A holiday postcard you can play: how to send one from your trip

There are two kinds of holiday message. The first is the 43 photos of your breakfast dropped into the family chat at 7am. The second is the one people actually enjoy: short, funny, a bit personal and, ideally, something they can do rather than just scroll past. A postcard you can play is firmly the second kind.

The idea is simple. You make a tiny browser game titled “Greetings from” wherever you are, starring you (or your whole travelling party) as cartoon characters. The person you send it to plays it, dodges a few chip-thieving seagulls and a runaway suitcase or two, and then a vintage postcard flies in reading “Greetings from” your place in big retro letters, with your message on the back, a stamp and your signature. This guide covers the when, the how and the who, plus how to avoid becoming the most annoying person in the group chat.

Why a playable postcard works so well

A paper postcard is lovely but slow, and half the time you get home before it does. A photo is instant but forgettable. A playable postcard sits in the sweet spot: it arrives straight away, it’s clearly made for the person getting it, and it gives them something to do with their tea break.

It also solves the classic postcard problem of not knowing what to write. The game does the talking. The pre-written jokes are already holiday flavoured, so your message only needs to be a couple of lines. If you want help with those lines, our guide on what to write on a postcard has plenty to steal.

And because it’s a link, it works whether you’re sending a postcard from St Ives or from a campsite with one bar of signal and a slightly damp tent.

When to send it: day 2, not the airport

The departure lounge is where holiday messages go to die. You’ve got nothing to report yet except a £9 sandwich, and everyone back home is still at work and mildly jealous. Hold off.

Day 2 is the sweet spot, for a few reasons:

• You’ve got material. The seagull that stole your chips, the rain that was “only meant to last an hour”, the landlady who calls everyone “my love”. These are your jokes.
• You’ve settled in. Nobody wants to build anything while hunting for the hotel Wi-Fi password.
• It still feels like news. Send it on the last day and it lands alongside your tan lines and a pile of washing.

If you’re away for a long weekend, send it on the morning of the second day. For a fortnight, day 2 or 3 is still right, and you can always edit the message later in the trip (the link doesn’t change).

How to make a holiday postcard game on your phone

The whole thing takes a couple of minutes. You can build and preview it free with demo characters before deciding whether to add your own people.

1. Pick the Postcard occasion. This sets up the holiday-flavoured jokes, the Postcard look and the Postcard ending.
2. Choose a game style. Flappy flyer, Platformer, Arena battle, Story climber, Endless runner, Kart racer, Beat-’em-up, Survival, Escape room or Quest RPG. More on choosing below.
3. Fill in “Where’s it from?” You get up to 24 characters, and whatever you type becomes the title, so “Llandudno” gives you “Greetings from Llandudno”. Keep it short and recognisable.
4. Keep the Postcard look, or swap it. The Postcard look is the natural fit, but any look works. The look decides the obstacles and collectibles, so the Postcard look gives you seagulls and suitcases to dodge and stamps to grab.
5. Edit the jokes. Every intro line, in-game quip and game-over roast is pre-written. Read them through and swap one or two for something only your people will get. “Lost to a seagull. The seagull is now wearing your sunglasses” is better with a real detail in it.
6. Write the message for the back. At the end, a vintage postcard flies in with “Greetings from Llandudno” on the front in big retro letters, and your message on the back with a stamp and your signature. Two or three lines is plenty.
7. Set the win level. Lower it for grandparents and small children, raise it for the competitive cousin.
8. Add your people. To star as yourselves, sign in with Google, choose a plan and upload a holiday photo. We draw each person (and pet) as a cartoon in a minute or two, then delete the original photo.
9. Publish and share the link. Publishing is free and every game gets its own permanent link, which you can send by WhatsApp, a copied link or a QR code. With a plan you can also give it a custom link like yourname.become.games.

If you want the full walkthrough of the app itself, how it works goes through each step, and the pricing page explains what a plan adds.

Pro tip: Use a holiday photo where everyone is facing the camera in decent light. The sunglasses-and-hat selfie is iconic but it makes everyone look like the same mysterious cousin.

Choosing the look for your trip

The look sets the mood. It doesn’t show the actual place (the game shows the name you typed and your message), so think of it as the weather in a cartoon.

The Postcard look is the default for good reason. It’s a vintage seaside postcard come to life: sunburst skies, pastel houses, bunting and far-off landmark silhouettes. Those landmarks are generic, so they won’t be your actual pier or cathedral, but they give the whole thing that “wish you were here” feel whether you’re in Cornwall or Caithness. Here’s a quick starting point for matching a look to the trip.

Trip type	Look	Game style	Joke idea
Seaside week	Postcard	Flappy flyer	“Dodged 14 seagulls. Lost one pasty anyway.”
Weekend by the sea	Postcard	Endless runner along the seafront	“Ran the length of the prom. The suitcase got further.”
Ski or snow trip	Winter	Platformer	“Day 2 and still not reaching the bottom of anything gracefully.”
Festive city break	Christmas	Flappy flyer	“Mince pies eaten: 9. Regrets: none.”
Walking holiday	Postcard, or Winter by season	Story climber	“Waterproofs packed on day 1. Needed on day 1.”
Family road trip	Summer	Arena battle	“Wave 4: seagulls. Dad is still reading the map.”
Autumn half-term	Halloween	Platformer	“The holiday cottage is definitely haunted. By Grandad’s snoring.”

A few notes on the main options:

• Postcard suits almost anything, but it’s made for the seaside. It’s perfect for a postcard from Tenby, Whitby or the Isle of Wight, where the seagulls are basically the local mafia.
• Summer swaps the vintage feel for sunburn and ice creams, for when the heatwave is the story.
• Winter suits snow, ski trips and cosy cabins. Icicles and snowmen get in your way, hot chocolate keeps you going. Think a week in the Cairngorms.
• Christmas is made for December city breaks and markets. Naughty elves throw snowballs, you collect presents and mince pies. It works beautifully for a postcard from York in the run-up to the big day.

