Headlines
4 to 16 players
Head to head. Each prompt goes to two of you, everyone else picks the funnier answer. With up to 8 players you get two prompts each; past that, one.
Late editionFree · No ads · 3 to 16 players · Rated 18+
The write-and-vote party game you can play anywhere.
On the telly, on a Discord stream, or at a pub table with just your phones. Free, no ads, 3 to 16 players plus an audience. Want the prompts to be about your lot? That too.
Headline of the nightSat, 7 Mar
The worst thing to hear during surgery is “Right, who’s got the YouTube tutorial?”
Pictured: the surgeon
By Priya · 6 of 7 votes
Also in this edition“Has anyone seen my watch?” · “Oops.” · “Is it meant to beep like that”
How it works
Prompt comes up. Type something funny. Everyone votes.
A prompt comes up
Same on every phone. Something with a gap in it, begging for the wrong answer.
The worst thing to find in a sandwich isEveryone types on their phone
120 characters, one big box. Stuck? Tap Inspire me for a starter.
a second, smaller sandwich26 / 120Everyone votes
Answers go up with no names on them. Tap the funnier one. Then the names flip in.
“A receipt for a bigger sandwich”“a second, smaller sandwich”
The rounds
Five ways to win the room.
A standard game is three rounds and takes about 15 minutes: Headlines, a Gossip Column, then a Front Page to finish. Three of you? Front Pages and Porkies instead. The Long Night runs five rounds and ends on a Last Word.
Front Page
3 to 16 players
Everyone answers the same prompt and every answer goes up at once. Pick your favourite, or rank your top three when there are 8 or more. The audience can sneak a letter onto the board.
Gossip Column
4 to 16 players
Prompts about someone in the room. Two of you answer about them, everyone votes, and the person it is about gets the casting vote: theirs counts double.
Porkies
3 to 16 players
A true fact with a bit missing. Everyone writes a fake that sounds real, then you all try to spot the truth. Points for finding it, and for every friend you fool.
Last Word
3 to 16 players
The finale. One prompt, up to three answers each, two minutes to write them, a ranked vote and double points. Comebacks happen here.
With a TV or without
Telly optional. Phones mandatory.
Phones only
Every phone shows the prompt, the answers and the vote. Each time, someone gets made Reader: they read the answers out to the table and their tap moves things on.
Built for pubs, road trips, barbecues and anywhere the telly’s taken.
On a TV or laptop
Open playbackchat.com/tv/CODE in any browser: a laptop on the HDMI, a cast tab, or a Discord screen share. It shows the code, the cards and the scores, and can read the answers aloud.
Phones still do all the work, and the clock runs on each phone, so stream lag can’t eat your timer.
Your own deck
Prompts about your lot.
Tell Backchat who it’s about, the names it can use and the stories it should know, or let it ask: it writes follow-up questions, and can send a couple to everyone’s phone. It writes about 100 prompts for your room, enough for a night of replays, from who is most likely to what really happened, at your room’s rating. You check the proofs and strike the duds before anyone else sees them.
In preview. Free for now.
Only the names you give it, and everyone in the room will see them. The details you type are sent to Google Gemini to write the prompts. More on that.
Who is it about?
Dave’s bucks in Byron
Anything it should know
Dave has started three renovations and finished none. Priya runs every group chat.
Who’s here
Pick your crowd before you pick your words.
The host sets who’s in the room, and that sets the prompts and the answer filter together. Christmas with the grandparents and the bucks are different games.
- Kids
- Family prompts only. Swearing and slurs in answers are blocked.
- Work
- Family prompts plus the work-safe Mates ones. Swearing is masked and slurs are blocked.
- MatesDefault
- The default. Adult and rude prompts, nothing hateful. Swearing is allowed and slurs are masked.
- After Dark18+
- Everything, including sex, drugs and the dark stuff. Nothing in the answers is masked. Only the host can switch it on, and every phone gets told when they do.
Backchat is rated 18+. Anyone can blur swearing on their own phone, whatever the room.
Safety
Cheeky, not cruel.
- Word filter
- Every answer is checked on our server before anyone sees it. Kids and Work rooms block slurs, Mates masks them, and only After Dark, which the host has to switch on, lets them through.
- Report
- Long-press any answer to report it. We read them.
- Block
- Hide a player’s answers on your phone for the rest of the game.
- Remove and ban
- The host can remove anyone, or ban them for good so they cannot get back into that room from that device.
- Strike
- The host can pull an answer during the vote or the reveal. The Staff Writer fills the gap.
The fine print
The fine print, in large print.
- Nobody pays to join
- Free for the whole room. No ads, no coins, nothing to unlock before the game is the whole game.
- No account needed
- Pick a name and you are in. Your phone gets a random key, not a profile.
- Nobody gets dropped
- Lose signal and you come back to the same seat with the same score. Miss an answer and the Staff Writer covers for you.
- Rounds that move
- Writing and voting end the moment everyone is in. The host can add 15 seconds or skip.
- Anonymous until the votes are in
- Names only flip in after voting closes, so nobody can just vote for their mate.
- Room for the whole pub
- Up to 16 players. Everyone else joins as the audience, votes as a bloc, reacts, and takes a seat when one frees up.
- Same room, next game
- Finished? The host can move the whole room to another Empyreal game with the same code and the same names. Nobody rejoins.
Questions
- Is Backchat free?
- Yes. Free for the whole room, no ads, no account.
- Do we need a TV?
- No. It plays on phones alone, or put the room on any telly or laptop with a link.
- How many people can play?
- 3 to 16 players, plus an audience that votes and reacts.
- Is it like Quiplash?
- It’s the same kind of game: write the funniest answer, everyone votes. Backchat is free, needs no owner or TV, and can write prompts about your group.
- Can we play over Zoom or Discord?
- Yes, with no screen share. Everyone plays on their own phone.
Get the group chat in.
Start a room, share the code, and see who’s actually funny.