Life Games: a social sim for chats

Group chats tend to run on memes and little else. Life Games gives a chat a shared game instead: every member gets a character with coins, a job, family ties and a place on the leaderboard. Friends then start competing in the same thread where they already talk.

The bot describes itself as a clone of a well known family and marriage game for Telegram, so players of that style will feel at home. Commands are in English, and the game works in any group.

How a first session goes

You add the bot to a group and send /start. After that, /status shows your profile: balance, level, family links and so on.

A sensible first move is picking an occupation. The /job and /work commands open the list of professions that decide how you earn in-game coins.

Family, friends and a bit of chaos

The social side revolves around relationships between players. You can hug or kiss another member, or ask them to become your partner, child, parent, brother or sister. Ties can be dropped with commands such as /leavepartner.

There are team modes as well: teams, organizations and an in-game virus mechanic with a seven-day cooldown on curing yourself. All of it is fictional and playful, though the tone is jokey and sometimes adult, so it is a poor fit for chats with children.

Coins, the bank and quick mini-games

The currency is coins. You can store them in the bank (/deposit and /withdraw), send them to friends (/pay), give them as gifts (/gift) or hand them to a random member with /giveaway.

For quick fun there are mini-games: darts, basketball, football, bowling and slot machines. The /bet command lets you wager coins.

• Darts, basketball, football, bowling: each throw decides if a reward lands.
• Slots: a classic machine played with game coins.
• Duels: /duel challenges a specific player, /randomduel finds a random opponent.
• Stealing: /steal takes coins from others, so leaving everything in your pocket is risky.

Shop, chests and the daily wheel

The shop (/shop, also /buy and /market) sells upgrades and items. Chests open with /chests, and the /spin wheel gives a daily chance at a bonus. Check daily tasks with /quests.

If you invite friends with /referral, the bot rewards you with chests. It is tempting, but invite people who will actually enjoy the game.

Weekly tournaments and rankings

Every week the bot runs tournaments for duels and for wealth. The wealth tournament counts the top ten players by coins in hand plus coins in the bank. The overall ranking is available through /top.

/server switches the game server, and /rename changes the name of your city or pet. It is a small thing, but chats quickly start joking about the names.

Worth knowing before you start

You can start for free, but the bot also has /donate and /tier, which offer bonuses for voluntarily supporting the project. Decide for yourself whether paid upgrades are worth it, and never spend more than you would be fine losing.

Bets and slots run on game coins. Even so, those mechanics can be sticky, and children should stay away from them. The /optout and /privacy commands control direct messages, ads and privacy.

/suicide wipes your data and restarts the game. The name sounds harsh, but it is simply a profile reset button, so press it only when you really want a clean slate.

The bot is built for groups, and the best moments happen in busy chats: more members mean livelier duels, thefts and family drama. In a nearly empty chat the game loses half its point.

Practical tips for your chat

• Agree on house rules: thefts and duels land better when everyone knows it is a joke.
• Let an admin keep an eye on the tone and remove the bot if the mood sours.
• Do not share real personal data in the game; neutral nicknames are enough.
• Watch the clock: daily tasks make it easy to lose an extra hour.