AI features and voice
Stuck on a rule halfway through a trade, or wondering where last night’s game got away from you? Rent Party’s AI features are for that, and each one runs only when you press its button or switch it on. The game plays the same without any of them.
The CPU characters play by the game’s own rules whichever switches you choose. Fresh lines change what they say. Never how they play.
What are the AI features?
Five, and each one waits for you: the help assistant, game recaps, trade reads, fresh table-talk lines and voice recordings. Here is where each lives and what it hands back.
| Feature | Where you find it | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Help assistant | Ask a question on the game’s Help page, or in a game’s pause menu | An answer from these docs and the Help page, naming the pages it used |
| Game recap | Write the recap, under How it went, on a finished online game’s results and on its replay | One short story of the game, the same for everyone who played |
| Trade read | Read this trade, in the trade window of any game | What the deal does to color sets, rent and bucks, with a line of advice |
| Fresh table-talk lines | Fresh lines for each game, in Settings | New lines for the CPU characters, written for that game |
| Voice recordings | Ask by voice on the Help page, the mic button on a phone, or Say your offer in the trade window | A question, a message to the team or a trade offer, which you check before it’s sent |
How does the help assistant work?
It answers only from the Rent Party docs and the game’s Help page, and under each answer From these pages names the pages it used, so you can open one and check. An answer can still be wrong. The page it names is the one that counts.
On the game’s Help page, choose Ask a question. In a game, the pause menu has the same button. Type your question, or pick an example like “How do I get out of Jail?” Ask it the way you’d ask a friend across the table.
When no page covers your question, it says so and offers Message the team. That one doesn’t count toward today’s questions. How do I reach the team? says what to include.
How do game recaps work?
A recap is one short story of a finished online game: who won, how many rounds it took and how close it got. If you played in the game, you’ll find How it went on its results page and on its replay, right below the page’s first card. Choose Write the recap.
It’s written once from the game’s moves, and everyone who sat at that table reads the same one. Only the player who writes it uses a recap from their month’s allowance. Reading one that’s already written costs nothing, so nobody at the table has to race to it, and anyone can read it again before the rematch.
Recaps need an online game. Games played on one device don’t get one, and neither do guests. A recap stays with its game.
How does a trade read work?
Build a trade in the trade window, then choose Read this trade. The game works out what the deal does:
- which color sets each side completes or breaks up;
- the rent at stake on the deeds that change hands;
- how many bucks each side holds after the deal.
Our writing service then turns those facts into a short piece of advice, such as “This hands Maya a full set, so their rent doubles on every street there with no buildings. Ask for more bucks, or keep that deed back.”
It’s advice only. The offer is yours. It still sends whether you read the trade or not. Put something on at least one side first: an empty trade has nothing to read.
How does table talk work?
The CPU characters chat when something happens at the table: a buy, a rent bill, a trade, a trip to Jail. Land on Bea’s street and you’ll hear about it. “You’re on my street? Lovely.”
Three switches in Settings, under Appearance, decide how you hear them:
| Switch | Starts | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| CPU characters speak out loud | On | A voice on your browser or phone reads their lines, each character with their own pitch and pace. |
| Show their lines | On | A speech bubble by the character’s seat, for about 3 seconds. |
| Fresh lines for each game | Off | Our writing service writes new lines for the game. Left off, the characters use their own written lines, all on your device. |
Turn the first two off and the CPU characters play quietly. In a game, the pause menu has a CPU voices switch for speaking out loud, so you don’t have to leave the table to quiet them. Signed in, your switches follow you to every device. No voice on your browser or phone? You’ll see the bubbles without sound.
The first time you play CPU characters on a device, a small card beside the table offers fresh lines. Choose Turn on or Not now; Settings changes it any time. Fresh lines come from an allowance for each game, counted by the day in pass-and-play and CPU games, and when they run out, the characters go back to their own written lines.
The six rivals are on the CPU characters page.
How do voice recordings work?
Say it instead of typing. On the game’s Help page, choose Ask by voice. On a phone, the round mic button sits at the bottom right on Home, Games and Help. In a game’s trade window, choose Say your offer.
Press Start and talk for up to 2 minutes. The first time, your phone or browser asks for the microphone. Rent Party listens only while the sheet says Recording and lets go of the microphone when you stop.
