How to play a poetry game with friends

Poetry Game is a party game played in the browser: a few words arrive, everyone writes a poem with them before the time runs out, and then the poems are read together. You need no account and no download, and it's free.

How a game goes

Open a new game and choose its settings: the theme its words come from, one, three or five rounds, three, five or ten minutes a round, and how long the poems are kept once the game ends.
Send the game's link to your friends, in a message or a group chat. Up to twelve people can play, each joining with a name of their own or the nickname the game suggests.
Every round brings two or three words, and with style cards on, a playful instruction too, such as whose voice to write in.
Everyone writes a poem that uses the words before the time runs out. A word counts with its suffixes too, and the poem saves itself as you type.
Then the round's poems are read together. You give a heart to every poem you like and a reaction if you wish, or in the competitive mode, your one vote to the best of the others.
After the last round every poet gets at least one badge, and the poem with the most hearts becomes the Poem of the Night; in the competitive mode a podium takes its place. The poems stay readable for the time chosen at the start, then fly away, so copy the ones you love.

Peaceful, competitive or warrior

The peaceful mode is the default: hearts for every poem you like, and every badge a kind one. It suits a first game, a family table and anyone who just wants to write.

The competitive mode keeps a score: one vote a round, a point for the poem that uses every word, the poets hidden until the end and a ranking after each round. It suits friends who like a contest.

The warrior mode is the competitive game at war. From the second round on, whoever leads is ambushed with a hard word their poem must also use for the word bonus, and the last round counts double, so nothing is settled until the end. It suits friends who love a comeback.

In any mode you can switch on "Who wrote it?": the poets stay hidden while the poems are read, everyone guesses who wrote which, and the names open with the right guesses as the next round begins. The best guesser earns the Detective badge; in a competitive or warrior game of three rounds or more, good guessing also earns up to three points at the end.

Where to play

Around a table, everyone on their own phone. When the reveal opens, one person can read the poems aloud.
On a video call. Share your screen and show the poems one by one in large type; if your browser has a Turkish voice, it can read them aloud too.
In a class or a writing workshop, as a warm-up. A three-minute round with two words is enough to get everyone writing.

A few tips

A poem needn't rhyme or keep a metre. Four lines that use the words are a poem.
Stuck? Start with the word you like least: the others will fit around it.
Follow the style card as freely as you like. It's there to make you laugh, not to judge you.