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