Questions
Short answers to what people ask most at the table, from a phone that fell asleep to a storyteller who ran out of time.
Getting going
Do we need to install anything, or sign up?
No. FlickerTale runs in the web browser on the big screen and on every phone. There are no accounts and nothing to download.
What do we need?
One screen everyone can see (a TV, a laptop, a tablet) and a phone each. A game needs at least three at the table and seats up to sixteen. House players count, so two friends and a house player make a table. See how to play.
Does it work on a smart TV?
Often. Open flickertale.com in the TV’s own web browser and choose Set the table. Some TV browsers are old and slow; if the table stutters or will not load, a laptop plugged into the TV with a cable is the most reliable way to play. Casting a browser tab to the TV works too, a second or so behind.
How do people join?
On their phone, they open flickertale.com and type the five-letter code from the big screen, or point their camera at the QR code beside it. Copy the link for the group chat on the big screen gives you a link to send as well.
Can two people share one phone?
No: each phone holds one player’s hand, and the hand is secret. The second person can join on another phone, or watch.
Someone arrived late. Can they still play?
Yes. Once a game has started they join as a watcher and see the table on their phone. They tap Take a seat next round, and are dealt a hand when the next round begins.
When something goes wrong
My phone went to sleep, or I answered a message. Did I lose my seat?
No. Your seat, your hand and your score are held for the whole game. Come back to the tab and it reconnects by itself; the screen catches up in a moment. While you were away, the clock kept going: if it ran out, the card already chosen for you played itself, and a guess was picked for you. Your phone shows which one it chose (“plays itself at 0”) before it happens.
I refreshed the page, or closed the tab.
Open the same link again on the same phone, in the same browser: your phone remembers your seat and puts you straight back in it. If you join from a different browser, the table sees a newcomer; the host can remove your old seat.
The big screen went dark, reloaded, or lost its connection.
The game does not live on the big screen, so nothing is lost. Reload that page on the same screen and it picks up where it was. If the big screen is gone for more than ten seconds, the game pauses rather than play the reveal to nobody, and every clock waits. If it stays away, after a minute the host role passes to a player’s phone, whose menu offers Continue without the board.
The storyteller ran out of time.
If they had already chosen a card and written a clue, it is sent as it is. If not, the story passes to the next player for this round, with no penalty, and they keep their place for next time.
Nobody is guessing, and the clock is not moving.
The 30 seconds to guess start when the first person confirms a guess, so a table deep in conversation is not rushed. Guessing never lasts more than two minutes, however long nobody guesses.
Somebody left, or their phone died.
They keep their seat, and the clock plays for them, so the table never waits: when everyone else has slipped in a card, the last one gets at most 15 seconds more. Before the game starts, the host can remove a seat with the × beside its name on the big screen. When the host is on a phone, Remove someone in the phone’s menu works at any time, and the menu names anyone who has stopped responding for two turns in a row. A removed player’s score stays on the board.
The game says the room was not found.
A room ends two hours after the last move, and sooner if nobody ever joined it. Start a new one from the front door: it only takes a moment.
Phones will not connect on this Wi-Fi.
Some guest and hotel networks block the connection the game needs. Try the phones on mobile data, or share one phone’s connection as a hotspot.
During the game
Why did the storyteller score nothing?
Because everybody found their card, or nobody did. A clue that is too plain or too obscure scores the storyteller nothing, and everyone else 2. The best clue is one that some of the table understand.
Can I change my guess?
Yes. Tapping a card only picks it; confirming locks it in, and you can still change it until the clock runs out.
Why do some cards on the table belong to nobody?
Some ways to play (Party, for one) shuffle in a card straight from the deck as a decoy. A guess on it scores nobody.
Is there sound?
The big screen has a soft sound track: a clock that ticks down, a bell for the reveal. It stays off until someone turns it on with the sound chip in the corner of the lobby, which says Sound off until then. Phones stay quiet; on Android, a small buzz marks moments that are about you. Everything that has a sound also has a picture, so the game plays well muted.
Someone wrote an unkind clue or name.
Everything anyone types lives only as long as the room, and a player can be removed (see above). Our content policy says what we ask of everyone, and how to tell us about a problem.
What are house players?
Players the computer plays, for when you are a seat short or on your own. They tell stories, bluff and guess like anyone, and never see your hand. Some think with Claude, an AI. More in house players.
Everything else
What does FlickerTale keep about us?
Very little, and nothing that says who you are. A game is gone two hours after the last move; your phone keeps your name and your seat in its own storage. Privacy and cookies and storage say exactly what, where and for how long.
Does it cost anything?
No. There are no adverts and nothing to buy.
Who painted the cards?
The paintings were made with an image model from scenes we wrote, then chosen by hand, one by one. They are free to share under Creative Commons. See credits.
Something else is wrong, or I have an idea.
Leave a note. It asks for your words and nothing else. If you would like a reply, email support@flickertale.com.
Last changed on 29 September 2026.