How to share your game: WhatsApp, QR codes, big reveals and leaderboards

Making the game is the easy part. It takes a couple of minutes, the jokes are already written and we do the drawing. Sharing it is where you get to look like a genius. The same link can arrive as a plain WhatsApp, a QR code tucked inside a birthday card, or a laptop plugged into the telly at the exact moment the cake comes out.

This guide covers every way to send it, the reveals that land best, how to stop it sinking in a busy group chat and how to turn the leaderboard into a rivalry that lasts until next birthday. If you haven’t built one yet, how it works walks you through the four steps first.

Before you hit send: a two-minute check

A quick run-through saves you from the classic mistake of sending Grandma a game that says “Happy 40th” when she’s turning 80.

1. Play it to the end yourself. Reach the win level and watch the ending. If the win level is too high, they’ll never see your lovely message. In the flappy flyer it’s a tradition to set the win level to the birthday person’s age, which is charming for a 9 year old and borderline cruel for a 75 year old.
2. Read every line out loud. The intro, in-game quips, game-over roasts and ending message are pre-written for your combination. Change anything that doesn’t sound like you, especially the ending.
3. Check the cast. Players pick who to play on the character select screen, so make sure everyone who should be in it is in it. Leaving your brother out of the family game is how feuds start.
4. Choose the name and the link. The title and the link are the first things they’ll see (see below for which link to use).
5. Open the link on your own phone. Not just on the laptop you built it on. The phone is what they’ll see.
6. Decide how it arrives. Which is what the rest of this article is for.

Permanent link or custom link?

Publishing is free, and every published game gets its own permanent link: a long random address on become.games that stays the same for as long as the game exists, plan or no plan. It’s not pretty, but it gives nothing away, which makes it perfect for a surprise.

With a plan you can also give the game a custom link like yourname.become.games. Custom links are first come, first served, so have a backup in mind if “gaz” has gone. If you change one later, the old link forwards to the new one for 30 days. A few rules of thumb:

• Short, easy to type and slightly mysterious beats long and spoilery. “happybirthdaymum” ruins the surprise the moment a link preview pops up on her lock screen.
• For anything printed to keep for years, the permanent link is the safe choice. If your plan ever ends, custom links switch off until you subscribe again, but the permanent link carries on.
• Either link plays the same game with the same leaderboard, so pick whichever suits the moment.

Which sharing method suits which moment

Every method below carries exactly the same link. What changes is the moment it lands, and the moment is half the gift.

Sharing method	Best for	Tip
WhatsApp	Most people, most occasions, family group chats	Put a teaser line above the link. “Don’t open this on the bus” works wonders.
Text message	Older relatives and anyone not on WhatsApp	Keep the message short so the link is the obvious thing to tap.
Email	Work, people abroad, anyone who actually reads their email	Put the link on its own line and say who sent it, so it doesn’t look like spam.
Copy link	Work chats, social media DMs, anywhere else that takes a link	Paste it into a private message, not a public post, if you want it to stay in the family.
Printed QR code	Birthday cards, cake toppers, place cards, Secret Santa	Test scan it before you print fifty.
QR code on a screen	Parties, meetings, video calls	Put it up on a laptop or the telly and let the whole room scan at once.
Laptop on the telly	Big reveals at a party	Play the first go yourself, badly, so everyone gets the idea.
Home-screen icon	Grandparents, kids and repeat players	Add it for them while you’re there in person.

QR codes: hide the game somewhere real

Every game has a QR code, and it’s the secret weapon here. Point a phone camera at the code and the game opens. That means you can put a digital gift in a physical place, which is a surprisingly delightful trick for something that costs nothing to print.

Inside a birthday card

Write the card as normal, then stick the printed code on the inside with “P.S. Scan me” next to it. They get a card for the mantelpiece and a game for the sofa. Pair it with the birthday theme and some of the ideas in our funny birthday surprise ideas.

On a cake topper card

Print the code on a small square of card, tape it to a wooden skewer and stand it in the cake. Keep it well clear of the candles (rogue candles belong in the game, not your kitchen), and give it a quick wrap of cling film if the icing is wet.

On a place card at a party

Name on the front, QR code on the back. When everyone sits down, the table quietly becomes an arcade between courses. It works brilliantly at a big birthday meal, a family Christmas lunch or a wedding, where the wedding theme has wedding crashers to dodge.

On the office whiteboard

Draw a frame, write “Beat Dave” above it and stick the printed code in the middle. It’s perfect for a birthday at work or a leaving do with the office theme, and our leaving do ideas have more send-off plans. Remember that anyone who walks past can scan it, so keep the jokes office-safe.

In a Secret Santa envelope

Slip the code into an envelope with a small physical present, or let the game be the present. A Secret Santa game for a coworker is the rare gift that’s both personal and anonymous.

Printing tips that save a reprint

• Test it on two phones before printing in bulk.
• Black on white. Phone cameras love contrast and hate pastel.
• Leave a clear white border around the code. Don’t let it touch a picture or the edge of the card.
• Bigger is better. A postage stamp is about as small as you’d want to go.
• Matte beats glossy. Shiny paper reflects party lights straight into the camera.
• Don’t fold the card through the code. It sounds obvious until you’ve done it.

Pro tip: If the game has a short custom link, write it in plain text under the code as well. If someone’s camera is being fussy, or they’re holding it at arm’s length because their glasses are in the other room, they can just type it.

