Play together. Creatively.
Step into the game as it existed in 2006. No account needed.
What is exQorpse?
exQorpse.com was an interactive art and electronic literature project created by Shawn Rider in 2005–2006. It ran online for over 20 years.
On the surface, it was a free multiplayer word game site built around Exquisite Corpse—the surrealist parlor game invented by French artists in the 1920s. Players would enter a nickname, join a "room" of other players, and collaborate on poems or absurdist Q&A sessions.
The Three Layers
- The Games: Two varieties of exquisite corpse. In Verses, four players each contribute a line to a collaborative poem. In Questions, one player asks a question while three others supply answers—without knowing the question. The results ranged from absurd to accidentally profound.
- The Ghosts: There were never any real "other players" in your room. The opponents and spectators you saw were names drawn from the usernames of everyone who had ever played. Your own contributions became material for future players' games. You were always playing with ghosts—echoes of past visitors.
- The Rejection: No matter how well you played, the chat sidebar would gradually turn hostile. The "other players" would start complaining about your work, questioning your skill, and eventually ganging up to have you banned. This was scripted—an inevitable arc of social rejection that played out over roughly 10 rounds, ending with a mock moderation notice recording your IP address.
The Spectator Stories
While you played, "spectators" in the sidebar would carry on their own conversations—four pre-written storylines that unfolded across your session. These ranged from mundane to increasingly unsettling, creating an ambient sense of unease alongside the main game.
Content Warning
This archival simulation contains the original user-generated content and authored storylines from 2006. Some content includes mature themes, crude language, and deliberately uncomfortable scenarios. The spectator storylines were designed to be provocative as part of the artistic experience. Player-submitted content has been screened for spam and slurs, but may still contain crude or unexpected material. This is an art piece, not a children's game.
The Archival Simulation
The version you can play here is a static reconstruction. It runs entirely in your browser using the original database of player contributions and authored chat scripts, converted to flat JSON files. No data is saved—your contributions appear in the game but vanish when you leave. The gameplay experience is faithful to the original, including the inevitable betrayal.