How to Run a Caption Contest (or Meme Battle) in Your Group Chat

What a caption contest is (and what a meme battle adds)

A caption contest has three parts: a picture or situation, a caption from every player, and a vote. The best-known example is the New Yorker’s cartoon caption contest. This guide covers the friendly version you run with your own group.

A “meme battle” is the same loop framed as a head-to-head: everyone captions the same prompt and the group crowns one winner. For other formats, see our list of meme games to play with friends.

What you need

A prompt (an image or a one-line situation), a group chat, three or more people and one host. Nothing to install.

The 8-step rules

1. Pick the prompt. The host posts one image or situation for everyone.
2. Set two deadlines. One for entries, one for votes. An evening works well: entries by 8pm, votes by 9pm.
3. Collect entries privately. Players send one caption each to the host by direct message, so nobody copies.
4. Post them numbered and unnamed. The host pastes every entry in random order as 1, 2, 3.
5. Everyone votes once. Reply with a single number. No voting for your own.
6. Count. The host posts the totals.
7. Break ties. Use the rules below.
8. Crown the winner and rotate the host. The winner picks the next prompt.

Three ways to score it

• One vote each. Fast and easy to count. Best with four or more people, because ties are common in small groups.
• 3-2-1 ranked ballot. Each voter names a first, second and third favorite (not their own), worth 3, 2 and 1 points. Fewer ties, a bit more typing.
• Rotating judge. One person picks the winner each round. No ties, but it rests on one person’s taste.

Real games use these too. Cap That uses a rotating judge, and Make it Meme turns votes into points, according to their own pages (Cap That, Make it Meme, checked October 23, 2026). For more on how other games run rounds, see Make It Meme alternatives compared.

Tie-breakers and house rules

• Revote. Vote again on the tied entries only, and the tied authors abstain.
• Still tied? The earliest entry wins, or share the crown.
• One entry per person, and no edits after the deadline.
• Cap the length. Lore stops each caption at 120 characters, a handy number to borrow.
• Co-host if the host plays. A second person posts the entries so the host’s caption stays anonymous.

Twelve prompts that work in a friend group

Prompts 1 to 7 are ours. Prompts 8 to 12 are the five that rotate through Lore’s daily battle, each a meme format plus a topic. Post the format’s picture with the topic.

1. The group chat at 7 a.m. versus 11 p.m.
2. “We should do this more often,” followed by a year of silence.
3. What the last slice of pizza is thinking.
4. A photo of your desk or kitchen right now: caption the chaos.
5. The unread count after one hour offline.
6. Saturday plans: the invite versus the sofa.
7. The worst possible title for this group’s autobiography.
8. Lore battle prompt Two buttons: group chat edition.
9. Lore battle prompt Expectation vs reality: the group trip.
10. Lore battle prompt Expanding brain: why you’re late.
11. Lore battle prompt Nope or yep: weekend plans.
12. Lore battle prompt Walking-away penguin: leaving without saying bye.

Keep it funny, not cruel

Aim captions at the situation, not at someone’s looks or traits. Let anyone skip a prompt, and let the host delete anything that stings. Written rules help: Lore’s community rules do not allow bullying or memes made to humiliate a real person, and you can borrow the idea for your chat.

Run the same contest in Lore

We make Lore, so treat this as a product description. Lore’s daily battle is this contest with the admin done for you. Each day the room gets one meme format and one prompt. Everyone captions it whenever they like, then the room votes by swiping: right for LOL, left for Nah, up to crown, with 3 crowns a day. Standings stay hidden until you have voted on every entry, and the winner is crowned at 9pm.

Honest limits: 9pm means 9pm on each person’s phone, so a group in different time zones sees the crown at different moments, and each phone works out the winner itself, so we cannot promise every phone shows the same result. Prompts come from a fixed list of five, chosen by date, and you cannot set your own. There are no timers or judges. Lore runs in the browser, and the iPhone and Android apps are coming soon. One more limit, checked October 23, 2026: in the current browser version a room may stay on the phone that made it, so check that a friend can see your meme before you plan a game around it.

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FAQ

What is a caption contest?

A game where everyone writes a caption for the same image or situation and the group votes for the funniest. It can be run in a group chat with no app.

How do you pick a winner fairly?

Post the entries numbered and without names, let everyone vote once but not for themselves, and agree a tie-break rule before you start, such as a revote among the tied entries with the tied authors abstaining.

How many people do you need for a caption contest?

Three is the practical minimum: two entries and someone to vote. Five to eight gives votes that mean something. This is an editorial suggestion, not a fixed rule.

Can you run a caption contest when people are in different time zones?

Yes. Use an entry deadline and a voting deadline instead of live rounds. Lore’s daily battle works this way: everyone captions the day’s format whenever they like, and the winner is crowned at 9pm on each person’s phone.