How to Play
Surrealist art with your mates. Dead simple. Here's the gist.
Surrealist artists invented this in the 1920s. They were a bit odd. Good odd though.
- Everyone draws a horizontal strip of an image
- You can only see a sliver of what came before
- Slices get stitched together at the end
- Results are usually gloriously weird
Like a visual game of telephone. Except sometimes the results are actually good.
Few decisions to make:
Title & Theme
Name it. Give it a prompt. Keep the theme vague enough to be interesting. "Strange creatures" beats "draw exactly three blue cats".
Souls (3-8)
More souls, taller corpse. Four or five's the sweet spot.
Slice Size
Small: Quick sketches
Medium: Most popular. Just right.
Large: Proper drawings. Takes longer.
Turn Mode
Sequential: One at a time. Orderly. Someone might ghost you though.
Open: Free-for-all. Chaos. Faster.
Privacy
Public: Anyone can join.
Private: Invite only. Your lot.
Your turn? Right then:
- Check the reference
You'll see the bottom edge of whoever went before. Line things up. Or don't. Up to you.
- Make your slice
800px wide. Height depends on the game settings. Use whatever you like to make it.
- Upload
Drag and drop. JPEG, PNG, WebP. Max 5MB. Wrong size? We'll sort it.
- Done
Locked in. Well, mostly. You can swap it until the next person sees it.
Tips:
- Don't stress about matching perfectly. Happy accidents are the point.
- Bold lines work better than subtle gradients
- When in doubt, add eyes. Everything's better with unexpected eyes.
Affinity Studio
Proper tools. In your browser. Free. No account faff.
Photopea
Basically Photoshop. In your browser. Layers, the lot.
Excalidraw
Sketchy hand-drawn style. Quick and charming.
Canva
Drag and drop. Templates galore. Good for collages.
GIMP
Desktop app. Been around ages. Bit quirky. Does everything.
Krita
Desktop painting app. Brilliant brushes. Proper illustration stuff.
MS Paint works too. We've seen absolute bangers made in Paint. Creativity over tools.
While you wait:
Others do their bits. You can't see the full thing yet. Patience.
When it's done:
Slices get stitched automatically. Ends up in the morgue. Moment of truth.
Voting:
Anyone can vote. One per game. No prizes. Just glory.
- Join a sequential game? Take your turn. Don't ghost everyone.
- Follow the theme. "Peaceful meadows" doesn't mean draw a toilet.
- Once you've submitted, you're in. No backing out.
- Keep it PG-ish. We have filters, but don't be daft.
- Corpse stuck? Creator can boot inactive souls after a week.
Image specs:
- 800px wide (always)
- 100px, 200px, or 300px tall (depends on game)
- JPEG, PNG, or WebP
- Max 5MB
Wrong size?
We'll resize and crop it. You'll see a warning first. Not the end of the world.
Best way to learn is to have a go. Jump in.
Still lost? Fair enough. The surrealists were a confused bunch too. Just dive in. History if you're curious →