Built a party game because I was tired of the paper-and-pen setup — would love some feedback
Hey everyone, first time posting here — go easy on me lol
So I built this thing called Salad Bowl Game (playsaladbowl.com). It's basically the classic party game that some people call Fishbowl or Celebrity, but online so you don't need paper, pens, or any prep work.
The idea came from a pretty mundane place — my friends and I kept wanting to play this game at gatherings but nobody ever wanted to be the one to prepare it. You know how it goes: someone has to tear up paper into little strips, everyone has to write down words (and there's always that one person who takes 10 minutes thinking of their words), then you need someone to be the timer/scorekeeper... by the time you actually start playing half the energy is gone.
So I just made a website that handles all that. You open it, everyone adds some words into a shared "bowl" (you can also use an AI word generator if you're feeling lazy), and then you play three rounds with the same words:
Round 1: Describe the word however you want, just can't say the word itself
Round 2: Only one word as a clue
Round 3: No talking at all, just gestures
The third round is genuinely where it gets chaotic and fun because by then everyone sort of knows what's in the bowl.
A few things I'm proud of:
- It's completely free, no signup needed, no ads
- Works on phone or laptop, pass-and-play style
- There's a TV mode where you can cast it to a big screen and everyone joins with their phone
- The AI word generator is kinda neat — you type a theme like "90s cartoons" or "startup jargon" and it fills the bowl for you
And honestly a few things I'm not sure about yet:
- I have no idea if the onboarding is clear enough. Like, do people understand how to play without me explaining it?
- The design is... functional. Let's leave it at that.
- I launched on Product Hunt today and I'm still figuring out what "launching" even means for a free side project
Would genuinely appreciate any feedback — on the game itself, the site, or just whether this is something people would actually use. I've been too close to it for months now so fresh eyes would be really helpful.
Also curious: does anyone here play party games like this? What are your favorites?
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