Carousel Story: free game to learn carousel storytelling

What is Carousel Story?

A carousel only works if people keep swiping. Put each made-up creator's slides in order: a hook on slide 1, the build-up in story order, the payoff near the end and one call to action last. Then watch how many of 100 viewers make it to the end.

Carousel Story is a free social media game about multi-slide posts, the kind people swipe through one slide at a time. Each made-up creator hands you a shuffled deck: a basil experiment, a sourdough fix, a bedroom makeover, a job-interview lesson. Put the slides in the order that keeps people swiping: a hook on slide 1, the build-up in story order, the payoff near the end and one call to action on the last slide.

When you post, a made-up swipe-through chart shows how many of 100 viewers reached each slide. A slide in the wrong place makes many more people leave, and a weak first slide loses half of them at once. The last decks drop the labels and slip in one slide that doesn't belong, like an off-topic aside or a spoiler, which you have to leave out.

At a glance

Category

Social Media

Difficulty

Medium

Play time

3–5 min

Price

Free, in your browser, sign-up optional

How to play

Pick, then place

Tap a slide in the tray, then tap the slot it belongs in. Tap a placed slide to send it back.

Tell the story

Hook, build-up in order, payoff, call to action. The first decks show the role of each slide.

Cut the extra

The last decks have no labels and one slide that doesn't belong: off-topic, a spoiler, a pile of asks. Leave it in the tray.

Score

One point per viewer (of 100, made up) who swipes to the end, plus 50 and 2 per second left for a perfect deck. 60 seconds a deck, down to 40.

Scoring

1 point per viewer (of 100, made up) who swipes to the last slide.

A perfect deck adds 50, plus 2 per second left.

60 seconds per deck at the start, 40 for the last one; 8 decks a run.

What it trains

Carousel storytelling

Hook, build-up in order, payoff, then one call to action.

Audience retention

See where a misplaced slide makes viewers swipe away.

Editing

Cut off-topic slides, spoilers and extra asks that break the story.

Strategy and tips

Find the hook

The slide that promises something and ends with an arrow or a question almost always goes first.

Follow the clock

Build-up slides tell a story in time: before, then after; first, then next.

Save the reveal

The result or the number belongs near the end. Giving it away early removes the reason to swipe.

One ask, last

Save, share or follow: the call to action closes the deck.

Cut what doesn't fit

Off-topic slides, second hooks and piles of asks break the story. Leave them in the tray.

Why play Carousel Story?

Carousels reward the same structure as any good story: a promise, a build-up, a payoff and a clear ending. Practising it on short decks trains you to see where an audience would drop off and to fix the order before you publish, a skill that carries over to slide decks, newsletters, videos and presentations.

Frequently asked questions