Browser games with friends: a practical setup guide

Pick a format before sharing a link

Your situation	A useful choice	What to prepare
2–8 people online at the same time	Friend Match	One browser session per person; English questions
Exactly two people who want to talk	Prediction pairs, below	A call or a shared room; no game account
A group with different language preferences	The conversation games below	Agree on one language everyone understands
Friends replying at different times	One question in your existing chat	A deadline for replies; manual scoring

Friend Match is a game about predicting a friend’s choices. It is not an action game, a built-in video call or an asynchronous message board. Keep your existing call open if you want to talk.

Start a shared browser room

1. Open Friend Match, enter a nickname and choose Make a room.
2. Select Invite your people and send the private link to your friends through your usual chat. Each person opens it, enters a nickname and chooses Join your friends.
3. The host chooses a question theme and 6, 10 or 12 rounds. Start with 6 to check that everyone understands the format.
4. Once at least two people are connected, the host chooses Let’s play. The highlighted person answers about themselves; everyone else predicts their answer privately.
5. Choose within the 30-second question window. Answers are revealed afterward. Avoid saying your choice aloud before the reveal.

On a phone, open the invitation in a full browser if the chat app’s embedded browser struggles. Keep the game tab in the foreground during a round. One shared screen exposes answers; separate devices are easier. Share the room link only with the people you intend to invite.

Three conversation games you can run yourself

These are separate activities for your call or chat. The prompts cannot be imported into Friend Match.

1. Prediction pairs: exactly two players

One person privately commits to A or B; the other guesses, then the first reveals their choice. A correct prediction earns one point for the guesser. Swap roles each round. Play six rounds, giving each person three guesses; a tied score stays a tie.

• A free afternoon: explore a new neighborhood or finish a home project?
• A surprise gift: a useful everyday object or tickets to a shared experience?
• Learn a skill: take a structured course or build a small project immediately?
• A group meal: cook one dish together or bring separate dishes to share?

Ask “What would change your answer?” after the reveal. This invites a reason instead of treating a preference as a personality diagnosis.

2. One plan, three constraints: 3–8 players

Plan a shared afternoon with no spending, no car and one indoor activity. Each player adds one proposal in turn; the next must preserve earlier agreed constraints. After two rounds of suggestions, vote for a plan you could actually do. There is no score: the outcome is one workable plan.

3. Two clues, one object: 2–8 players

Think of an everyday object. Give a clue about its use, then a clue about its shape. Each other player gets one guess after each clue. Example: “It helps keep a place” and “It is flat and narrow” could describe a bookmark. Accept other answers that genuinely fit both clues, then reveal your intended object. Rotate the clue-giver after each object.

If someone cannot join

Check the full invitation link and internet connection first. If the room stays disconnected, stop the timed round and use a conversation game. For friends in different time zones, post one prediction question in chat and reveal it after everyone has replied. That version uses your chat and manual scoring, not a persistent Friend Match round.