Games with your colleagues, and Kwoji in Slack
Kwoji announces every game that opens in the Slack channel you pick, and sends linked members a direct message about what concerns them. Answers always happen on Kwoji, in the browser or on a phone, with nothing to install.
- One-click install
- A channel and direct messages
- Game announcements included on the Free plan
Already on Kwoji? “Add to Slack” is under Admin, then Settings, then Notifications, available to the space's owner and admins. If your Slack channel is already connected, the same screen offers “Turn on direct messages”.
Kwoji APP 12:31 pm
🎮 A game of Kwoji Word just opened: A word to draw, colleagues guessing at full speed. 2–20 players, ~15–30 min.
JoinSetup
Create your team's space
Sign up on kwoji.app. The space is free for up to 200 members.
Click “Add to Slack”
In Kwoji, open Admin, then Settings, then Notifications. You need to be an owner or admin of the Kwoji space.
Pick the channel in Slack
Slack asks where to post and shows the permissions requested. Confirm, and your next games are announced there.
Members get linked
Kwoji looks up each member on Slack by the email address of their Kwoji account: at install, then every half hour for newcomers.
What the channel receives
On every plan, including Free
- Every game that opens: the game, what you do in it, the player count, how long it takes and the link to join.
- The message is in the language of whoever opens the game, English or French, and doesn't name them.
- At most twelve announcements an hour for your organization, so the channel stays readable.
With the Standard or Enterprise plan
- The daily challenge, in three messages on working days, on your organization's local time. At 8 am, the announcement: today's challenge, how to play it, yesterday's winner and the closing time.
- At 12:30 pm, the midday check-in: how many colleagues have played and the live leaderboard, without points. It isn't sent if nobody has played yet.
- At closing time, 5 pm by default and adjustable under Admin, then Settings: the podium, the points and tomorrow's 8 am meetup.
- Kwoji Pulse: the line that opens the question of the week, then Friday's reminder, sent by hand or automatically.
One channel per organization
Kwoji posts in the channel you connected and nowhere else. To switch channels, remove it under Admin, then Settings, and connect the new one.
Direct messages to members
A kudos received
The colleague's first name, the value they picked and their message. On every plan.
An idea moves forward
When an idea moves to “Put in place” or “Not taken forward”, to its author if it was signed (never for an anonymous idea) and to those who backed it. The message doesn't name the idea.
Kwoji Pulse
On Wednesday, the opening of the week's question. On Friday, a reminder, the same for every linked member, whether they've answered or not.
Surveys
When a survey launches, then when it's re-sent if it is, to all its linked recipients.
Answers happen on Kwoji
Every message has a button that opens Kwoji. Nothing is voted on or answered in Slack, and a message is never edited after it's sent.
Who gets linked
A member whose Kwoji email address is exactly that of their Slack account, in the installed workspace. Slack guests and deactivated accounts are not linked.
Messages about ideas, Kwoji Pulse and surveys follow the plan of those features: Standard or Enterprise.
The permissions requested, and why
incoming-webhook
Post in the channel you choose during install, and only there.
chat:write
Send a direct message to a linked member. Kwoji uses it for nothing else.
users:read and users:read.email
Find a member on Slack from the email address of their Kwoji account, one person at a time. Kwoji doesn't browse your member list.
No reading
Kwoji asks for no permission to read messages, channels or their history, and reads nothing written in your Slack.
What Kwoji keeps
The app's token, encrypted
Slack hands it over at install. Kwoji encrypts it on its server, with a key the database doesn't have, before storing it. It never reaches a browser.
The Slack ID of each linked member
A code like U0123ABCD, and nothing else: no name, no photo, no job title, no directory.
The workspace and the channel
The workspace's ID and name, shown in Admin, and the channel's posting URL, kept on the server.
Not the text of messages
Kwoji doesn't keep the text of the direct messages it sends. It stays in Slack, like any message.
How to turn it off
Each member
In their profile, they turn off one topic or all their notifications, or pick “Unlink my account”: the link is deleted and Kwoji stops linking them on its own. Every message says where this setting is.
The organization
Under Admin, then Settings, then Notifications: turn off direct messages or a single topic, or “Disconnect”: the token and every link are deleted, and the channel stays connected until you remove it.
From Slack
Uninstalling the app deletes the token, the links and the channel it had connected.
When a member leaves
A deactivated member gets no more direct messages. Removing them for good deletes their link.
Rather use your own webhook?
If your Slack workspace already has an incoming webhook (a hooks.slack.com URL), paste it under Admin, then Settings, then Notifications, instead of using the button.
A Slack app webhook gets the message with its Join button. A Workflow Builder trigger gets the same text, link included, without the button.
A webhook pasted by hand only serves the channel: direct messages go through the app.
The questions we get asked.
Are the games played inside Slack?
No. Slack gets the announcement or the message, and everything happens in the browser, on a computer or a phone, once you click the button. There's nothing to install.
Do I need to be a Slack admin?
On the Kwoji side, you need to be an owner or admin of the space. On the Slack side, you need permission to install apps in your workspace: if your company keeps that to Slack admins, ask them to do the install.
Does Kwoji work without Slack?
Yes. Colleagues join with a link, a QR code or a short code you read out, and open games show up in the Games tab. Slack is there to reach people who don't have Kwoji open.
Can Kwoji read our conversations?
No. None of the permissions requested lets it read a message, a channel or a history. Kwoji posts in your channel and to linked members, and reads nothing.
Does an organization that's already connected get direct messages?
Not on its own. An owner or admin clicks “Turn on direct messages” once, under Admin, then Settings, then Notifications, and accepts the new permissions in Slack. The channel stays the one already connected.
How do I disconnect Slack?
Under Admin, then Settings, then Notifications: “Remove channel” stops the announcements, “Disconnect” stops direct messages and deletes the token. Uninstalling the app from Slack does both.
See also
The one meeting everyone shows up for.
Create your organization in two minutes. Invite the team. The rest takes care of itself.