How Hostages works

A room-code multiplayer manhunt game — no accounts, just a code and a name.

The basic idea

Every round pairs up teams in two roles: Drivers and Hostages. The Drivers drive the Hostage team out somewhere and drop them off, then the same Drivers switch to searching for them. Once found, the round is scored on how long it took.

The Hunting Chart

The admin sets this up before each round in the Manage tab. For every team, you pick who they drop off and who they hunt — and those don't have to be the same team. That means a team can be dropping one team off while simultaneously hunting a completely different one, all at the same time.

Here, Red and Blue are both playing Drivers for two separate pairings running side by side. Each pairing has its own independent clock and status — if your hunt target hasn't been dropped off yet, your screen says so, and you'll get a ping the moment they are.

A round, phase by phase

• Dropping — the Hostage team is being driven out. They tap "We're Dropped Off" once they're out of the car.
• Hunting — the clock starts. The Driver team searches until they tap "Mark Found" (optionally attaching a photo) or "Give Up."
• Returning — if the admin has set a start/finish location, the clock keeps running after a "Found" until the Drivers physically check in there (verified by phone GPS) before the round scores. Without a location set, "Found" ends the round immediately.

Photos

Attach a photo when you mark someone found — it pops up full-screen on everyone's phone right away, and everyone can view or download it from the Updates and Board tabs afterward.

Scoring

Rounds score either by time (lowest total wins) or points (a points cap minus minutes taken — set by the admin), tallied per hunting team on the Board tab.

Room codes

Whoever creates a game becomes its admin on that device. Everyone else joins with the room code and a name — no accounts, no passwords. The code is big and tappable at the top of the Timer tab for quick copying or sharing.

Telegram updates

Add @hostagesupdates_bot to a Telegram group chat, then send /link ROOMCODE in that chat to get live game-milestone updates — round starts, drop-offs, finds, and photos — posted automatically as they happen. Send /unlink to stop.

Game length

The admin can set a maximum game time (or leave it unlimited). It starts counting from the first round, and the game auto-ends when time's up.

A note on privacy

This is built for a trusted friend group, not to resist someone actively trying to cheat or attack it — there's no real security beyond the room code. If the admin leaves the app for good, the game and all its photos are deleted permanently after a short grace period.