Telegram Bot Games: What They Are and How to Play Them

Telegram bot games are games you start from a bot inside Telegram, with nothing to install. They come in four kinds: inline HTML5 games from Telegram's Gaming Platform (launched October 2016), text chat games, six animated emoji games, and Mini App games. The first three are free; a Mini App game is free to open and may sell extras for Stars.

What is a Telegram bot game?

A bot is an automated Telegram account run by a program instead of a person. A game bot is one whose job is to host a game, and it can do that in four ways.

Inline HTML5 games (the Gaming Platform)

The original format. Telegram launched its Gaming Platform in October 2016: a bot sends a game into a chat as a message with a Play button, tapping it opens an HTML5 game, and the score goes back to that chat. Telegram keeps high scores for every game in every chat, so the leaderboard belongs to the group you played in. The game itself is usually simple; the point is beating the people you already talk to. The Gaming Platform has no checkout of its own, so these games are free.

Chat games (text bots)

No game screen at all. The bot sends a message, you press a button under it or type an answer, and the bot replies or edits the message. Trivia and quiz bots, word games, werewolf and mafia games for groups, and turn-based board games are built this way. It sounds primitive, and it ages better than anything else: it works on every Telegram app, and nothing breaks when a phone updates its browser.

Animated emoji games

Telegram has six emoji that play out instead of just sitting there: a die, a dart, a basketball, a football, a bowling ball and a slot machine. Send one on its own and it animates to a random result. The die, the dart and the bowling ball land on a value from 1 to 6, the basketball and the football on 1 to 5, and the slot machine on one of 64 reel combinations.

The useful detail is who decides the result: Telegram's servers generate it, animate it and only then tell the bot what it landed on. A bot that sends one cannot choose the outcome and cannot know it early. That makes these emoji a free randomiser the operator cannot rig, and a whole category of dice bots is built on them.

Mini App games

A Mini App is a full web app that opens inside Telegram. It knows your Telegram name, language and theme, and gets a signed proof of who you are, so there is no separate sign-up. Anything that runs in a browser runs here, which is why almost every new Telegram game is one. Mini Apps can go full screen, and you can add one to your phone's home screen. This is also the only kind that normally takes payment: when a Mini App sells something digital, you pay in Telegram Stars through Telegram's own payment screen. Read what Telegram Stars are if you have not bought any yet.

How to play games on Telegram bots

Each kind starts differently. The steps below use Telegram's own examples where there is one.

Start a game bot: the @gamebot example

1. Search Telegram for @gamebot, Telegram's own demo bot for the Gaming Platform, and check the username matches exactly.
2. Open the chat and press Start. The bot replies with a few sample games.
3. Tap Play on a game message to open it. Your score is saved to that chat.
4. To play against friends, share the game into a group. Everyone who plays it there lands on the same high-score table.

Every other game bot starts the same way: find it, press Start, and read what it sends back before you tap anything.

Use inline mode: type a game bot's username in any chat

Inline mode lets you use a bot inside any chat without adding it there. Telegram's launch post for the Gaming Platform shows how it works with a game bot:

1. Open any chat, private or group.
2. In the message field, type the game bot's @username followed by a space.
3. If the bot supports inline games, a list of games appears above the keyboard.
4. Pick one. It is posted into the chat as a game card, and anyone there can tap Play and try to beat your score.

Any bot with inline mode switched on works the same way: type its username in the message field and wait for the results.

Play the emoji games

1. Open any chat, including a group or your Saved Messages.
2. Send one of the six emoji (die, dart, basketball, football, bowling ball or slot machine) as the only thing in the message. With any text next to it, it stays a plain emoji.
3. Watch it land. In a group, agree the rule first: highest roll wins, first basket wins, three of a kind on the slot machine wins.

Nothing to install, no bot needed, and nobody in the chat can fix the result.

Open a Mini App game

• From the bot's profile: many game bots show an Open App button on their profile.
• From the bot's chat: press Start, then use the button in its reply or the menu button next to the message field.
• From a link: a t.me link to the bot's app opens it straight away.
• From search: the Apps tab in Telegram's search is the in-app Mini App store, and it lists popular Mini Apps.

For how to judge an app once it is open, see how to find the best Telegram Mini Apps.

Telegram game bots that still work

Lists of "best Telegram game bots" go stale fast: many bots in them stop answering within months. These are Telegram's own games and features, stable enough to rely on because Telegram built them.

• @gamebot. Telegram's own demo bot for the Gaming Platform, with a few sample HTML5 games. The quickest way to see what an inline game is.
• The animated emoji. Built into every Telegram app, no bot required, results decided by Telegram's servers.
• The Apps tab. Telegram's in-app Mini App store is the safest place to browse for Mini App games, because what it lists comes from Telegram and not from a forwarded link.

Other kinds of Telegram games bots

Beyond those, most Telegram games bots fall into a handful of kinds. They are described here rather than named, because individual bots change owners, change what they do, or stop answering.

