Character Sprint
"Quick eyes, quick hands"
60 seconds to tell 已 from 己. Hear a word, then tap its characters on a board of look-alikes. Send the link and everyone plays the exact same boards.
- 60 seconds
- 6–12 tiles
- 5 levels
A Chinese vocab game for friends
Learn Chinese together.
Turn the words you're studying into a game you play with friends. Send a link and take turns with meanings, pinyin and handwriting. You both practice on every move.
Plays in your browser. No account, nothing to install. Your friend just opens the link.
You100
VSAna100
Try a round
Ana's waiting on your move. Pick an attack, then answer to charge it.
It takes about 30 seconds, with no sign-up.
Better with friends
Rivals in the game.
Study partners in real life.
Flashcards are easy to put off. A friend waiting on your move is much harder to ignore.
You both practice every turn. Attacks and blocks are both real questions, so nobody sits out.
Any two levels can play. You can each bring your own list, so a beginner on HSK 1 and a fluent friend on HSK 6 still get a fair match.
Every duel ends with a study list. You get the words you missed, ready to review before the rematch.
Same class? Even better. Play this week's list before the quiz, or send a sprint to the whole group.
how did you block 机场??
kept missing it, so I reviewed it
ok same. rematch tonight?
deal. Friday's quiz is ours
How a duel goes
Every answer is an attack.
Turns go back and forth like texting, whenever you both have a minute. There's no need to be online at the same time.
Bring your words
Paste this week's list in almost any format, or grab a ready-made one. Pinyin and missing meanings fill themselves in.
Pick your attack
Then answer a question to charge it. A perfect answer hits at full power, a close one at 70%, and a miss fizzles.
Send the link
Text it to a friend. They play right in the browser, so there's nothing for them to install.
Block and hit back
They defend with the same skill. A perfect block takes just 30% of the damage. Then it's their attack, and the link comes back to you.
8 attacks each. Hit 0 HP and you're out. If you both make it to the end, most HP wins.
Waiting on a reply? Train. Get 4 of 5 questions right and earn 🔥 Focus, +25% on your next attack.
Move list
The harder the skill, the harder the hit.
- Light AttackPick the meaning from four choices.12
- Heavy AttackType the pinyin.20
- Dragon StrikeWrite the characters by hand.30
- Wild StrikeA random attack at a random difficulty, for +35% power. Your friend has to block at the same difficulty.12–53
Earn an edge
⚡ Riposte +20% on your counter, for a perfect block.
🔥 Focus +25% on your next attack, for training between turns.
Help costs you
💡 Next stroke−10%
🔤 Show pinyin−15%
👁 Peek at the character−50%
Stuck mid-answer? You can buy a hint, and the battle log will show that you did.
Your words
This week's list, not someone else's curriculum.
Most apps decide what you learn next. Here you bring the words you need for Friday's quiz.
- Your teacher's handout
- A Quizlet export
- Last night's notes
- HSK 1–6
- The 1,000 most common characters
Paste anything. One word per line, in almost any format. Your own meanings always win over the dictionary's, so the game tests what your teacher will.
Share a list, or bring your own. When you accept a challenge you can play your friend's list or use yours. Either way, you each get your weakest words first.
You paste
参加 - to take part in 希望, to hope 运动 准备 to prepare chu1 fa1 出发 to set off 到达 dàodá arrive
More ways to play
Bring the whole group.
Character Climb
"Rising step by step"
A race for the whole group chat, on everyone's own time. Each word is a step up. Whoever climbed before you climbs beside you as a ghost, and the top three take the podium.
- 20 steps
- 3 hearts
- Highest wins
Nobody free right now?
Practice against the computer. Three opponents play a full duel by the same rules.
- RookieStill learning. Good for a first run.
- ScholarKnows most words. A fair fight.
- GrandmasterRarely misses. Bring your A game.
Fair play
Strict about words. Kind about everything else.
The game is about knowing the word. A slip of the finger shouldn't cost you the round.
Tones lose power, not the point
With the letters right, each wrong tone costs 20% of the power, never dropping below half. Here's a 🗡️ Heavy Attack on 希望 (to hope):
| You type | Result | Power |
|---|---|---|
xī wàng | Perfect | 20 |
xi1 wang2 | One tone off | 16 |
xiwang | No tones at all | 10 |
xi wan | Wrong letters | Fizzles |
The spoken third-tone change counts as right too, so níhǎo is fine for 你好.
Any stroke order
Each stroke you draw counts as the closest one still to be written, in any order and either direction. If yours wasn't the usual order, the game mentions it at no cost.
Slips are fine too: about one in every four strokes still counts as perfect.
Between turns
Everything you need to come back stronger.
Flashcards. Weakest words first, with stroke-order animation for every character.
Practice. Pick the skill and the length, then trace, get hints, or go from memory.
Stroke helper. See any word drawn one stroke at a time, with the direction of each.
Every word, out loud. Hear the word after each answer, so you get the sound even when you miss.
A full dictionary. More than 120,000 entries, searchable by pinyin, English or characters. There's a slang list too, for 摸鱼 and 社畜.
Coming to iPhone
The whole game, inside the chat.
The iPhone app will add a game you play inside Messages. Your move lands in the thread as a bubble, showing both fighters and their HP.
No switching apps. Tap the bubble to defend and counterattack, then send it back.
Built for group chats. Everyone climbs the same steps on their own time, and the last climber's bubble is the podium.
Until then, links do the same job in any messaging app. On iPhone, Share → Add to Home Screen gives you the game full screen with its own icon.
Ana
🐉 Dragon Strike 30 power · your turn to defend
you did NOT just write 机场 from memory
Sam
⛰️ Ana climbed 14 of 20 steps Sam leads · 1 to go
Fighters
Choose your fighter.
Eight hand-drawn 8-bit fighters, and you can recolor their outfits. They're only for looks, so the one real advantage is knowing your words.
Scholar
Shaolin Monk
Swordswoman
Monkey King
Panda Warrior
Fox Spirit
Little Dragon
General
Questions
Before you send the first link.
More in How to play and Support.
Does my friend need to install anything?
No. Turns are links. Your friend opens one in their browser, picks a name and a fighter, and plays.
What if my friend is much better than me?
You can still have a good match. You can each bring your own list, so you're both quizzed at your own level, weakest words first.
Is it free?
Yes. Right now the whole game is free to play, with no ads.
Do I need to know Chinese already?
A little helps, because the game tests real words. If you're just starting, pick HSK 1 or the most common characters, and practice against the computer while you learn them.
Simplified or traditional?
Both work. Paste either and you get pinyin, meanings and handwriting. The ready-made lists are simplified.
Can a whole class play?
Yes. A sprint or a climb takes everyone you send the link to, and they all play the same boards. Duels are one on one.
Is there an iPhone app?
It's on the way, along with a version you play inside Messages. Until then the game runs in any phone's browser, and you can add it to your Home Screen.
Who are you studying with?
Pick your words, make the first move, and send it to a friend.
Challenge a friend