Teatime Games’ One Word fights loneliness through social gaming

Teatime Games has launched One Word, a word puzzle game aimed at elevating social interaction and combating loneliness.

The mobile game integrates face-to-face, two-way communication among opponents into gameplay, allowing you to gloat, argue, and laugh in real-time as the action unfolds. Designed with the mission to “make gaming social again,” the Teatime Games platform tries to go a step further than other so-called social games.

The game is available on iOS and Android.

Reykjavik, Iceland-based Teatime raised $9 million last year in a round led by Index Ventures and Atomico. The game is part of the company’s continued efforts to make mobile gameplay a shared, social experience. It plans to invite other games studios to build new games on the platform, with the goal of ushering in a new era of human interaction in mobile gaming. One Word allows users to challenge friends, family or even strangers across the globe head-on in real-time gameplay.

One Word implements word puzzles, live video chat, and augmented reality (AR) filters. You can link the letters on the board to spell out words, score points and outsmart your opponent through five lightning rounds. One Word has an infinite number of levels for users to master vocabulary skills, unlock bonus points and level up to discover a host of unique AR filters that shake up the user experience.

Offering a face-to-face connection with opponents, One Word begins by prompting new users to select a “Gameface”– an AR filter that is used during the two-way live video as the user plays. Reactions and leaderboard changes are all captured in real-time, giving players what other mobile games lack: the fun of communicating and seeing opponents’ facial expressions throughout the duration of the match. Users can also disable the microphone or turn off the camera in one swift tap, enabling an avatar to represent your reactions and allowing users to play anytime, anywhere, while still maintaining the social, personal gaming experience and a level of privacy.

“We’re extremely excited to launch a new addition to our platform that has changed the way society plays mobile games,” said Thor Fridriksson, CEO of Teatime Games, in a statement. “One Word was developed to allow the players to communicate through shared experience, the way we used to. Most of the fun of playing games with one another is trash-talking, seeing your opponents’ reactions when you’re ahead, and trying not to be a sore loser when the game gets down to its final moments. Technology has the capability to both entertain us and connect us, and we see no reason why it shouldn’t do both.”

Teatime plans to launch several additional social mobile games on the platform in 2020. Teatime’s founders are Fridriksson, Gunnar Holmsteinn (chief operating officer), Johann Thorvaldur Bergthorsson (chief technology officer), and Ymir Finnbogason (chief financial officer).

Teatime’s experienced group of founders are all former executives of QuizUp, the fastest-growing mobile game in 2013 that turned into a worldwide phenomenon with over 100 million players. QuizUp revolutionized the world of mobile trivia games, and Teatime strives to do the same by making One Word competitive, fun and social.