• Werewolf and mafia bots. Social deduction for groups: the bot deals secret roles in private messages and runs the day and night rounds in the group.
• Trivia and quiz bots. Questions in a group, points for the fastest right answer. Telegram's own quiz polls cover the simple version with no bot at all.
• Word game bots. Word chains, anagrams, hangman and Wordle-style daily puzzles.
• Chess and board game bots. Turn-based games against a friend in a chat, or against the bot.
• Card game bots. Durak, Uno-style and poker-style games for a group, played with buttons.
• Dice bots. Games built on the animated emoji, from simple roll-offs to leagues.
• Tap-to-earn and idle Mini Apps. Tap a button, build up a balance, and wait for a token or an airdrop that may never be worth anything. The category boomed in 2024 and many have since gone quiet.
• Casino-style Mini Apps. Boxes, slots, crash and plinko paid for in Stars or crypto. These cost real money, so they need the checks in the next section more than any other kind.

How to tell a safe game bot from a scam

Most game bots are harmless. The ones that are not tend to fail the same few checks.

• Check the username against a source you trust. Lookalike usernames are the cheapest attack there is, and the app behind one can be a perfect copy. Follow the link from the project's own channel or site, or from Telegram's Apps tab, not from a forwarded message. A checkmark only means something if Telegram put it there: one drawn into a profile picture or typed into a name means nothing.
• Check that the bot is alive. Send /start. A working bot answers within seconds; silence means it is abandoned. Many bots also show a monthly users count on their profile or t.me page.
• Be suspicious of bots that promise to pay you. "Earn" bots that promise Stars, crypto or cash for tapping, inviting or watching ads mostly pay nothing, or ask for a "withdrawal fee" first. No bot can create Stars; see what is real in free Stars bots.
• Payments should open Telegram's own screen. Stars purchases happen in Telegram's payment sheet. A bot that asks you to send crypto to an address, or shows its own card form inside the game, is asking you to skip every protection Telegram has.
• Never hand over a login code, password or seed phrase. A game has no reason to ask for the code Telegram sends you, your 2FA password or a wallet's recovery words, whatever it calls the step. Anything that does is trying to take the account or the wallet. More in the common Stars scams.
• Question the permissions it wants. A game does not need your phone number, your contacts or admin rights in your group. Before you add a bot to a group, remember that an admin bot reads every message there.
• Find the odds before the first spend. A game that takes money should tell you what it returns, and let you check a finished round afterwards. Provably fair verification shows what a real check looks like.

Gift Club: an example of a Mini App game

Gift Club is a Mini App game, the fourth kind above. Send /start to its bot and it replies with a welcome and a button that opens the app; the Open button next to the message field does the same afterwards. Inside there are boxes, scratch cards and a games hub with solo games such as Plinko, Slots, Mines Tower and Coin Flip.

• Play with Sparks. Sparks are a free currency: new players start with 10, and the daily streak pays more every 4 hours. One Spark is one round in a game, and Spark rounds pay XP. The Spark box opens for 10 Sparks, paid with the streak rather than Stars, and can still pay Stars or a Telegram gift.
• 8 1v1 duels. Dice Duel, Balloon Pump, Ludo, Sea Battle, Minefield and Blackjack Duel, against a friend you send a challenge link to, or against a clearly labelled bot. Both players stake the same amount, from 5 to 100 Stars, and the winner takes 1.90× the stake. How 1v1 games for money work explains where the other 0.10× goes.
• Paid rounds use Stars, through Telegram's payment screen. Each game's return figure is published in the RTP index, and each game has a guide with its payout table.

FAQ

Are Telegram bot games free?

Inline HTML5 games, the emoji games and most chat games are free. Mini App games are free to open and may sell extras for Stars once you are inside, which is the difference to watch: "free to play" and "free" are not the same claim.

Do Telegram bot games work on desktop?

Yes. Inline games, Mini Apps and the emoji games all run in Telegram Desktop and the web version. A single game can still be built for phones only.

Can a game bot read my messages?

Not your other chats. A bot sees what you send to it. In a group it sees commands and replies aimed at it, unless its owner switched privacy mode off or the group made it an admin, in which case it sees everything in that group. A Mini App opened from a link gets your basic profile, not your messages.

How do I make my own Telegram game bot?

Create a bot with Telegram's @BotFather, then choose a format: an HTML5 game on the Gaming Platform, a chat game using buttons, or a Mini App. The Sources below link Telegram's documentation for each.

Why do so many look like casino games?

Because Stars gave every bot a working payment method, and the simplest thing to build on a payment method is a bet. That is a reason to check the return figures before you play, not a reason to write off the whole category.

What happens to my progress if I close a game?

It is stored on the operator's server and tied to your Telegram account, so closing the app or switching phones does not lose it. It also means the operator can take it away, which is a different risk.

Keep reading

• Best Telegram Mini Apps — the categories beyond games, and how to judge one quickly.
• Free Telegram Stars bots — which "earn" bots are real.
• Telegram Stars scams — the patterns worth recognising before they cost you.
• Telegram games RTP index — published return figures, per game.