Hi, I'm Bri! I make family comedy with my sister for our 300K+ followers, and our best content revolves around one joke: everyone remembers a story differently. Hearsay turns that into a game! You already know your family's habits, questionable decisions, and version of what happened. The question is whether you know them well enough to spot the truth, or to invent something even more believable.
The launch post and a gameplay demo have drawn more than 3.2K likes and 580 comments on Instagram!
For example, take the prompt "What piece of advice does Mom give without being asked?" The player in the hot seat writes their answer in private, and everyone else writes a lie that could pass for it. The answers appear together with no names attached, and the group picks the one they think is true. After the reveal comes a second vote, for the funniest lie.
Points reward finding the truth, fooling people, and writing the bluff that gets the laugh. The second vote makes sure that a ridiculous answer nobody believed can still win the room. Being observant, being convincing, and being ridiculous each give you something to play for.
The same prompt plays differently with a different person in the hot seat. Remembering the question doesn't mean you know the answer, so 150+ free prompts go a long way before anyone needs a new pack.
There are three ways to play:
- One Phone: 3-5 players pass one iPhone around (it also works offline, and only one person needs the app)
- Same Room: 3-8 players join on their own devices with a room code
- FaceTime Call: start a call then join Hearsay with SharePlay
No account needed, and a solo practice round teaches the rules!
Art direction
We wanted Hearsay to feel like a kitchen-table game show with warm paper backgrounds, dark ink, bold type, offset shadows, big card surfaces, and illustrated prompt packs. The most important design decisions are about pacing, because a bluffing game only works while the secrets stay secret.
Design choices
- The handoff: In One Phone mode, the screen turns face down, names the next player with a double tap you can feel, and asks them to press and hold for a moment before their card flips, so nobody sees what the last player wrote.
- The reveal: The app waits for the host to continue, leaving room for the reaction and the story behind the answer.
- The share card: At the end of a game, Share the Laugh turns one of the night's awards into a group-chat card.
Testing and improvements
Our first real game night was me, Mary, her husband, and my fiancé. Everyone loved how Hearsay felt, but we felt like something was off.
- New family members couldn't play. My fiancé had no way to answer questions about what Mary did at 13. We tagged every prompt by how much shared history it needs, then wrote new kinds of prompts that anyone at the table can answer. Hearsay grew from 126 memory questions to about 300 prompts, and more than half of them are now invented, group, or head-to-head prompts that don't depend on growing up together.
- We were voting for the author, not the joke. In our own words, "I know Mom put that, so I'm gonna click Mom." Now the bluffs stay anonymous until the final scores, which gave every round a second big laugh.
- Every new pack meant a new room code. Now the room stays open between games, so the whole family can switch packs without typing their names again.
- Thirty seconds was too short for the good questions. Now writing time is set per prompt, so a quick question stays snappy and a thinking question gets extra time.
The next week we played with our parents, who use Larger Text on their phones. Every screen now scales to the largest iOS text size, and anyone can tap "Wait, we're not done" to finish telling a story before the game moves on.
One host pays. The room plays.
The host pays and everyone plays. Six free packs (150+ prompts) and a free Mary + Bri sampler about big-family chaos let a group finish a full game before anyone pays. Family Pass unlocks the premium prompt library for the host and everyone in the host's room, so guests can join a premium game without subscribing. US pricing is $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year, and RevenueCat handles offerings, purchases, restores, and entitlement checks. The packaging follows how game night actually works: one person hosts, and everyone gets to play!
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