Telegram Bot API: Games

Purpose

Use this skill when the bot launches playable games through Telegram.

Core API surface

• sendGame

• game callback buttons

• answerCallbackQuery for game launches

• setGameScore

• getGameHighScores

Developer guidance

• Create and manage the game identity through @BotFather .

• Treat the Telegram bot as launcher, scorekeeper, and transport layer.

• Use callback queries to issue per-user launch URLs.

• Decide whether score updates should edit the chat-visible scoreboard automatically.

Product patterns

• single-player scoreboards

• group competition

• inline game launch

• reward loops tied to score milestones

Common mistakes

• Forgetting that the first button in the first row must launch the game when using a game keyboard.

• Treating callback-query handling for games as optional.

• Updating scores without protecting against replay or cheating.

• Mixing game transport logic with actual game runtime logic.

Read next

• 06-inline-mode-and-callbacks

• 03-messages-and-formatting

• 20-localization-testing-and-local-bot-api