Gartic Phone

Submission 2,474

About

Gartic Phone is a free online multiplayer video game in which you have to guess the drawings displayed on the screen. The title has characteristics similar to those of the classic "Telephone" game, such as the creation of art and the need for collaborative work. The game has inspired memes, and a lot of streamers have used the game to interact with fans over the years.

History

Gartic Phone^[1] was released in December 2020, developed and published by Onrizon.^[2] The game is a mix of Pictionary and the "Telephone" game (where someone whispers into the next person's ear in a chain, and the group compares the original phrase to what was whispered. See example below). In Gartic Phone, players must create an image based on a phrase, then the following player must guess the phrase based on the image, which the following player must draw, and so on.

Online Presence

Twitch

Gartic Phone has a large presence on Twitch,^[3] due to the game's online multiplayer format enabling streamers to engage with their audiences in creative ways. The game has accumulated 707,600 followers on the streaming platform. On August 11th, 2021, TikTok^[4] user @emmanuel_bonilla shared a clip of Twitch streamer @hagenwolfhowl in which he gathered several professional animators to participate in the game. The post (below, left) garnered 3.2 million plays and 594,500 likes in two years. Another example of the game usage on stream was posted to TikTok^[5] by @rubberross_tiktok on September 8th, 2022, showing different drawings of Family Guy's Peter Griffin. The video (below, right) received 10.2 million plays and 1.6 million likes in eight months.

Gartic Phone Bad Drawings

As the game hit the mainstream streamers, more people got to test their drawing skills. Some of the most original and funny drawings became memes on social media. YouTube^[6] user @H2ODelirious shared their worst drawings on Gartic Phone on June 4th, 2021, garnering 252,207 views and 17,000 likes in two years (seen below).