Texting Games for Couples
Word puzzles, emoji riddles and shared stories, one text at a time.
- Time
- A minute to a whole day
- Players
- Two people
- Best for
- Lunch breaks, commutes and days apart
- Deck
- 100 ideas in 5 categories
How to use these texting games
- Pick a category from the menu under the card, or keep “All categories”.
- Read the idea on the top card. If you both like it, put it on the calendar.
- Swipe the card away, or tap “Next idea”, for another. Ideas do not repeat until you have seen the whole category.
- Tap the heart to save an idea on this device, or tap “Make a 10-idea list” for a list you can copy.
When to play texting games
Texting games fill the small gaps in a day: a lunch break, a bus ride, the wait before a movie. They keep a conversation going when there is no time for a call.
Apart for the day
A word game or a guessing round fits between meetings and turns the usual check-in into something to look forward to.
In the same line
Standing side by side in a crowd, trade emoji riddles and keep the joke between the two of you.
In different cities
A morning question or a story that grows all week gives couples apart a thread to come back to.
Ways to use these texting games
A game with the first text
Draw a card in the morning and send the rule as your first message of the day. Play whenever you both have a spare minute.
Send the card as the opening move
Screenshot the card and post it in the chat, so the other knows the rule before the first reply arrives.
A silent round side by side
In a waiting room or a slow line, play by text while sitting next to each other. Nobody nearby hears a thing, and the grins give it away.
Tips for texting games
- Any game can pause for work or sleep. Pick it up again from the last text, hours later if needed.
- Match the game to the day: a word game fits in a few seconds, a story wants a quiet evening.
- Star the funniest message of each round, so the best ones are easy to find later.
All 100 texting games for couples by category
The complete list, grouped by category. The cards above draw from the same list, so you can read ahead here and pick there.
Quick word games
Short word games that fit in one text and can run all day.
- Turn “cold” into “warm” by changing one letter per text, with every step still a real word.
- Each slip one odd word, like “pineapple”, into an ordinary text today, and reply “spotted” when you catch the other’s.
- Scramble the letters of a snack, a city or a song title and send it for the other to unscramble.
- Build a chain of compound words, sun, sunflower, flowerpot, potluck, and keep it going as long as you can.
- Name a category and a letter, like fruits and P, and trade answers until neither of you has another.
- Write a short sentence with every word spelled backward, and keep the chat going that way for five texts.
- Send three random letters; the other turns them into a phrase about their day, like “long train, cold coffee”.
- Start with a plain word like “big” and take turns sending a fancier word with the same meaning.
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- Send a common phrase and get back its opposite, word by word: “early bird” comes back as “late fish”.
- Reply only in words of one syllable for a whole evening, and see how long the chat stays clear.
- Swap the first sounds of two words, so “cozy nook” becomes “nosy cook”, and let the other work out the original.
- Text for a whole hour without the letter E; the other answers every slip with a single “e”.
- Blend two words into a new one for something that happened today, and let the other work out what it means.
- Drop every vowel from a short message, like “pss th pncks”, and let the other put them back.
- Send one unusual word each morning; the other has to use it naturally in a text before bedtime.
- Type “Today I” and tap the middle suggestion on your keyboard ten times, then send whatever sentence it writes.
- For one evening, every text has to be exactly five words long, no more and no less.
- Describe your lunch in words that all start with the same letter: “perfectly pleasant pasta, pretty peppery.”
- Start with a one-letter word and make each reply one letter longer: a, an, ant, pant, plant…
- Hide a word in a message so the first letters of each word spell it, and let the other find it.
Emoji and photo games
Games played in emojis and in photos of things, places and views.
- Tell your day in emojis only; the other translates it back into words.
- Retell a movie you have both seen in five emojis and let the other name it.
- Send a song title as a row of emojis, adding one more emoji each time the other is stuck.
- Plan the weekend in emojis only for ten minutes, then each write out in words what you think you planned.
- Photograph only the shadow of an object near you and let the other guess what casts it.
- Arrange three objects on a table so they tell a little story, take a photo and let the other write the caption.
- Answer the next question with a photo of whatever is closest to you, and let the other make sense of it.
- Send a recipe in emojis, ingredients and all, and see if the other can name the dish.
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- Review your lunch in five emojis, from the first bite to the last crumb.
- Describe each other in exactly five emojis, then explain one choice each.
- Ask for tonight’s dinner in emojis only, and see what the other thinks you asked for.
- Doodle on a photo with the markup pen until a mug or a lamp becomes a character with a name.
- Photograph an ordinary object and write a museum label for it: title, year and a very serious description.
- Lay out what is in your bag or pockets, take a photo and let the other guess where you are headed.
- Send three photos of your afternoon plus one from another day, and let the other spot the older one.
- Send two emojis that make one word together, like a sun and a flower, and let the other say the word.
- Turn a well-known proverb into a row of emojis and let the other write it out in full.
- Snap the view from where you are, with no caption, and let the other guess the spot.
- Pick an emoji at random from the keyboard and tell one true thing from your week that fits it.
- Send any emoji; the other answers with a photo of something nearby that matches it.
Guess what I’m thinking
One of you holds a secret; the other works it out from clues by text.
