A new song-guessing game is taking over the internet, one melody at a time.
Bandle, which debuted as an app in December, is seeing an explosion in popularity on platforms like TikTok, Twitch and YouTube, where streamers and content creators are posting videos of themselves playing the game.
Every day, the game, which is free, gives players information about one song, including the year it was released. The player then listens to the track, instrument by instrument, starting with drums.
Players have the opportunity to guess the song at each layer, until they reach the vocals. If they still don’t guess it by then, they can get a text clue. Past songs have included everything from OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” to Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.”
Johann Levy, the game’s creator who is based in France, said he was partially inspired by the success of the popular online puzzle game, Wordle.
In recent years, many game developers have capitalized on the success of Wordle by creating games with a similar format, including: Heardle, a different music-guessing game; Poeltl, a basketball player-guessing game; and Lewdle, a bad word-guessing game.
In 2022, “there was a Wordle craze with the world,” Levy told NBC News in a phone interview. “And then Heardle, and I thought I could do something like that as well.”
At first, Levy created a website to launch the game, which drew in up to 1,000 people at a time. But devoted gamers began requesting an easier way to play.
“Everybody’s asking me, ‘It’s a great game. I want to play all day. And how do I do that?’” Levy said. “… That’s how it became an app — just because people gave me the idea.”
Levy said he used to use the program Garage Band and his iPad to recreate each layer of a track with the help of one collaborator. Now, he utilizes Logic Pro and templates. Some tracks can be completed in as little as 45 minutes, while others take as long as four hours.
Since its app launch, the game has since built buzz authentically, thanks in large part to the streamers. Levy credited them for helping give the game an organic marketing boost.
“I haven’t done any [marketing] at all whatsoever,” Levy said. “I don’t have the budget for that anyway. It spread with word of mouth.”
The game has a small Reddit thread, where Levy responds to players’ feedback and posts updates on game statistics. On X, the Bandle Game account posts daily clues.
For some streamers, playing Bandle has become part of their content repertoire.
Anthony Fantano, a content creator and music reviewer, said he first heard about the game through some of his followers, who commented suggesting he give it a try.
“Sometimes I’m pretty bad at sort of, like, instantly recalling song titles and stuff like that on the fly,” said Fantano, who goes by “The Needle Drop” on YouTube, where he has 2.8 million subscribers, and “The Needle Tok” on TikTok, where he has 1.5 million followers. “But, you know, it’s still a fun challenge.”
Fantano said he enjoys seeing his followers react to the Bandle videos — even when he doesn’t get the right answer. He’s also enjoyed watching others online take part in it, such as the TikTok user “Noodles.Music.Dailies”
The user, who did not respond to NBC News’ interview request, has become known for her videos which feature her playing the game while cuddling a dachshund.
In the last month, Levy said, seeing an influx of people playing his game has brought him joy, especially since he made the game in his spare time. His full-time job is in research and development, though he also plays the drums for fun.
“I have this alert on Google for the keyword ‘Bandle’ and each time there’s a new video, from anyone really, I watch that,” he said.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
