WISP

a parlour game of fairy light

for two to twelve souls · one device · candlelight welcome

take your chairs

Who sits in the parlour tonight?

the length of the sitting

the deck passes to

tap to draw

the last card is turned

THE SKY IS LIT

Tonight, by your own hands, you set alight

the evening is kept

how to play

WISP is a parlour game for two to twelve people and one device, passed hand to hand like a deck of cards. You draw, you tell a truth, and a wisp of fairy light rises to join the night sky. By the last card, the room has lit a whole constellation out of the things you said to each other.

one round

The deck names whoever holds it. Tap the card to draw, and it turns to show one of four chambers and a question. Answer it the way that chamber asks, and a wisp takes flight. Then the deck passes to the next pair of hands. The night grows brighter with every round.

the four chambers

The FlameRead the card aloud and answer it honestly, in your own voice, to the room. The room may ask one question more.

The VeilType your answer in secret first, and cup the screen while you write. Then the room hunts your answer with questions, and you may say only yes or no. When the room settles on a guess, or gives up gracefully, press and hold to lift the veil.

The CircleOpens when three or more are playing. Everyone answers the same card. The deck makes a full lap of the room, each player typing in secret and passing it on face down. Only when the lap is complete do the answers return, shuffled and unsigned, for the room to guess who wrote each one.

The MirrorThe card asks about you. Seal your true answer in secret, then keep a straight face while the room declares what they think you wrote. Reveal it at the end and see who knows you best.

secrets are sacred

Whenever someone is typing, look away and let them guard the screen. Pass the device face down between hands. The game clears every typed secret the moment it is sealed.

the wisps and the sky

Every finished round sets one more wisp alight, and the night brightens around you. When the last card is turned, the gathered wisps form a constellation named for your evening, and your own words drift among the stars.

pausing the evening

WISP keeps your place by itself, and a small note near the top says the evening is kept each time it does. To set it down on purpose, tap pause for later at the foot of the screen, or simply close the page. Whenever you come back, the title offers resume the evening and the deck returns to the same hands at the same round. Choosing begin anew lets a kept evening go.

a few graces

It plays best on one shared screen with the lights low. Sound is off until you wake it with the note in the corner, and it adds only soft chimes. What is said in the parlour stays in the parlour.

muplu