- Think of a number from 1 to 1,000 and answer each guess with only “higher” or “lower”.
- Think of an animal and reply to every guess with only “bigger” or “smaller”.
- Pick a place you have been together and send three clues, one at a time, until the other names it.
- Describe a word without using the three most obvious words for it, and let the other guess it.
- Send three words that share a hidden link, like “bark, trunk, ring”, and let the other name what connects them.
- Count down from three and both text a color at the same moment, then try an animal, a snack and a city.
- Both text a random word at once, then send words linking your last two until you land on the same one.
- Type out a sound you can hear right now, like “fwump fwump”, and let the other guess what makes it.
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- Describe a simple drawing step by step by text; the other draws it, then you swap photos.
- Ask the other to guess a number from your day, like steps walked or emails answered, then reveal it.
- Text a guess of what the other will choose for dinner tonight, and check it once they decide.
- Describe a cartoon character in three plain words and let the other name them.
- Share a small childhood memory and let the other guess how old you were at the time.
- Turn the last thing you looked up online into a riddle and let the other work out what it was.
- Send a photo of a grocery item and let the other guess its price to the nearest dollar.
- Think of a famous painting and describe only its colors until the other names it.
- Choose something in a room the other knows well and give one clue an hour until they name it.
- Describe one thing in front of you by its shape, color and weight alone, and let the other guess it.
- Photograph the oldest thing on your shelf and let the other guess the year it came from.
- Before the other replies, text your guess of the exact first word they will send back.
Story games
Stories built a word, a line or a twist at a time, one text each.
- Build a story one word per text, and end it only when someone sends “The End”.
- Alternate lines that begin “Fortunately” and “Unfortunately”, and see where the story lands.
- Each write a six-word story about your morning, then ask one question about the other’s.
- Send a photo of a quiet street or an empty bench; the other writes the first line of a mystery set there.
- Tell a story in installments, one text per hour, each ending on a cliffhanger.
- Narrate an adventure that ends every text with two choices, and let the other pick the path.
- Each secretly write a last line, then steer the shared story toward your own ending.
- Switch genre every third text, so a mystery becomes a space story and then a cooking show.
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- Write the secret life of a houseplant in five texts, starting the moment you leave the room.
- Retell a fairy tale with the two of you as the main characters, one line each.
- Write a story entirely in dialogue, each text a line spoken by a different character.
- Start at the ending and work backward, each text telling what happened just before.
- Tell the story of your trip home from the point of view of your bag.
- Text “twist!” at any moment, and the next line of the story has to change everything.
- Invent a tiny mystery, like who ate the last cookie, and give the other one clue per text until it is solved.
- Write a postcard from the two of you ten years from now, one sentence each.
- Turn today into a newspaper headline, and let the other write the first paragraph of the article.
- Open any book to a random page, text one sentence from it, and carry the story on together from there.
- Build a story of exactly fifty words between you, counting down what is left with each text.
- Invent the legend of why socks go missing in the wash, one line each.
Questions over text
Rapid-fire rounds, shrinking answers and other ways to ask by text.
- Send ten short questions in one text; the other has one minute to answer every one.
- Agree on a question each morning, then both type your answers and hit send at the same second.
- Open a card from this site’s would you rather, paste both options into the chat and text your answer.
- Draw ten pairs from this site’s this or that and fire them across, one quick pick per text.
- Copy a card from this site’s questions page into the chat and answer it in one text each.
- Play talk-show host: ask five interview questions as if the other were a famous guest.
- Answer three questions using only GIFs, then explain the one that needs it most.
- Answer every question in this round with a song title, and keep the songs as a playlist.
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- Number ten questions in your notes and let the other pick numbers, not questions.
- Send half a sentence, like “The best part of today was”, and let the other finish it.
- Send five things on one theme, like breakfast foods, and let the other rank them before you do.
- Start with a silly question and make each next one a little deeper, five rounds each.
- Pick one topic, like meals this week, and each send your best, worst and weirdest in one text.
- Answer five questions with your most creative wrong answer first, then the real one.
- Make the last text of the night a question, to be answered first thing in the morning.
- Answer five questions in shrinking form: a sentence, a phrase, three words, one word, then an emoji.
- Before asking a question, type your guess of the other’s answer in your notes, then compare.
- Write the question you wish someone would ask you today, and send it for the other to ask back.
- For one round, every answer has to start with a letter the asker picks.
- Answer three questions the way a favorite cartoon character would, and let the other name the character.
Frequently asked questions
How many texting games for couples are there?
There are 100 games, 20 in each of five categories: quick word games, emoji and photo games, guess what I’m thinking, story games, and questions over text. The cards and the list on this page use the same set.
What games can couples play over text?
Anything that works one message at a time: word ladders, movies retold in emojis, higher-or-lower number rounds, stories built one word per text and rapid-fire question rounds. Each card here explains one game in a sentence or two.
Are these good for long distance couples?
Yes, none of them need you in the same place, and slow games suit different time zones. For games that deal the same cards on both phones during a call, see long distance games.
Do we need a special app?
No. Every game runs in the messaging app you already use. A few borrow the camera, the emoji keyboard or the photo markup pen.