View source for Broken Picture Telephone

{{Short description|Multiplayer online drawing and writing game}}
{{italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox software
| name                   = ''Broken Picture Telephone''
| logo                   =
| logo size              = 200px
| logo alt               = Broken Picture Telephone logo, consisting of a rotary telephone image and text reading "Broken Picture Telephone" in a distressed typewriter font; both image and text are dark grey.
| screenshot             = Broken Picture Telephone screenshot (single art panel).png
| screenshot size        = 200px
| screenshot alt         = A drawing created using the BPT interface, depicting a large candy cane wearing a crown, and a large blue bird, consulting a map as they stand amid sand dunes.
| caption                = [[Screenshot]] of a drawing round
| collapsible            =
| author                 =
| developer              = {{ubl|Alishah Novin}}
| released               =
| discontinued           =yes
| latest release version =
| latest release date    = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| latest preview version =
| latest preview date    = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| status                 =
| programming language   =
| operating system       =
| platform               = [[Android (operating system)|Android]], [[Browser game|Browser]], [[iOS]]
| size                   =
| language               =
| language count         = <!-- Number only -->
| language footnote      =
| genre                  = [[Cooperative video game|Cooperative]], Drawing, [[Multiplayer]], [[Text-based game|Text-based]]
| license                =
| alexa                  =
| website                = {{URL|brokenpicturetelephone.com}}
| standard               =
| AsOf                   =
}}

'''''Broken Picture Telephone''''', sometimes abbreviated '''''BPT''''', was a [[Cooperative video game|collaborative]] [[multiplayer]] online drawing and writing game invented in 2007,<ref name="brokenpicturetelephone.com">{{Cite web|title=Nektan Slots Games & Other Communication Games - Broken Picture Telephone|url=http://www.brokenpicturetelephone.com/|access-date=2020-09-19|website=www.brokenpicturetelephone.com|archive-date=16 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151116133159/http://www.brokenpicturetelephone.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref> based on the pen-and-paper game [[Telephone Pictionary]]. It consists of at least 11 rounds in which players alternate between writing descriptions and creating drawings based on previous contributions. It had rave reviews and many server issues due to the amount of players trying to play. It spawned off many similar style online multiplayer games.

== Gameplay ==
Like the children's game called broken telephone or simply telephone, also known as Chinese whispers, ''Broken Picture Telephone'' relies on the breakdown of communications for entertainment value.<ref name=gamezebo/><ref name=fundas-2012/><ref name=jig-2009/> ''Broken Picture Telephone''{{'s}} gameplay involves a series of 11 or more rounds per game, in which each player can participate in only one round per game. The first and last rounds always require a text contribution; written-contribution turns alternate with drawing-contribution rounds. Whichever player is randomly selected to play round two creates a drawing based on the text provided in round one; the next randomly selected player writes a description of the drawing from round two; the round four player draws whatever the round three player described; and so on.<ref name=fundas-2012/><ref name=new-games/>

[[Image:Broken Picture Telephone screenshot - drawing interface.png|thumb|261px|right|The previous player's text is presented side-by-side with the drawing interface (post-2013 version shown) in drawing rounds]]
For writing rounds, there is a character limit constraining possible submissions. For drawing rounds, the tools provided are rudimentary, consisting of eleven colors and a few brush sizes in the 2009 edition of the game.<ref name=jig-2009>{{cite news|title=Broken Picture Telephone|url=http://jayisgames.com/review/broken-picture-telephone.php|accessdate=15 November 2015|work=[[Jay Is Games]]|date=17 June 2009}}</ref> Each player has a maximum of ten minutes to submit their description or drawing. Games persist on the BrokenPictureTelephone.com site until finished, so that players can join a game hours or even days after it was begun.<ref name=gamezebo/> Until each game is concluded by the submission of its final text round, the full sequence of rounds is not visible to any site visitor, and when playing a round, players can see only the round immediately preceding their own.<ref name=new-games/><ref name=jig-2013>{{cite news|title=Broken Picture Telephone (2013)|url=http://jayisgames.com/review/broken-picture-telephone-1.php|accessdate=15 November 2015|work=Jay Is Games|date=3 September 2013}}</ref>

In order to deter inappropriate user behavior, players must register using a valid email address. Games with mature content are flagged as such by users—either the player who added the mature content, or any other user who views the game—and users can opt not to be shown any games with content flagged as mature.<ref name=jig-2009/>

