How to play Arrrgue

Everything you need before your first argument

The 30-second version

1. One person takes the wheel at arrrgue.com and gets a 4-letter crew code.
2. Everyone else joins from their own phone by typing that code and a name.
3. The captain picks a subject and a mode, and the crew argues its way to the list.

That’s it. Everything below is detail for when you want it.

Hosting a crew

The host — we call them the captain — opens the site and hits Take the wheel. They get a room with a 4-letter code to read out to everyone. The captain usually plays like everyone else: their screen just carries an extra strip of host controls (reveal the ballots, close the voting, skip to the next pitch, auto-pick for whoever wandered off to get a drink). If you’d rather run the room without holding a seat — say you’re hosting on a shared TV — just leave your name blank when you take the wheel, and you’ll captain control-only.

Joining a crew

Crew join from their phones: type the 4-letter code, type a name, and climb aboard. Any modern browser works — no download, no sign-up. You can join late, and if two people want to play from one phone you can open a second tab. The captain can’t be kicked, but a captain can remove a disruptive hand if they have to.

Crow’s-nest mode (play it on a TV)

Any laptop or TV can open the room in crow’s-nest mode — pick man the crow’s nest instead of joining as a player. It holds no seat and casts no votes; it just mirrors the room on the big screen so everyone can watch a ballot get read aloud, an item walk the plank, or the final list stamped. Phones are the controllers; the crow’s nest is the stage. It’s the best way to play with a group in one room.

Picking a subject

The captain sets what you’re arguing about. Three ways to do it:

• Surprise me (the default): the room opens sealed, and a fresh category is rolled and revealed the instant the game starts. Fastest way to start a fight.
• Built-in packs: a shelf of ready-made subjects — candy, superheroes, Star Wars films, and plenty more — curated to start arguments.
• Custom list: type your own. Anything from "best breakup album" to "the group chat, ranked by reliability."

Whatever you choose, the captain can add or remove items before you set sail, so the list is exactly the fight you want.

List size and the clock

Pick how long the final list runs — Top 3, Top 5, or Top 10 — depending on your subject and how much time you’ve got. Then set the clock: off, or 1–15 minutes on the debate and voting phases to keep a rowdy crew moving. A few modes pace themselves regardless — Devil’s Advocate always runs a 45-second pitch clock, and the round-based modes (Walk the Plank, Load the Cannons, Face-Off) move round by round.

The ten-plus ways to fight it out

The same crew and subject can produce wildly different arguments depending on the mode you choose — secret ballots, snake drafts, tournament brackets, plank votes, or just people yelling across a table. There are eleven in all; the full rundown, with a page on each, lives on the modes page. Pick by the kind of argument you want, not the number.

Nobody gets stranded

Parties are chaos, and the game is built for it. If your phone dies, backgrounds, or drops the connection, you reclaim your seat automatically when you come back — same name, same votes. No single player can deadlock the room, either: the captain can always force a stuck phase forward for whoever wandered off. Rejoin, and you’re right back in the argument.

What "no winners" means

Here’s the part that surprises people: nobody wins Arrrgue. There’s no score that matters and no trophy. The game produces a definitive list and a great deal of shouting, and then you hit Run it back and do it again with a new subject. A couple of modes hand out fun titles — Best Advocate, Most Divisive — purely for bragging rights, but the real product is the argument, not the outcome. That’s the whole idea.