WhatsApp group games: fun games to play in your group chat

Updated 2026-09-28 · Mandli

Every WhatsApp group goes quiet at some point. The college group that used to have 500 unread messages a day now only wakes up for birthdays. The family group is all good morning flowers. The office group is, well, the office group.

A game is the easiest way to bring a group back to life. This guide has two kinds of WhatsApp group games. The first half is text-only: games anyone can play right inside the chat, with nothing to install, not even for the chacha with the old phone. The second half is room-link games: you share one link in the group, and everyone taps it to play a proper game together, like Tambola, a quiz or Kaun Hai Nakli, using Mandli, our free party-games app.

Start with a text game to warm the group up, and when enough people are replying, drop the link.

1. Emoji movie guess

The group admin posts a film name in emoji, and the first person to guess it right gets a point, then posts the next one. Keep a score in a pinned message.

For example, a heart, a train and a field of mustard flowers is an easy one most Indians will get in seconds. Mix easy and hard ones, and old and new films, so both the parents and the cousins can play.

If you want the app to do the scoring, Emoji Picture has ready puzzles for films, songs and cricketers, and a fast right answer scores more.

2. Antakshari by voice note

This one is a proper group bonding game. Someone sends a voice note singing a few lines of a song. The next person has to reply with a voice note of a song starting with the last letter of that song. Anyone who takes more than five minutes is out for the round.

Text-only version: type the first line of the song instead of singing it. It's less fun, but works in groups where people are shy.

For a live version with a timer and score, Antakshari in Mandli gives each singer 30 seconds and lets the group judge on the spot, over the voice chat inside the game.

3. Word chain (Shabd chain)

The simplest of all. Someone types a word. The next person types a word starting with the last letter. No repeats. Make it harder by adding a theme: only cities, only food, only film names, or only Hindi words.

It's a great game for a family group, because kids and grandparents are equally good at it. If you like word puzzles, Shabd Jod in Mandli is a five-letter word race where everyone guesses the same word, and you can see the colours of others' guesses but not their letters.

4. Two truths and a lie

Each person posts three facts about themselves: two true, one lie. Everyone else replies with the number of the one they think is the lie. The poster reveals the answer after an hour, or when everyone has guessed.

This works best in a group where people know each other a bit, but not too well, like a new office team or a college batch reunion.

The app version is Jhooth ya Sach: everyone writes their three lines, the sets come up one by one, and you get points for catching lies and for fooling others.

5. Poll games with WhatsApp polls

WhatsApp groups have a built-in poll feature, and it is perfect for two quick games.

• This or that: 'Chai ya coffee?' 'Pahaad ya beach?' 'Shah Rukh ya Salman?' Post one poll a day and watch the debate in the replies.
• Who is most likely to: make a poll with every group member's name as an option, and ask 'Who is most likely to forget their own birthday?'

The only catch is that WhatsApp polls can show who voted for what. If you want secret votes, Kaun Zyada Likely and Ye ya Woh in Mandli keep votes secret by default and only show the count.

6. Guess the baby photo and other photo games

Ask everyone to send one childhood photo privately to the admin. The admin posts them one at a time, and the group guesses who it is. It is the fastest way to get a quiet family group talking.

Other photo ideas: post a zoomed-in picture of something in your house and let people guess what it is, or post a photo of your lunch and let the group guess which city you're in.

7. Complete the dialogue

Post half of a famous film dialogue and let the group finish it. 'Mogambo...' does not need the rest. Harder ones get more points. You can do song lyrics too, or rhyming paheliyan for the kids.

For a timed version with clues about the film, the year and the scene, try Gaana Pehchano, or Pehchaan Kaun, where clues about a famous person come one by one.

8. Story chain

Someone writes the first line of a story. Each person adds one line, in order. Rule: you can't change the story's direction by more than one step. By the time it has gone around a group of 15, it's usually about a cow who became a minister.

In Chain Kahani, the app version, each player sees only the line before theirs. Then the whole story is revealed line by line, and everyone votes for the best line.

Room-link games: when the group wants a real game

Text games are slow by design. When enough people are online at the same time, a room-link game is more fun. Here's how it works with Mandli:

• One person opens Mandli, creates a room and shares the link in the group.
• Anyone who taps the link joins. Friends without the app open it in the phone browser, and iPhone users play in the browser too. There's no login, just a name and a colour.
• A room holds up to 50 people, and there is voice chat inside every game, with nothing recorded.
• Scores carry across games in the room.

Good picks for a WhatsApp group: Tambola for the family group, a Sawaal Jawaab quiz for the cricket-and-Bollywood group, Kaun Hai Nakli for the college group, and Ludo for when four people are free at lunch.

Sawaal jawaab