Myriorama

There are no points, no winners and no wrong answers. You look at a picture you have never seen before and decide what it means for your story. Every order of cards leads somewhere new.

• Turn a card. Touch the cards in order and a new picture is revealed, with no explanation of what it is.
• Make it part of the story. Who is this? Where are we? What just happened? Your answer moves the story on.
• Keep going. Each new card adds a twist, and the counter shows how far your story has come.

The original myriorama, meaning ‘many views’, was a set of illustrated cards that could be laid side by side in any order to create a different scene every time. It was a popular parlour entertainment in the nineteenth century. This app brings the same idea to storytelling, starting with its Victorian Landscape deck: endless combinations, and a new story with every layout.

Single player is a quiet creative practice. Use it as a daily warm-up, a cure for writer’s block or a few minutes of letting your mind wander somewhere unexpected.

• Game depth. Choose how many cards your story runs to.
• Decks. Pick the set of cards you draw from, such as Victorian Landscape.
• Card size, sound and auto enlarge. Set the board up the way you like it.

Play Together turns it into a shared story for up to six players on the same Wi-Fi. One phone hosts and goes first, then everyone takes turns turning a card and adding to the story.

Connecting is easy: nearby games show up automatically, and if one does not appear you can enter its address instead. It works around the kitchen table, in a classroom or with a group of friends, and the stories you end up with are ones none of you would have come up with alone.

The cards use artwork by real artists, not generated filler. Myriorama celebrates their work: every session is a small gallery, and every picture is a doorway into a story.