Whatever look you pick, you still get the “Greetings from” title and the postcard at the end. And there’s no rule that the look has to match the weather. A sunny Postcard look from a rainy week on the coast is its own joke.

Choosing the game style

All ten styles work as postcards. The choice is mostly about who’s playing.

• Flappy flyer is the classic for good reason. One tap, instantly understood, and after the win it keeps going in endless mode, so the leaderboard gets competitive. Perfect for group chats.
• Endless runner is a run along the seafront. Your person runs on their own; you tap to jump (tap again in the air for a double jump) and slide under the low stuff, with whoever’s waiting at the finish line. After that it keeps going, faster, for the distance leaderboard. Ideal for anyone who’ll play it on the bus.
• Platformer is a proper little run and jump adventure with coins, baddies and an end boss who can be someone else in your travelling party. Levels are always beatable, and phones get big on-screen controls.
• Arena battle is chaotic and great for siblings or friends who like a scrap. Auto-aim keeps it easy for beginners.
• Kart racer puts your whole travelling party in tiny karts that drive themselves round a hilly track: tap to hop, grab item boxes and race for a few laps. Great for a family holiday where everyone wants to win.
• Story climber is the sentimental one. Milestones come with a year and a caption, so it’s lovely for a place you go back to every year: one milestone per summer at the same caravan.
• Beat-’em-up is a pillow fight along the street, ending in a boss battle against someone from your trip. Ideal for the sibling who hogged the top bunk.
• Survival has your travelling party holding the fort through the night, then gathering snacks by day. Very relatable for anyone who’s been camping.
• Escape room is a puzzle room in your theme’s colours, full of clues to search and locks to crack, with your cast giving (mostly unhelpful) hints. Good for a rainy-day holiday, or the friend who loves a quiz.
• Quest RPG is a tiny top-down adventure through meadows, ponds and hedge mazes, with a treasure behind every mini-quest. A lovely fit for a walking holiday.

Still torn? Our guide on which game style to choose compares them properly.

Who to send it to

Not everyone needs a postcard. The best recipients are the people who are, in some way, keeping your life running while you’re away.

Grandparents

They want to know you’re safe, fed and having fun. A playable postcard does all three, and it opens straight in the browser, no app store involved. Set the win level low (flappy flyer goes down to 5 points) so they reach your message without a fight. There are more ideas in our guide to keeping in touch with grandparents.

The friend minding the cat

They’re scooping litter while you’re eating ice cream. The least you can do is send them a Lake District postcard that thanks them properly. Bonus points if the cat is in it: pets can be characters too, and nothing says gratitude like casting the cat as a co-star.

Colleagues covering your work

Handle with care (see the next section), but a well-judged postcard to the team that’s answering your emails goes a long way. Make yourself the butt of every joke and use the ending message to say thank you.

Anyone you’ve been meaning to message

The friend you haven’t spoken to in months. The aunt who always asks about you. A postcard is a low-pressure way back into a conversation.

Group chat etiquette: don’t rub it in

There’s a fine line between “thinking of you” and “look at me on a beach while you’re in a meeting”. Some house rules:

• Joke at your own expense. Edit the quips so you’re the one getting roasted. “Sunburnt in 20 minutes. A personal best” lands better than another blue sky.
• Mind the timing. Don’t drop it in the work chat at 9am on a Monday. Lunchtime or early evening is kinder.
• Read the room. If someone in the chat is having a rough week, send them their own version privately, or skip it.
• One postcard, not a photo album. The game replaces the 40 photos. That’s the whole point.
• Weather is fair game, both ways. Rain on a postcard from the Isle of Skye is funny. A heatwave boast to people stuck in the office is less so.

Sending one postcard to lots of people

Here’s the nice thing: one link works for everyone. Send the same game to the family chat, your best friend and your gran, and they’ll all end up on the same leaderboard. Expect a cousin to take it very seriously by day 3.

If you’d rather tailor it, make two or three versions. Publishing is free, every game gets its own link, and characters you’ve already made can be reused, so a grandparent version (low win level, soppy message) and a friends version (high win level, rude about your sunburn) takes minutes. Give each one a clearly different name so you don’t mix up the links.

Want ideas for getting it in front of people? Our guide on how to share your game covers WhatsApp, QR codes and the big reveal.

Pro tip: If you’re sending one link to a big group, write an ending message that works for everyone, then send a separate one-line text to the people you want to say something personal to. It feels thoughtful without making ten games.

Pairing it with a paper postcard

Playable doesn’t mean the old way has to go. The two work brilliantly together.

• Put the game on a real postcard. Print the QR code and stick it on, or, if you have a plan and have given the game a custom link like yourname.become.games, write that under the message. The paper card arrives later as a lovely physical souvenir, and it sends people back to the game.
• Send the game first, the card second. The game is the instant “we’re here and having a lovely time”. The card is the keepsake that goes on the fridge.
• Keep the jokes consistent. If the game roasts you for losing a fight with a seagull, the paper postcard can simply say “The seagull won. Play it to see.” Lovely for a postcard from Portrush, where the wind does half the work.

Remember that nothing is printed or posted for you: the playable postcard is a link, and the paper one is your job.

Before you put your phone away

A holiday postcard you can play should take you less time than choosing a filter. Day 2, Postcard occasion, the Postcard look (or one that fits the trip), the place in “Where’s it from?”, one or two jokes made personal, a short message for the back, send. Then go back to your holiday.

If you want more inspiration before you go, browse the digital postcards hub, or read our digital postcard ideas for ways to make yours the one people reply to.