Update
Pick up where you left off: your games are on the home page
The home page now lists the games you've played in the last two weeks and whose turn it is, and invite links open properly inside Instagram, WhatsApp and other in-app browsers.
Texting games for couples in different time zones
Some weeks there is no good time to call. One of you is asleep when the other gets home, and the conversation shrinks to good morning and good night. A slow game fills the gap. You make a move when you wake up, they answer on their lunch break, and there is one more thread running between you all day. Every game below keeps its board on the server, so it is exactly where you left it whenever either of you opens the link.
Turn-based games to play over text
1. Checkers
The best slow game here. One move at a time, real decisions, and a game can run for days without losing the thread. Captures are forced, so there is always something to look at when it is your go.
About 15 min a game · How to play Checkers
2. Reversi
One disc a turn, and the board can swing completely in the last few moves, so neither of you gives up halfway through the week. The last move is highlighted when you come back, so you can see what they did.
About 10 min a game · How to play Reversi
3. Battleship
A shot a text. Send your move with a guess about where their carrier is and wait for the reply. It stretches well over a day or two, and the fleets stay hidden on the server the whole time.
About 10 min a game · How to play Battleship
4. Dots & Boxes
Short turns early, then a tense ending where one wrong line gives away a whole chain. Pick the 6 by 6 grid if you want it to last the week.
About 5 min a game · How to play Dots & Boxes
5. Connect 4
Quick enough to finish in one burst of texting when you do overlap, and slow enough to play one disc at a time when you don't. Rematch keeps the score running.
About 4 min a game · How to play Connect 4
6. How Well Do You Know Me
Not turn-based, but it waits for you. Answer your side whenever you have a minute, and the reveal happens once you have both locked in. It gives you something better to text about than what you had for lunch.
About 5 min a game · How to play How Well Do You Know Me
How playing over text works
Start a room and send the link once. After that the link is the game: open it any time and you are back in your seat with the board as it stands. You don't need to be online at the same moment, and nothing is lost if you close the tab or your phone dies.
The home page keeps a Your games list of everything you have played in the last two weeks, with Your turn marked on the ones waiting for you. That is the only inbox you need.
When it is their move and they are not in the room, a Nudge them button appears. It opens your share sheet with the link and a line saying it's their move, so reminding them takes one tap and lands in the chat you already use.
Making a slow game feel like more than a game
Send a line with every move. It doesn't have to be about the game. The move is the excuse, and the message is the point.
Keep a stake running. Loser plans the next call, or picks the film, or owes a letter. Rematch keeps the same room and a running score, so you can play a best of seven over a month.
When you do finally overlap, finish the game live. Moves sync as they happen, so a game that started as one text a day can end with both of you on a call and the last ten moves played in a minute.
Questions
- Can we play if we're never online at the same time?
- Yes, for any turn-based game. The board lives on the server. Make your move whenever you like and the other person sees it the next time they open the link.
- How do I know when it's my turn?
- Open the home page and look at Your games, where rooms waiting on you say Your turn. If the room is open in a background tab, the tab title changes to say so as well. There are no push notifications and nothing to give permission for.
- What are good texting games for couples?
- Ones that survive long gaps: Checkers, Reversi, Battleship and Dots and Boxes. Each move is a small decision you can make in a minute, and the game still makes sense a day later.
- Do we have to keep the tab open?
- No. Close it. The link brings you back to the same seat in the same game, as long as you open it in the same browser you joined from.
- Is it free?
- Yes. There are no ads, no accounts and nothing to buy.