A phone party game for group trips, hosted by Claude, with nothing to install.
done
Google Apps Script · Google Forms · Google Sheets
sep 23 → sep 28
Customer
Groups of friends on a trip together, 10 to 20 people, each with a phone and no interest in downloading an app.
Problem
Group games on a trip need a host, prep and someone keeping score, so one person ends up working while everyone else plays. Generic trivia also falls flat next to games built from the group's own stories.
Outcome & measures
Everyone filled in a short form before the trip. Each night, one link opened the same screen on every phone: Claude's host script on screen, anyone could tap Next, and the scoreboard kept itself.
One link, no login, nothing to install
Every phone shows the same screen at the same time
All three nights played end to end by 16 simulated players before the trip
What's next · Dec 2026
Retired after the trip. If there's another one, reuse the engine with a fresh form and new games.
Why I built it
I wanted trip game nights that felt personal: stories, awards and guessing games built from what my friends actually wrote, not a generic trivia deck.
How it came together
Built in a day as a Google Apps Script web app. It went through six versions before the trip, adding ready checks, balanced random teams and a safe test mode.
What I learned
Simulate before the real crowd. A script that played every night with 16 fake players caught problems I would never have found alone. We only played the first night; the plan was bigger than the trip.
