Rhyma: Collaborative Poetry Game

About three years ago, I started building a small mobile app based on a game we used to play at school when we were around ten.

Someone writes a line of a poem on a sheet of paper and passes it on. The next person adds another line, folds the paper so the previous one is hidden, and passes it further. So each new “poet” sees only the last line.

At the end, you unfold the paper and read the whole thing. It’s usually complete nonsense, but that’s what made it funny. We used to play it during school breaks.

My idea was to do the same thing in an app, but instead of playing with someone sitting at the next desk, you write with strangers from around the world. A simple brain exercise with some weird and hopefully funny results.

That’s how Rhyma started.

I began working on it about three years ago, before AI coding agents were everywhere. I wrote it the old-fashioned way and, as often happens with my side projects, abandoned it fairly early. Between work, kids, and everything else, I just didn’t have enough time or energy for it.

AI tools eventually helped me finish it. Or at least finish it enough to put it out there. It still took much longer than I expected, but that’s a different story.

I always knew that writing the code would be easier than finding users. I wasn’t expecting the app to suddenly take off after launch. What surprised me was how difficult it was to find even the first 12 testers required for the Google Play closed test.

I thought 12 people would be easy. A few relatives, some colleagues, and a couple of friends. Maybe an hour or two.

So I posted in the family chat, the work chat, and a few chats with friends. I got fire emojis, hearts, thumbs-ups and other beautiful emojis.

But no installs.

In the end, I had to message people individually. Once I asked someone directly, they usually installed it, and things finally started moving.

I don’t blame anyone. I probably do exactly the same thing when I see something in a group chat: react, think “cool”, get distracted by something else, and forget about it five seconds later.

But it made me realise that group chats might have become just another kind of feed. Even when you’re asking friends or family for a small favour, you’re still competing with TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, work notifications, and everything else fighting for their attention.

Before this, I thought marketing would be difficult. Now I’m starting to think it will be a nightmare.

Anyway, if you use Android and want to try writing some strange collaborative poetry with people around the world, here’s Rhyma:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.rhyma

It’s Android-only for now because I use Android myself and had to start somewhere. For iOS the only option is subscribe to be notified when it become live here rhyma.app.

And I’m genuinely curious: am I the only one who has had this experience, or is this just how things work now?