Gartic Phone is a free, browser-based game developed by Onrizon, where players alternate between drawing and guessing prompts. Its appeal lies largely in its humor and unpredictability, making it popular among friend groups, streamers, and online communities.
Our team’s game is similar in that it builds on the core mechanic of iterative drawing and interpretation, but instead of using a shared prompt, each player receives a unique trait that relates to a hidden target word. Players can see the drawing from the player before them and use their own trait to guide the next image, creating a telephone-style chain. The goal is for the players to work together to deduce what the target word is. However, there is also a Spy that receives no trait and must guess the target word while blending into the chain, thus transforming the gameplay into a social deduction challenge.
While both games center around visual creativity, they diverge significantly in aesthetic purpose and gameplay dynamics. Gartic Phone is designed around miscommunication, and the fun comes from watching how drastically a phrase morphs into something completely different by the end of the chain. There is no win condition, and “failing” to guess the original prompt is often more entertaining than getting it right. As such, the game emphasizes Expression, Fellowship, and Submission to offer a low-stakes experience.
This was evident in my own play experience. There were some rounds where the prompt carried surprisingly well through the entire chain. For instance, during the reveal of the “hot dog” round, one friend exclaimed, “How could you tell that was a couple??”, and the fun mostly came from the unexpected success of how close we actually got to the original, even though it wasn’t a priority among the group to try to accurately guess the prompt correctly.
In other rounds, the fun came from the sheer absurdity of how the interpretations evolved. Some of the funniest moments during our session came from trying to trace and pinpoint where the chain went off the rails. These unpredictable twists are what give Gartic Phone its charm and replayability, even without defined win conditions.
In contrast, our game focuses on Challenge, Discovery, and Fellowship. Players need to collaborate to figure out the target word while trying to identify the Spy, and by using asymmetric roles and clearly defined win conditions, the game adds emotional investment and tension that Gartic Phone intentionally avoids in their mechanics to promote a more laid-back, stress-free experience.
Another important difference is how each game keeps players engaged. In Gartic Phone, everyone draws or guesses at the same time, thus minimizing downtime and keeping the energy high. Our game, on the other hand, uses a turn-by-turn format to allow players to gain inspiration from others’ drawings as more traits are being expressed. However, this could lead to idle waiting that would eventually affect players’ experiences, especially in larger groups.
Ultimately, both games are social drawing games, but they aim to deliver different kinds of fun. Gartic Phone encourages players to let go of expectations and laugh together while our game invites players to think more critically and promotes stronger collaboration. By reworking this familiar telephone-style drawing game, we’ve designed something that offers a more strategic and emotionally engaging experience.
