writing. Play forever. Lowest points wins.
Polarstern
Type telephone book with numpad. Start A, Goal Z. Restart on mistake. Bonus: Reverse, add mobile numbers. Lose condition: death
cartelmike
Find doppelganger Twitter avatars of your own, generic Twitter avatar not withstanding. Most 'doppel-avatar-whacks' wins prize.
Jerry Belich
Takes turns from the same start point, walk towards a wall with your eyes closed without running into it. Closest to it wins.
Jake Sones
Google image pictionary. Form teams. 1 player sends pics to teammates based on opposing teams clue. Time limit Play for points.
wobbles
Players have decks of cards they play so each card touches the next. No turns. No overlap. First to finish wins
Zach Zebrowski
Find friend with a kid the same age, equip with foam weapons, battle. Real life Pokémon. Need more Pokémon? Go home to your SO.
Jerry Belich
Each player gets a bag of googly eyes, places them in funny spots in public. World wins. #VandalEyes
Brian Cronin
Last person alive wins.
Jerry Belich
Thumb war arm wrestling.
Brian Cronin
Present 3 statements to a friend, two are sarcastic. Friend must guess which is real.
Lemuel America
Take turns saying nice things to each other in really mean-spirited voices. If you start to feel bad about it, you're out.
Brian Cronin
This one is called "I bet you don't have the guts to tickle that stranger over there."
Chris Hallberg
Record a spoken phrase. Play it backwards. Record yourself imitating the back-play. Play THAT backwards. Closest/funniest wins.
Frank
Pass nerf 6shooter around w single dart, Russian roulette - kill self, -1 pt, live 1 pt. Aim at others & hit: +3pts, miss -3pts
Chris Hallberg
Have a formal debate about who wins. Witnesses may be called, all stats/sources must be from http://randomwebsite.com .
Steve 'Rock' An
Two people with socks on. Try to unsock the other to win.
~JC~
Each player in turn stops and looks up (at nothing) in awe. Score equals number of passers by who glance up in curiosity.
Chris Hallberg
Give players blank cards. Write down turn-based rules (when you draw/save this/give this card). Shuffle in pile, play in turn.
Brochefort
Each player grow a mobile/web start-up. First one to raise 1,000,000.00$ wins.
Brochefort
Make 2 teams : the first won is the "A" team, the second is the "Epic" team. Epic wins.
Pete Vellucci Jr
Select random follower; sincerely reply to 1 of their 5 most recent tweets; both win if legitimate connection made!
Pete Vellucci Jr
Alt: select randomly from those you follow; sincerely reply to 1 of 5 most recent tweets OR immediately unfollow!
2DM Games
the. ground. is. lava.
Evan Balster
When you have deja vu, say "one", unless you remember saying a number, in which case say that number plus one. Madness ensues.
Andrew Petersen
0x76cd5f5679a76f780987d890a7c087423e34ff5674a4b7655ee5d7a5b4a5e4587a7bc8543d22e43a54f6g4a36e43d4a64444b3643c6588806
Takashi S. Omoto
Players set their iPhones next to one another and try to call one another using Siri simultaneously. Caller wins, called loses.
Levi Fowler
Players 1 an 2 each hide a 6 in length of scotch tape on a visible surface within the home. 1st to find the other's strip wins.
Bill Lefler
Two players clasp each others hand and stand on one foot. First player that touches raised foot to ground loses.
Will Templeton
Walk down the street. At junctions, flip a coin or roll die to determine your direction. High score = longest time to dead end.
Y Luft
Riding your bicycles, try to tip the other players off balance using an empty plastic bottle. #myChildhoodsFavorite
Chris Hallberg
Knights' Duel. Play a game of chess with only the two knights on each side.
Y Luft
Speak only English; Drink with your off hand; No cursing; Rules violators must finish their drink and get another.
Little Wins, LLC
Player 1 & 2 co-op. Both put on pirate eye patches, count consecutive hi-5's.
Peter Sheff
9 people hold hands in a circle, when a link between hands is broken those 2 are out, reform circle of 7 etc. Last 1 left wins
James Ffff
Tweet friends to start, everyone stops and takes the most interesting picture they can on their phone. Best photo by vote wins.
Y Luft
checkers board, Player A controls King, Player B places pawns. Turns are simultaneous; King must cross board & avoid pawns.
Chris Hallberg
Go to Wal-Mart (or the like). Tell people to text/tweet items for you to find. Reply with a picture.
Richard Esguerra
Players 1 and 2 buy $10 worth of food at Taco Bell, without revealing orders. Players exchange food; first to finish wins.
Hangedman
Roll 3 dice. Player 1 says a number that is a result of an equation involving all 3 numbers. Other player guesses the equation
Anton Uklein
Survive as long as possible. Space = next turn. M opens repair. Need metal for M. Explore found debris with E. Game lies a lot.
Joshua Alcorn
Fire up a multiplayer FPS game, join a Deathmatch server, survive as long as you can without killing anyone.
