Story Chain online
Write one line, pass it on, and read the wreckage out at the end.
- Players
- 4–10 players
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Length
- 20–30 min
- Type
- Writing · Party
Story Chain is Consequences, the paper-and-pencil game where a story gets written by a whole table one line at a time and nobody can see more than the line before theirs. Everybody starts a story, then the stories pass one seat along, over and over, until every story has been through every pair of hands.
Then they are read out from the top, and the reason people have played this for a century becomes obvious immediately: four sensible lines written by four people who could not see each other add up to something nobody would ever have written on purpose.
Passing paper round a table is the fiddly part, and it is the part we do. The stories rotate so nobody gets their own back, nobody sees more than one line of context, and everybody writes at the same time instead of waiting a turn.
How to play Story Chain
- 1Create a room and share the 6-letter code with 3 or more friends.
- 2Everybody opens a story with one line — anything at all.
- 3The stories pass one seat along. You see only the line immediately before yours and write the next one.
- 4That repeats until every story has a line from every player.
- 5The stories are read out from the beginning, and the room votes for its favourite.
Story Chain FAQ
How many people do you need for Story Chain?+
Four is the minimum and it works up to ten. More players makes each story longer rather than making anyone wait, because everybody writes at the same time.
Will I see the whole story while writing?+
No — only the single line before yours. That is the entire game, and it is enforced by the server rather than by asking people not to scroll.
Do I ever get my own story back?+
No. The rotation moves one seat per line, so your story reaches everybody else before it comes back to you at the reading.
How long does a game take?+
About twenty to thirty minutes for a group of six, most of which is the reading at the end. The writing is a minute per line.
Is it the same as Telephone Pictionary?+
It is the same rotation with the drawing removed, which makes it the one to pick for a group who will not draw, a bad connection, or a phone keyboard.
Ready to play Story Chain?
Create a room, share the code, and start in seconds — free.
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