== History ==
''Broken Picture Telephone'' was created by American indie developer [[Alishah Novin]] in 2007.<ref name="brokenpicturetelephone.com"/> After [[Jay Is Games]] published a review of the game in June of that year, the influx of new players temporarily overwhelmed the BrokenPictureTelephone.com servers even though the game had been migrated to new servers in anticipation of such an increase in site visitors.<ref name=jig-2009/> Problems with server load continued, along with some bugs in the game's code and issues with malicious users [[Internet troll|trolling]] games; Novin took the game offline in 2010.<ref name=jig-2013/> Only a message saying that development was continuing to address the problems with the game's functionality remained accessible on the website.<ref name=fundas-2012/> An [[Android (operating system)|Android]] app version of the game was released 13 October 2012, with the first bugfix release, numbered 1.01, following on 16 October.<ref name=appszoom/> The browser version of the game remained defunct for several years until it was relaunched in 2013.<ref name=jig-2013/>

== Reception ==
''Broken Picture Telephone'' was rated #62 in ''[[PC Magazine]]''{{'s}} list of the Top 100 Web Sites of 2009,<ref>{{cite news|title=The Top 100 Web Sites of 2009: Broken Picture Telephone|url=https://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0%2C3253%2Cl%3D242570%26a%3D242570%26po%3D62%2C00.asp|accessdate=14 November 2015|work=[[PC Magazine]]|archive-date=17 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117020532/http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0%2C3253%2Cl%3D242570%26a%3D242570%26po%3D62%2C00.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref> and #5 in Jay Is Games's top ten games of 2009 in the Simple Idea category.<ref name=jig-best>{{cite news|title=Best of Casual Gameplay 2009—Simple Idea Results|url=http://jayisgames.com/best-of/2009/simple-idea-results/|accessdate=15 November 2015|work=Jay Is Games}}</ref> [[Gamezebo]] praised the way its gameplay "tends to rapidly degenerate into hilarious misunderstandings" and called it "maybe one of the greatest online games ever."<ref name=gamezebo/> ''Appszoom'' magazine called the Android release "insanely-addicting",<ref name=appszoom>{{cite news|title=Broken Picture Telephone for Android|url=http://www.appszoom.com/android_games/brain_puzzle/broken-picture-telephone_czgzk.html|accessdate=15 November 2015|work=Appszoom|archive-date=17 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117022635/http://www.appszoom.com/android_games/brain_puzzle/broken-picture-telephone_czgzk.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Jay Is Games noted that site visitors "can spend a lot of time just browsing through the archives of completed games and laughing at the results."<ref name=jig-2013/> Academic analysis has identified ''BPT'' with the New Games movement, due to its goal being "a shared fun experience, rather than one team winning and one losing."<ref name=new-games>{{cite web|last1=Owens|first1=Zak|title=New Forms of Games|url=http://homes.lmc.gatech.edu/~cpearce3/lcc4725/blog/?paged=59|website=Game Design as Cultural Practice|accessdate=15 November 2015|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151115201958/http://homes.lmc.gatech.edu/~cpearce3/lcc4725/blog/?paged=59|archivedate=15 November 2015|date=28 February 2012}}</ref>

Numerous gaming-review sites lamented the 2010 shuttering of the game.<ref name=gamezebo/><ref name=fundas-2012/><ref name=jig-2009/>

== Similar games ==
Online multiplayer games with similar mechanisms of play, some of which were first released during the period when ''BPT'' was not available, include ''Broken Phone'',<ref name="gamezebo">{{cite news|last=Ashby|first=Alicia|date=12 October 2010|title=Broken Phone Review|url=http://www.gamezebo.com/2010/10/12/broken-phone-review/|access-date=15 November 2015|work=[[Gamezebo]]}}</ref> ''DoodleOrDie'', ''[[Drawception]]'', ''DrawGuess'', ''Interference'' and ''Teledraw''.<ref name="fundas-2012">{{cite news|last=Patowary|first=Kaushik|date=3 April 2012|title=Drawception: Humorous Game Based on Broken Picture Telephone|url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2012/04/drawception-humorous-game-based-on.html|access-date=15 November 2015|work=Instant Fundas}}</ref>

