Keep a Straight Face: the Try Not to Laugh Show
Keep a Straight Face is a try not to laugh game that plays on a little retro TV. A show is a line-up of 8 to 10 short skits, each 5 to 10 seconds long, starring our cats and dogs, a very calm capybara and a few tiny guest stars. A cat eyes a glass of water at the edge of a table. A long dog keeps getting longer. A robot dance goes badly wrong. Your only job is to keep a straight face. If you allow the microphone, the game listens for a real laugh: a quick ha-ha-ha that is louder than your room. A single knock, cough or clap does not count, and a short calibration learns your room and your laugh first. Laugh and you lose one of your three faces, the whole cast turns to stare at you and the bulldog judge bangs his gavel. The microphone is optional and nothing is recorded: the game only measures loudness and pitch in your browser. Without a mic you play in honesty mode with a big I LAUGHED button, or you hand the job to a friend who watches your face. Two players can share one phone in a face-off where whoever cracks first loses. There are four episodes and encore shows, plus a daily show that is the same for everyone, with a result you can share.
How to play Keep a Straight Face
- Tap PLAY and pick Use my voice or Play without mic.
- With the mic: stay quiet for a moment, fake one big laugh, then let the game check your speakers.
- Watch each skit. A loud ha-ha-ha, or a tap on I LAUGHED, costs one of your three faces.
- Keep at least one face until the last skit to win the episode and unlock the next one.
Features
- 36 hand-timed skits with cats, dogs and a capybara on 18 stage sets
- A laugh detector that hears a ha-ha-ha, not a single knock or cough
- Optional microphone: nothing is recorded or sent
- Honesty mode and friend-judge mode when you play without a mic
- 2-player face-off on one phone: whoever laughs first loses
- A daily show, four episodes, encore shows and a shareable result
FAQ
- Do I need a microphone?
- No. The mic is optional. Without it you tap I LAUGHED yourself in honesty mode, or a friend watches your face and taps when you crack.
- Is my voice recorded?
- No. The game only reads how loud and how high the sound is, inside your browser. Nothing is recorded, saved or sent anywhere.
- It counted a laugh when I only talked. Why?
- The detector listens for several loud bursts in a row, and loud talking can sound like that. Stay quiet during the skits, redo the calibration or pick the chill detector in the settings.
- The game says it can't hear me. What now?
- Your browser may be using a silent or virtual input. Pick another mic in the list that opens on the calibration screen, or under Settings. Headphones also keep the show's sounds out of the mic.
- How does the 2-player mode work?
- Both players watch the same screen. Tap P1 LAUGHED or P2 LAUGHED, or let the mic hear the laugh and say who it was. The first one to crack loses.
- Is there a daily show?
- Yes. Every day there is a new show of 10 skits, the same for everyone, and you can share how many faces you kept.
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