Interactive stories you can play online, free
Choose-your-own-adventure stories for grown-ups, playable in a browser in five to ten minutes: a mystery, a time-slip, a villain who is hiring, and a stadium full of people.
An interactive story is a story where you decide what happens next. You read a scene, you make a choice, and the next scene is the one your choice made. Do it a few times and you reach an ending that is yours, out of several the story could have had.
If you grew up with choose-your-own-adventure books, it is that, grown up: written for adults, playable on a phone in a few minutes, with a picture for every scene. Here are the ones we would start with. All are free to play, and you do not need an account to begin.
The Woman Before Station Five
A mystery, about six minutes, four endings. Your brother died and left you one instruction: give his phone to Sheila, and nobody else. Two stops early, a woman with short red hair sits down opposite you and says she is Sheila.
It is written line by line, like a thriller, and every choice is about who you trust. Pay attention: the details you skim past in the first scene are the ones that matter in the last.
The Last Train Stops at Tomorrow
A time-slip, about eight minutes. The next station announcement gives tomorrow’s date, and the passenger opposite is reading a newspaper with your photograph on the front.
This is the one to play if you like puzzles: the story keeps track of what you know, and the endings depend on what you do with it.
The Villain Has a Job Offer
A comedy-adventure, about six minutes. The kingdom’s most feared villain wants to hire you. Your first assignment: rescue the prince everyone believes she kidnapped.
Lighter, quicker and full of terrible ideas that sometimes work. A good first story if you have never played one.
Your First Stadium Show
A drama, about six minutes. Forty thousand people are chanting your name, and your best friend, who wrote your biggest song with you, is blocking the dressing-room door. You have one night to keep your word or keep your career.
Every person in it has a feeling about you that changes with your choices, and you can see them change.
How to get the most out of them
- Play twice. The second time, take the choice you almost took. The map shows every path and which endings you have found.
- Write your own move. Under the choices there is a box: type what you would do, and the story continues from that.
- Keep the good ones. Any path you play can become a book other people read, and they can take over from any scene and go their own way.
When you have played a few, you can start one of your own from a single line. Browse every story or read what other players made.
Keep reading
Branching StoriesWhat is interactive fiction? A beginner’s guideFrom a cave in 1976 to the choose-your-own-adventure books to stories on your phone: what interactive fiction is, the kinds there are, and where to start.
Two of YouA story game for two: how to play one story togetherYou each choose in secret, the story makes both choices happen, and at the end your secret wishes come out. A different kind of night in, for couples and friends.
WritingHow to write a choose-your-own-adventure story people finishStart in the middle of a decision, make every choice cost something, and keep your branches from exploding. A practical guide to branching stories.