=== ''Gartic Phone'' ===
While Onrizon Social Games' ''Gartic.io'' website launched in 2017, the company found massive success upon launching ''Gartic Phone'' in December 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davidson |first=Pete |date=2021-08-13 |title=What is Gartic Phone, and why do VTubers love it so much? - Rice Digital |url=https://ricedigital.co.uk/what-is-gartic-phone/ |access-date=2023-06-24 |website=ricedigital.co.uk |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Onrizon Social Games |url=https://onrizon.com/ |access-date=2023-06-24 |website=onrizon.com}}</ref> Like ''BPT'' and similar games, it combines elements of ''Pictionary'' and ''Broken Telephone''. In ''Gartic Phone'', players sketch a word or phrase and pass it to the next player, who must guess what the drawing represents. The game continues in a loop until the final player compares the last sentence with the original starting sentence. It offers various game modes, including: Normal, Knock-Off, Animation, Crowd, and introduced several new modes in early 2023. ''Gartic Phone'' is accessible through its website and supports multiple languages, making it available on PCs, tablets, and smartphones with an internet connection. Similar to [[Jackbox Games]]{{'}} party video games, ''Gartic Phone''{{'s}} "Crowd" mode allows for audience voting via invite links. Since ''Gartic Phone''{{'s}} success, Onrizon has developed spin-off games ''Gartic.TV'' and ''Gartic Show!''<ref name=":0" /> In 2023, ''Gartic Phone'' was released as a free game on the [[Discord]] social platform.<ref>{{cite web |last=Toms |first=Ollie |title=Have You Played... Gartic Phone? |url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/have-you-played-gartic-phone-1 |date=20 October 2022 |website=Rock, Paper, Shotgun |access-date=23 June 2023 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=<!--Staff Writer--> |date=2023-02-14 |title=Gartic Phone: What Is It & How Do You Play? |url=https://www.fortressofsolitude.co.za/gartic-phone-what-is-it-how-do-you-play/ |access-date=2023-06-24 |website=Fortress of Solitude |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Screenshots==
{{Gallery
|width=408
|alt1=User darbs's text, "The castle's moat has been turned into a ball pit."; user notthatJack's drawing of a castle with a ball-pit moat; user [BannedUser]'s text, "A castle is surrounded by a moat that is really a ballpit" [sic].
|alt2=User AsylumHerb's text, "Pippin and Tog (from Pogles Wood) go scrumping (stealing apples)"; user notthatJack's attempt at drawing the two characters and apples; user Tricky's text, "Jesus shares some apples with a tiger-striped varient [sic] of the Donnie Darko rabbit."
| File:Broken Picture Telephone screenshot (accurate text and art).png|A cropped screenshot showing three rounds of ''Broken Picture Telephone'', depicting gameplay in which each player has drawn or described the preceding player's contribution accurately. See [[ball pit]].<ref>{{cite web|author1=hughperman|author2=Kalendar|author3=punguawud|author4=recallreality|author5=vstol|title=A bouncy castle jumping on some children|url=http://www.brokenpicturetelephone.com/#!Games/2013/10/28/1931|website=Broken Picture Telephone|accessdate=15 November 2015|date=28 October 2013|display-authors=etal|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151116133159/http://www.brokenpicturetelephone.com/#!Games/2013/10/28/1931|archivedate=16 November 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
| File:Broken Picture Telephone screenshot (misinterpretation).png|A cropped screenshot showing three rounds of ''Broken Picture Telephone'', depicting gameplay in which each player has misinterpreted or misrepresented the preceding player's contribution, and changed the message conveyed as a result. See ''[[Pogles' Wood]]'' and ''[[Donnie Darko]]''.<ref>{{cite web|author1=AsylumHerb|author2=notthatJack|author3=Tricky|author4=donhuando|author5=tweebox|title=Pippin and Tog (from Pogles Wood) go scrumping (stealing apples)|url=http://www.brokenpicturetelephone.com/#!Games/2013/09/28/1777|website=Broken Picture Telephone|accessdate=15 November 2015|date=28 September 2013|display-authors=etal|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151116133159/http://www.brokenpicturetelephone.com/#!Games/2013/09/28/1777|archivedate=16 November 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* {{official website|url=http://brokenpicturetelephone.com/}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLZnk0GP75M A video tutorial for creating "artistic" entries using the 2009 BPT interface]
{{Portal bar|Video games}}

[[Category:2009 video games]]
[[Category:2012 video games]]
[[Category:2013 video games]]
[[Category:Android (operating system) games]]
[[Category:Art games]]
[[Category:Browser games]]
[[Category:Collaborative software]]
[[Category:Cooperative video games]]
[[Category:Freeware games]]
[[Category:Indie games]]
[[Category:IOS games]]
[[Category:Multiplayer video games]]
[[Category:Video games developed in the United States]]