Relay Novel: Rules and How to Play
Relay Novel is a story-writing game for 2–100 players that takes about 15 minutes. Everyone adds pages to the stories at once, then votes without knowing who wrote what. Free in your browser.
Setup
- For 2 to 100 players, each on their own phone or computer.
- There are as many stories (books) as players. The total number of pages (8 by default) is also the number of rounds.
- Before the start, the host can choose the total pages, time limit, pass order and what writers can see. Everyone can see the settings.
How to play
- In round 1, everyone writes the title (up to 30 characters) and the first page (up to 200 characters) of their own book.
- From round 2, the books are handed to someone else according to the pass order, and everyone adds the next page (up to 200 characters) at the same time. Line breaks are allowed.
- Depending on the setting, a writer sees only the previous page (the default) or every page so far. Nobody can see who is writing which book.
- Press Done when you have finished. You can rewrite it until the round moves on.
- When everyone has finished, or the time limit (180 seconds by default) has passed, the host presses Next to start the next round. When time runs out, what you had written is submitted as it is, and pages nobody wrote stay blank.
Winning and scoring
- When every page is written, everyone reads all the books and votes for one. You may vote for a book you helped write, and you can change your vote until voting closes.
- With at least one vote, the host can press Close voting. If anyone is still voting, press again to close voting. Anyone who has not voted can no longer vote after voting closes. Only then is the writer of each page revealed.
- Your score is the sum, over all books, of (pages you wrote in that book × that book's votes). Blank pages do not count. The highest score wins.
Defaults on this site
| Item | Default on this site |
|---|---|
| Players | 2–100 players (set automatically by the party size) |
| Turn time limit | None by default (the host can set 30 or 60 seconds) |
| If someone drops mid-game | Reopening on the same device returns you to your seat. If you do not return, the CPU plays in your place. |
| Draws | In ranked play, a draw counts as halfway between a win and a loss for your rating. |
| Source of the rules | Based on the standard reference rules |
Rules supervised by Qdan, Inc. (based on the standard reference rules)
House rules
Defaults follow the standard reference rules. The party can change these.
| Name | Description | Default | Changeable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total pages | The number of pages in each book. There is one round per page. | 8 pages | Can be changed |
| Time limit | Time to write one page each round. When it runs out, what you had written is submitted as it is. | 180 seconds | Can be changed |
| Pass order | How the books move from round 2. With Random, nobody writes the same book twice in a row; with Random with repeats, they sometimes do. | In order | Can be changed |
| What you can see | How much of the story a writer sees. Only the previous page tends to give more surprising turns. | Only the previous page | Can be changed |
Terms
- Book
- One story. There are as many as there are players, and each round they move to someone else.
- Round
- One pass in which everyone writes one page. There are as many rounds as pages.
- Pass order
- How the books move: In order, Random or Random with repeats.
- What you can see
- How much of the story a writer sees: only the previous page, or every page so far.
- Blank page
- A page with no text, either submitted blank or left without submitted text when time runs out. It does not count towards scores.
FAQ
What happens when time runs out?
What you had written is submitted as it is. A page with nothing written stays blank and does not count towards scores.
Can I vote for a book I helped write?
Yes. Almost everyone writes in almost every book, so vote for the one you liked best.
Can we see who wrote which page?
Not until the results. While writing, nobody can see who is writing which book either.
Play now with these rules
Last updated 2026-09-19 · Run by Qdan, Inc.