Party (pass-the-phone, local multiplayer) game prompts for AI game makers
Games for a room full of people on one device: pass the phone, share a keyboard, or play on a TV. Rules must be explainable in ten seconds.
Tips for party (pass-the-phone, local multiplayer) games
Add a 'pass the phone to NAME' screen between turns, with a tap to continue, so nobody sees the next player's secret.
Assign controls that can't overlap. On one keyboard, use keys far apart (Q and P, Z and M) so players don't bump hands.
Ask for a short rules card on the start screen, written in three lines. If it needs more, the game is too complicated for a party.
starter
Hot potato word bomb
Make a pass-the-phone party game. A category appears (e.g. 'Fruits', 'Things in a kitchen'). A bomb fuse timer runs for a hidden random time between 20 and 60 seconds. The holder must say an answer out loud, then tap the big PASS button and hand the phone on. When the timer runs out, the bomb shows a cartoon puff and whoever holds the phone loses the round. Ticking sound gets faster near the end (Web Audio API). 30 built-in categories in an editable list. Big bold buttons, works in portrait.
A hidden random timer creates tension with zero scoring logic.
Follow-up tweaks
Add player names and a loss counter; first to 3 losses is out.
Add a 'letter' mode where answers must start with a random letter.
starter
Reaction duel
Make a two-player reaction game for one phone or keyboard. The screen splits into a top half (player 1, upside-down text) and bottom half (player 2). After a random delay of 2 to 6 seconds, the centre turns green and says GO. The first player to tap their half wins the point. Tapping before GO loses the point. Keyboard: Q for player 1, P for player 2. First to 5 points wins. Show scores on each half facing that player. Big colours, a short flash on the winning half.
Upside-down text for the far player is a small detail that makes face-to-face phone play work.
Follow-up tweaks
Add a fake-out: sometimes the centre turns red for a moment, and tapping on red loses a point.
Add a 4-player mode with each corner of the screen.
intermediate · tested ✓
Secret word spy
Make a social deduction party game for 4 to 10 players on one phone. Enter player names. Each round, the game picks a secret word from an editable list of locations. Pass the phone: each player taps to reveal their card privately; all see the word except one random player, who sees 'You are the spy'. The reveal screen hides again before passing on. Then a 5 minute discussion timer runs while players ask each other questions out loud. When time's up, show a voting screen where the group taps the name they suspect. Reveal the spy and the word. Calm dark design with large text.
The hide-before-pass screen is what makes secret-role games playable on one device.
Follow-up tweaks
Add a scoring system across rounds: spy escapes = 2 points, group catches spy = 1 point each.
Let the spy guess the word at the end for a bonus.
intermediate
Drawing guess relay
Make a pass-the-phone drawing and guessing game for 4 to 8 players. Player 1 gets a random word and draws it on a canvas with finger or mouse (3 colours, an eraser, clear button) within 40 seconds. Player 2 sees only the drawing and types a guess. Player 3 sees only the guess and draws it. Continue alternating until everyone has played. At the end, show the whole chain from start to finish, one step at a time with a Next button. Editable word list of 50 simple objects. Bright paper-like background.
Describing what each player can see at each step keeps the relay rules correct.
Follow-up tweaks
Add a save button that downloads the full chain as one image.
Let players choose a 'hard words' list.
intermediate
Four-player sumo
Make a local multiplayer arena game for 2 to 4 players on one keyboard. Each player is a round blob on a circular platform. Controls: P1 WASD, P2 arrow keys, P3 IJKL, P4 numpad 8456. Blobs push each other with simple momentum and bounce. Falling off the edge eliminates a player for the round. Last blob standing gets a point; first to 3 points wins. The platform shrinks slowly after 20 seconds. Each player has a distinct colour and pattern. Show a big round counter and winner banner.
Assigning four non-overlapping key sets avoids the hardest local-multiplayer bug before it appears.
Follow-up tweaks
Add gamepad support for up to 4 controllers using the Gamepad API.
Add a dash with each player's action key (E, /, O, numpad 0).
starter
Would you rather vote
Make a party voting game. Show a light-hearted 'Would you rather' question with two options on big buttons. Players take turns tapping their choice; after each tap, a 'pass to next player' screen appears. When the host taps Reveal, show the results as two growing bars with percentages and a fun comment if it's a tie. Editable list of 40 family-friendly questions. Shuffle without repeats. Player count is set on the start screen.
A pass screen between votes keeps answers private on one device.
Follow-up tweaks
Add a 'guess the majority' mode where players score for predicting the winning side.
