Snapchat has been adding games as a way to keep friends engaged with each other. And now the company’s Snap Games division is introducing Leaderboard Games, which is a new format in which people may challenge their friends to competitions.
The idea is to connect friends through the shared experience of playing games. But sometimes, friends can’t play together at the same time. So the Leaderboard Games enables folks to play on their own schedule.
Leaderboard Games are casual, easy-to-play games that let friends play asynchronously to compete for the top spot on a leaderboard among their own group of friends. This style of play complements the real-time multiplayer games found in Snap Games today.
Leaderboard Games also introduce a new feature called Score Streaming, which shows people their friends’ live scores while they’re playing with you. When friends are playing the same game, players will also see their friends’ Bitmoji peeking over the Chat Bar, making the same “eye contact” experienced in Chat.
Developed by Snap’s game studio, the first two Leaderboard Games are Find My Friends and Slide the Shakes. In Find My Friends, score points by picking friends out of a crowd in increasingly crazy scenes. The faster they’re found, the higher the score.
In Slide the Shakes, players serve milkshakes to friends by sliding them along the counter. But they need to navigate moving platforms, slippery ice, and giant swinging wrecking balls.
Snap debuted its first games in April, with a focus on synchronous mobile gameplay between friends. The platform features a curated selection of original and third-party titles.