# Playing a Story

Source: https://docs.skaz.io/playing-stories

> How players open and play a Skaz story: choices, dialogue, timers, endings, the endings mandala and picking up where you left off.

Published stories are played on [skaz.io](https://skaz.io) — no
account needed, unless the story is marked 18+.

## Opening a story

Following a story's link takes you to its intro screen: cover image, title,
author, description, and (if applicable) an **18+** badge. Click **Start the
story** to begin.

> 18+ stories ask signed-out readers to sign in first. Signed-in readers under
> 18 can't open them at all — see [Account & Sign In](/account#age-and-adult-content).

## Playing

Each screen shows the current block's text (and image, if it has one), along
with buttons for its choices:

- **One choice** — a single "Continue"-style button.
- **Multiple choices** — one button per choice; picking one sends the story
  down that branch.
- Choice buttons can also be picked with the **number keys 1–9**, matching
  their position on screen (disabled while you're typing into a text field).

A step counter at the top of the screen tracks how far you've gone. Some
blocks pause to ask you a question with a text field instead of buttons —
type your answer and submit to continue.

### Conversations

Some scenes are dialogues: a background, the speaker's portrait, and one line
at a time along the bottom. Click anywhere on the scene — or press **Space**,
**Enter** or **→** — to read on. The choices show up once the last line is on
screen.

### When a story won't start

A story on a Free plan can be started a limited number of times each month. If
the author has used them up, pressing **Start the story** tells you so, and the
story opens again at the start of next month. If you were already partway
through, you can still finish.

### Playing with a class

In class, your teacher may run a story as a [Jam](/jam): the story plays on the
big screen and you vote on your phone. Open [skaz.io/jam](https://skaz.io/jam),
type the code from the board and pick a name. No account needed.

## Leaving and coming back

You don't have to finish in one sitting. Close the tab and open the story
again later — it offers to **Continue** from where you stopped, with your
choices and variables intact. **Start over** begins a fresh playthrough
instead.

> Progress is remembered per browser. Opening the story on another device, or in
> a private window, starts from the beginning.

## Reaching an ending

A block with no choices is an ending. If the author named it, you'll see which
ending you reached; otherwise it's a plain "The End".

### How others chose

Some stories show, right after you decide, how everyone else decided at the
same moment — and at the end, how rare your ending is. It's the author's choice
whether a story does this, and it's only ever totals: nobody sees what you
picked.

### The endings mandala

When a story has more than one ending, the last screen shows a **mandala**: one
petal per ending. The petals you've found are coloured in, with their names
listed beside it; the rest are dashed outlines with a question mark — you can
see how many are left, never what they are. Each new ending unfolds its petal
as you reach it, and finding the last one completes the mandala.

> Found endings are remembered per browser, like progress. On another device or
> in a private window the mandala starts empty.

From there you can **Play again**, which starts a fresh playthrough from the
beginning.