Let players add their own questions on the start screen.
starter
Charades timer and deck
Make a charades helper game for teams. The phone shows a word in large text; the actor holds the phone facing themselves. Swipe up or tap the green button for 'got it', swipe down or tap red for 'skip'. Each turn lasts 60 seconds with a visible countdown and a beep at 10 seconds. After the turn, show a list of words got and skipped. Track scores for Team A and Team B, alternating turns. Editable word list split into Easy, Medium, Hard. Clean, high-contrast design.
Swipe and button alternatives make the game usable whether the phone is held up or on a table.
Follow-up tweaks
Add a 'tilt the phone' mode using device orientation for got it/skip.
Add categories like animals, jobs and sports.
starter
Tap race tug of war
Make a two-team tug of war game for one tablet or phone. A rope with a flag sits in the middle. The left team taps the left half as fast as they can, the right team taps the right half. Each tap pulls the flag 2 pixels toward that side. First to pull the flag past their line wins. Support multi-touch so several fingers count. Keyboard: A for left, L for right. Show a 3-2-1 countdown and a winner banner with confetti.
Mentioning multi-touch is essential; without it, the AI often counts only one finger.
Follow-up tweaks
Add a best-of-3 match with a scoreboard.
Make the rope slip back toward the centre slowly so the losing team can recover.
advanced
Party trivia host mode
Make a host-led party game for a TV or laptop with up to 6 teams. Setup screen: team names and colours. Rounds: picture round (uploaded images), music-free sound round skipped, speed round (true/false with the host clicking which team answered first), and final wager round where each team bets up to half their points. The host controls everything with the mouse: reveal question, award points (+/- buttons per team), next. Question data in an editable list grouped by round. Show a scoreboard animation between rounds with teams moving up and down. Big type for a room, dark theme.
Keeping the host in control avoids networking, which a single-file game can't do reliably.
30 fill-in master templates with worked examples, 12 multi-step build recipes (what to prompt, what to check after each step, and the fix prompt when it breaks), 40 bug-fix prompts by symptom, 20 art-direction briefs with upload tips, and a game-design + launch checklist. Markdown files, instant download.
One-time $12. Use and adapt the prompts in your own games, commercial ones included. 14-day fix-or-refund if it doesn't work as described. Secure checkout by Stripe.
Free sampler
T01 · Path defense master template (template)
Use it for: classic tower defense with a fixed route and placed towers. The most reliable starting point for the genre.
Variables
Variable
What to write
Example
{{theme}}
Setting in a few words
backyard garden
{{enemy}}
Who walks the path
slugs
{{base}}
What the player protects
the garden gate
{{waypoints}}
Path as a waypoint description
6 waypoints snaking left to right
{{tower_1..3}}
Name, price, role
Pea Shooter, 25, single target
{{start_money}} / {{reward}}
Economy
100 / 5
{{lives}} / {{waves}}
Lose and win conditions
10 / 12
{{palette}}
Visual style
flat bright greens and browns
Master prompt
Make a one-screen 2D tower defense game set in a {{theme}}.
PATH: {{enemy}} walk a fixed path through {{waypoints}} to {{base}}. Draw the path clearly. Enemies move from waypoint to waypoint and never leave the path.
BUILDING: The player clicks or taps an empty build tile beside the path to open a small menu of towers:
- {{tower_1}}
- {{tower_2}}
- {{tower_3}}
Greyed-out buttons when unaffordable. Tapping a built tower shows its range circle and a Sell button (refund 50%).
ECONOMY: Start with {{start_money}} coins. Each enemy defeated gives {{reward}} coins with a floating "+{{reward}}".
WIN/LOSE: {{base}} has {{lives}} lives; each enemy that reaches it costs 1. Survive {{waves}} waves to win.
WAVES: Waves start with a Start Wave button. Use a wave list: each wave adds enemies and +10% enemy health; every 4th wave adds a faster enemy type; the last wave has a boss with a health bar.
FEEDBACK: Enemies flash white when hit, pop into particles when defeated, and the screen shakes briefly when a life is lost.
HUD: coins, lives and wave number at the top; Start Wave and Pause buttons.
STYLE: {{palette}}, simple shapes drawn in code, no external images.
CONSTRAINTS: one HTML file, works with mouse and touch, all movement based on elapsed time, Restart button on the win and lose screens.
Worked example
Make a one-screen 2D tower defense game set in a backyard garden. PATH: slugs walk a fixed path through 6 waypoints snaking from the left edge to the garden gate on the right… Towers: Sprinkler, 10 coins, slows enemies 40% in range; Pea Shooter, 25 coins, single target; Bee Hive, 40 coins, small area damage. Start with 100 coins, 5 per slug. 10 lives, 12 waves. Flat bright greens and browns…
After the first generation, check: enemies stay on the path; towers only fire within the drawn range; selling refunds the right amount; the boss appears on the last wave.
