<p>Last year we launched a <ahref="https://core.telegram.org/bots">Bot Platform</a> for Telegram. Free, powerful, and open, it was an instant hit among users and developers. Today we are aiming to push the boundaries further by launching a bot-powered <strong>Gaming Platform</strong> on Telegram. That’s right: you can now use bots to play games in your chats, complete with graphics and sound.</p>
<h3><aclass="anchor"name="ready-to-play"href="#ready-to-play"><iclass="anchor-icon"></i></a>Ready to Play</h3>
<p>Hundreds of games are headed your way, but about 30 are ready to be played on Telegram now, most of them published by <ahref="https://telegram.me/gamee">@gamee</a>. You can start a game by interacting with their bot directly, or by invoking it from <ahref="https://telegram.org/blog/inline-bots">any of your chats</a>. To do that, try typing “@gamee “ in a group and choose a game to start playing with your friends:</p>
<divclass="blog_image_wrap">
<ahref="/file/811140576/1/-CuMDV4IrNE.105071/adab466b20e49a5758"target="_blank"><imgsrc="/file/811140576/1/-CuMDV4IrNE.105071/adab466b20e49a5758"title="Select a game"/></a>
<p>Select a game</p>
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<p>If you spot a great game on Telegram, you can challenge your friends from other chats by sharing the game with them. </p>
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<ahref="/file/811140035/2/cIULSr61vi4.78261/127282e0bbd66ce3a9"target="_blank"><imgsrc="/file/811140035/2/cIULSr61vi4.78261/127282e0bbd66ce3a9"title="Challenge your friends"/></a>
<p>Challenge your friends</p>
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<h3><aclass="anchor"name="better-with-friends"href="#better-with-friends"><iclass="anchor-icon"></i></a>Better with Friends</h3>
<p>The best part of the Telegram Gaming Platform is the competition across all your existing chats. We save <strong>high scores</strong> for every game played in every chat, and you can instantly check out how you and your friends are doing against each other. Every time there’s a new leader in the game, other playing members of the chat are notified that they need to step it up. </p>
<h3><aclass="anchor"name="easy-to-build"href="#easy-to-build"><iclass="anchor-icon"></i></a>Easy to Build</h3>
<p>Building games for Telegram is easy (check out the <ahref="https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#games">API</a>). Here’s <strong>MathBattle</strong>, a game that took our developer only 3 hours to build. You can launch it from any chat by typing <ahref="https://telegram.me/gamebot">@gamebot</a> and choosing Math Battle:</p>
<p>This is <strong>Corsairs</strong>, a demo game that took its dev just 5 hours to build and set up. That includes sound, graphics and animations:</p>
<p>While these demos look basic, Telegram games can be anything from simple arcades and puzzles to multiplayer 3D-shooters and real-time strategy games. The underlying technology is <strong>HTML5</strong>, so games are loaded on-demand as needed, just like ordinary webpages. Games will work on iPhones 4 and newer and on Android 4.4 devices and newer. Note that your friends will need <strong>Telegram 3.13</strong> or higher to play.</p>
<p>If you are a developer, take a look at our <ahref="https://core.telegram.org/bots/games">Introduction to Games</a>. Also, feel free to subscribe to our official <ahref="https://telegram.me/botnews">@BotNews</a> channel to stay up to date on platform news.</p>
<p>We know you love Telegram because it’s lean and efficient. This is why the new Gaming Platform requires <strong>0 bytes</strong> of disk space and won’t add a single byte to the size of our apps. The only thing we're adding today is countless more fun moments in your chats.</p>
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<p>And now let's see how high you can score.</p>
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