Big-reveal ideas

The midnight send

For birthdays and New Year, be the first message they see. You send the link yourself, so this one is a commitment: copy the link, type your message, and set an alarm for a few minutes before twelve. Then press send on the dot and enjoy being the most organised person they know.

At the party, on the telly

Plug a laptop into the TV with an HDMI cable, open the link in the browser and make it full screen. Gather everyone round, play the first go yourself, then hand the laptop to the guest of honour. The flappy flyer works with the space bar, so even reluctant players can join in. Watching your mum become a cartoon on a 50 inch screen hits differently, and everyone gets to see the ending together.

Read the QR at the table

At dinner, slide a card across the table and say nothing. Or, during the speeches, ask everyone to scan the code on their place card at the same time. There’s a lovely few seconds of silence, then the room gets very loud.

The slow burn

Send the link with no explanation at all. Just “Thought of you.” Let them work it out when their own face comes flapping across the screen.

The live reaction

For people far away, send the link during a video call so you can watch them open it. It works especially well with grandparents, and our guide to keeping in touch with grandparents has more ideas like it.

Group chats: how to share without it sinking

A group chat is the best place for a game and the worst place for a link, because it scrolls away in minutes. A few tactics help.

• Send it to the star first. Give the birthday person (or the leaver) a private head start, then post it to the group an hour later. They get the moment, the group gets the rivalry.
• Lead with a hook, not “click this”. “Someone in this chat is now a video game character. Find out who.” gets tapped. “Here’s a link” does not.
• Post your own terrible score first. Nothing gets a group going like a low bar to beat.
• Pin it. WhatsApp lets you pin a message to the top of the chat, so the link doesn’t vanish under forty memes and a debate about the bins.
• Don’t spoil the ending. Tell people there’s a message at the end and leave it there.
• One link, one leaderboard. Everyone in the chat should get the same link, or the scores won’t line up.

Leaderboards: start a rivalry that lasts all year

Every game has its own leaderboard. In the flappy flyer the game carries on in endless mode after the win, so the top scores keep climbing long after the ending has played, and the endless runner keeps going, faster, for a distance leaderboard that’s perfect for settling arguments on the commute. Other styles bring their own bragging rights, from coins in the platformer to rounds survived in the arena battle, and the kart racer carries on with endless races after the win, which is how family feuds start.

The family rivalry

• Set a deadline. Highest score by Sunday lunch chooses the pudding. Lowest score washes up.
• Agree a handicap. Grown-ups play with their wrong hand, kids play normally.
• Screenshot the leaderboard at the deadline and post it in the family chat. That screenshot is the trophy.

The office rivalry

• Announce the leader on Friday. A ten-second update at the end of the week is enough.
• Cast the boss as the boss. In the arena battle the final-wave boss is one of your cast, which is very satisfying if your manager has a sense of humour.
• Keep it to tea breaks. Probably.

Leaderboard nicknames: keep them kind

Everyone with the link can see the leaderboard, so the names on it should pass the “would I say this at their leaving do?” test.

• Funny is great, mean isn’t. “Captain Biscuit” is perfect. A dig at someone’s weight, break-up or exam results is not.
• Skip full names if the link might travel. First names or nicknames are plenty.
• If it’s a kids’ game, nothing you wouldn’t say in front of their teacher.

Pro tip: If someone’s score is so bad it becomes legendary, don’t mock it. Celebrate it. “Gary’s record of 2” can become a family heirloom, but only if Gary is laughing too.

Sending one game to lots of people

You don’t need a copy for each person. One game, one link, sent to everyone by whatever suits them: WhatsApp to the family group, an email to your uncle in Canada, a QR code in the card for the birthday girl. They all play the same game and land on the same leaderboard.

If you’d rather keep scores separate, say one game for the family and another for her work friends, make a second game. Building and publishing are free, every published game gets its own permanent link and the characters you’ve made can be reused, so it costs you a couple of minutes, not more characters. A plan is only needed to draw new characters from your photos or to add custom links; pricing has the details.

Add it to the home screen

Players can add the game to their home screen so it sits there with an icon, just like an app. On an iPhone, open the link in Safari, tap the Share button and choose “Add to Home Screen”. On Android, open it in Chrome, tap the three-dot menu and choose “Add to Home screen” or “Install app”.

This is the single best thing you can do for grandparents and younger kids. Do it for them while you’re visiting and the game is one tap away for good. It makes a birthday game for grandparents feel much more like a present they can keep.

Who can see your game

• Only people with the link. Games are unlisted and aren’t indexed by search engines, so nobody stumbles across them.
• No trackers, no cookies. Players just play.
• Links can be forwarded. Anyone holding the link can play, so share it the way you’d share a party invite.
• A QR code on a wall is a public link. Fine for the office kitchen, less fine for a shop window.
• Ask before going public. Your cast agreed to be in a game, not necessarily to be on your public social media feed. Check first.
• You can delete a game any time. Our privacy page covers the rest.

After it’s sent: keep the game going

Editing a game is free and instant, even after you’ve shared it, and the link stays the same. That means you can fix a typo, lower the win level if nobody can reach the ending (if Grandma is stuck on 12, drop it to 10 and tell no one), or re-theme the whole thing for Christmas and send the same link again.

Your characters can star in other games too, so next time you can try a different style. Our guide to which game style to choose helps you pick, and if you’re making new characters, read our photo tips for cartoon characters first. Then send it, sit back and wait for the first furious message about the leaderboard.