Strong follow-ups
"Add a 2x speed button. Don't change anything else."
"Add upgrades: tap a tower to upgrade to level 2 (+50% damage) for 1.5x its price."
T13 · Classroom quiz engine template (template)
Use it for: any subject quiz you'll reuse with new questions every week.
Variables
Variable
Example
{{subject}}
Year 6 science: forces
{{questions}}
your list, pasted in the format below
{{timer}}
20 seconds, or "no timer"
{{teams}}
2 to 4 teams, or "single player"
{{reward}}
a star burst and a "Great thinking!" message
Master prompt
Make a quiz game for {{subject}}.
DATA: put all questions in an editable array at the very top of the code, clearly labelled QUESTIONS. Each item: question, four answers, index of the correct answer, optional explanation. Use exactly these questions:
{{questions}}
FLOW: shuffle questions and answer order; never repeat within a game. One question at a time with four large buttons (keys 1-4 also work).
TIMER: {{timer}}.
TEAMS: {{teams}}. If teams: show whose turn it is; correct = +10 to that team; turns rotate each question.
FEEDBACK: correct: {{reward}}. Wrong or timeout: chosen answer red, correct answer green, explanation shown for 3 seconds.
END: scoreboard, list of missed questions with correct answers, Play Again.
DESIGN: high contrast, at least 28 px answer text, readable on a projector and a phone.
CONSTRAINTS: one HTML file, works offline, no external fonts or images.
Question format to paste
Q: What force pulls objects toward Earth? | Friction | Gravity* | Magnetism | Air resistance | Gravity pulls everything with mass toward the Earth's centre.
(An asterisk marks the correct answer; the last field is the explanation.)
Check: the asterisk is removed from displayed text; explanations show for wrong answers only; teams rotate correctly after a timeout.
Ship a tower defense in 6 prompts · Step 1 of 6 (recipe-step)
Make a one-screen 2D tower defense game. Cartoon beetles walk a fixed path of 6 waypoints from the left edge to a tree stump on the right. The player clicks or taps a grass tile to place a Leaf Turret for 25 coins; it shoots the nearest beetle within 120 px once per second. Start with 100 coins; each beetle gives 5 coins. The stump has 10 lives; each beetle reaching it costs 1. A Start Wave button sends 8 beetles. Show coins, lives and wave at the top. Shapes drawn in code, flat greens and browns. Restart button on game over.
Check after:
Beetles follow the path exactly and never cut corners through grass.
Turrets can't be placed on the path or on top of each other.
Coins rise on each defeat; lives drop when a beetle reaches the stump.
If it breaks:
*Beetles leave the path:* "Move enemies from waypoint to waypoint in a straight line at constant speed; when within 2 px of a waypoint, snap to it and target the next one. Don't change anything else."
*Towers placed on the path:* "Mark path tiles as unbuildable using a grid; highlight buildable tiles on hover in green and unbuildable in red."
A cozy farm in 8 prompts · Step 1 of 8 (recipe-step)
Make a cozy farming game with a 6x4 grid of soil plots. Tap a plot to cycle: till, plant, water. Seeds: Turnip (2 coins, 2 days), Carrot (5, 3 days), Pumpkin (12, 5 days), chosen from a seed bar. A Sleep button advances the day. Watered plots grow one stage per day (3 visible stages); unwatered plots don't grow. Tap a ripe plant to harvest into a basket. Start with 20 coins. Show coins and day.
Check: crops only grow when watered; watering resets each morning.
Checklist · Core loop (checklist)
[ ] I can describe the game in one sentence: the player does X to achieve Y while avoiding Z.
[ ] The main action is fun on its own for 30 seconds, before any upgrades or levels.
[ ] Every action gives an immediate visible result.
[ ] There's a reason to do the action again (score, progress, story, collection).
[ ] The game has a clear end state for a session (game over, level complete, day end) or a natural stopping point for idle/cozy games.
[ ] I removed features that don't support the core loop.
Fix prompt: "Remove [feature]. It doesn't support the core loop. Don't change anything else."
Checklist · Mobile and touch (checklist)
[ ] The game works with touch only, without hover.
[ ] Touch targets are at least 48-64 px, with space between them.
[ ] Multi-touch works (move and jump at once).
[ ] The page doesn't scroll, zoom or pull-to-refresh during play.
[ ] The game fits portrait and landscape, or clearly asks to rotate.
[ ] HUD stays clear of notches and rounded corners.