Jay Gittings
6 dice and deck of cards. Draw card, roll dice and add, sub, mult or divide dice to get as close to card without going over.
Lemuel America
Have everyone draw a straw (with a pencil ;) and compare. Shortest AND longest are eliminated. Repeat until 1-2 players remain!
Jussi Lepistö
5 cards/plr. Each round team must beat deck card with a hand card. 3*plrs rounds. If you have more black cards you are traitor
Dork Night
Dragon took princess! Do act good, d6, success 3 or higher, fail otherwise. Evil actions auto succeed. Game for DM and 2+ ppl
Jussi Lepistö
1 player is secretly killer. Others write down a name. You drop out if you chose killer. Killer loses if everyone did. Repeat.
Jose Zagal
PlyrA picks noun, take turns channel-surfing. 1st to see object = +1,No one sees object in 2 mins, PlyrA = -1. Pick new PlyrA
Lemuel America
Challenge each other to link innocuous Wikipedia entry to Hitler in <= 5 steps. Bonus for not using Germany or WW2. #HitlerIn5
Vladster
"Play all" from your music folder. If you can cope for 60 minutes without skipping a track you win.
Brian Cronin
It is Uno but on the Moon. It is called Moono.
Oscar Strik
You're God, about to confound the people of Babel. Make up a bunch of mutually unintelligible languages and watch them scatter.
Jim Biancolo
Spike/bounce odd object off the ground. One-hand catch=1 pt. Touch it but don't catch it, -1. Tackling ok after touch/bobble.
Jim Palmeri
Roll 6d10 for 6-digit number; players guess twitter usernames with follow counts close to number, closest guess wins
Jeremy Apthorp
in a cafe by yourself, write down words you overhear. Make a sentence with them. Make a story. Also works on trains.
Jeremy Apthorp
arrange a party where no two guests' names start with the same letter. 26 guests.
Vincent St. John
Dogball. Your dog is the football. Coax dog to run into your endzone w/o going out of bounds.
Vincent St. John
Party game: Read a random line from a book. Team that re-arranges words into the most new sentences in 60 seconds wins.
Jeremy Apthorp
2p: 6x6 grid with 17B, 17W Go pieces placed randomly. Take turns swap adjacent pieces. Once board is checked, last player wins.
Jeremy Apthorp
go to the supermarket and buy exactly $13.37 worth of groceries.
Vincent St. John
2-player action game. 1p controls hero, learns skills, climbs buildings, fights bad guys. 2p controls camera like it's a movie.
Jeremy Apthorp
each player has a colored candle. Take turns to drip wax on paper. If it touches wax already dripped, you lose.
Vincent St. John
Draw a line from the FB post to the profile picture you had at the time of posting.
Vincent St. John
Think for 2 minutes of what you did for each of your birthdays. Group gives gift to player with lowest % remembered bdays.
Justin Bremer
Declare Above or Below. Roll 1d6. Other players try to roll Above or Below your roll.
Polarstern
Take something away each day from your boss's desk. Bonus: Things he has on himself. Lose condition: Getting fired/sued/killed
Ninja
Player says a noun, other says a noun that beats it. Repeat. Sun>sunglasses>darkness>?. No same nouns. Unbeatable noun wins.
Manuel Correia
Choose a subject, say a word. The other player says another one starting with your last letter. Lose when you run out of words.
PurpleChair
"My IRL Summer Holiday Plans": Flip a coin. If heads, spend £1,500 on a nice holiday. If tails, throw £1,500 in a fire.
Owen Goss
n-1 players lie in a row in a field at night. Last player searches with a flashlight. When “mass grave” found, everyone loses.
Chris Hallberg
Key Player sits in the middle of a circle of other players. Players convince Key Player to finger-shoot them *last*.
Andrew Berdan
Choose random definition from Urban Dictionary. Read out the example usage. Have people guess.
Albert K
3p-one must decide which of the others to kill and which to make king (in-game). They can appeal to, bribe or blackmail him/her.
Matthias Zarzecki
Be eating out with friends. Everybody puts their phone on the table, face down. First person to pick up phone pays bill.
Adam Horton
Robotron, but you can't kill them... only knock them away with a bat while saving humans
Ben Serviss
Open Starburst Fruit Chews pack. Correctly guess color = 1 point. First player 2 realize this is blatant product placement wins
Chris Hallberg
Write 0 somewhere. Players can add 1 once a day. Spy subs the # of opponents. If caught, Spy wins if # of days played > number.
Rob Dubbin
release fifty snakes in a room. seal it up for three months. players bet on: when you open the door, how many snakes?
Rob Dubbin
sequester ten humans in a room. summon 49 other snakes. over the course of three months, form a single devastating super-snake.
Jussi Lepistö
Pick a word. Using those letters, each player / team gets a point for each language they can make an anagram in.
Jussi Lepistö
Form teams. A player shouts an attribute (e.g. height, name). Team that first sorts themselves by that attribute wins.