Choose Stop and check, and your recording becomes one of these:
- a question for the help assistant;
- a message to the team, with its topic; as a guest, you add your email address so the team can reply;
- a trade offer, which opens in the trade window for you to change.
Nothing is sent until you press the button.
Rather type? When the microphone is blocked, or a recording doesn’t work, Type instead takes you to the typed version.
Are your voice recordings kept?
Not for long. Under What we heard, Delete this recording removes it at once. Otherwise the recording, the words heard in it and what it became are deleted within 24 hours. Other players never hear it, and never see its words. The privacy page has what happens to a voice recording.
What does each feature send?
Only what that feature needs, and only when you ask. Our server sends each request, not your device, so none of them carries your name, your email address or the random id behind your account.
- The help assistant: your question, and the text of the docs pages closest to it.
- A game recap: the game’s results, like each seat’s rank, net worth and the rent it paid and collected. Seats go as “Player 1”, “Player 2” or the CPU character’s name, never a display name.
- A trade read: what’s in the trade, and both sides’ bucks before and after. Nothing about the dice or the card decks.
- Fresh lines: the characters’ names and one-line sketches, and for each moment what happened and at which seat. No amounts. No players’ names.
- A voice recording: the audio goes to our transcription service, then what it heard, what your browser heard and the page you recorded on go to our writing service. On the website, where your words show up as you speak, your browser’s own speech service hears you too. The Android app doesn’t use one.
Until it’s deleted, a recording waits as a private file with our own email and file service. Lines read aloud use only a voice on your device. Nothing is sent to read a line, and a browser or phone with no voice of its own shows the bubbles without sound.
We don’t keep your question, its answer or a trade read. A recap stays with its game. The privacy page names each service and lists exactly what goes where: What do the AI features send, and where? Privacy and terms sums up the privacy page.
What are the AI levels?
Spark, Pulse and Surge are the three AI levels, and yours sets how much thought goes into help answers, recaps and trade reads. Spark is quick. Pulse goes deeper. Surge goes deepest.
| Plan | AI level |
|---|---|
| Guest or Free | Spark |
| Pro | Pulse, then Surge after a set number of paid months in a row, shown on the Pricing page |
| Family | Surge |
On Pro, only months you paid for count toward Surge, so months earned with friend invites don’t. Miss a paid month and the count starts again, though a short gap between paid months keeps the run going. Your plan page shows where you stand.
A level is the highest your plan runs at. When there’s less AI credit to go round, the features can run at a lower level for a while. Plans and pricing covers the plans themselves.
How much of each feature can you use?
Every plan includes an allowance of each feature, and Pro and Family include more. The Pricing page has the current numbers, and your plan page shows how many you’ve used.
| Feature | Counted per |
|---|---|
| Help assistant questions | day |
| Game recaps | month |
| Trade reads | day |
| Fresh table-talk lines | game (a day in pass-and-play and CPU games) |
| Voice recordings | month |
Days and months run on UTC, so new questions can arrive at an hour that isn’t your midnight. The sheet says when.
When an allowance runs out, that feature waits for the next day, month or game, and everything else carries on: the docs stay open, your trade offer still sends, and you can still type. A question the docs don’t cover doesn’t count. Neither does a request that comes back with nothing.
Can guests use them?
Yes, all but recaps, at Spark. A guest’s allowances are worked out from the Free plan’s numbers and start fresh each day. Each sheet shows what’s left today.
Before each request, a quick check makes sure you’re a person. The privacy page says what Rent Party keeps when a guest uses them.
What happens when AI is resting?
The AI features run on a free AI credit. When it’s used up, they rest. Nothing is charged while they rest, and each sheet shows when the credit comes back. The game goes on:
- the help assistant points you to the docs and the team;
- a recap waits, because the game’s moves are kept;
- your trade offer still sends, without a read;
- voice recordings wait, and you can type;
- the CPU characters talk from their own written lines.
How do you turn the CPU voices off?
To quiet the CPU characters, turn off CPU characters speak out loud in Settings, under Appearance, or CPU voices in the pause menu. Table talk’s other two switches sit beside the first one in Settings. The help assistant, recaps, trade reads and voice have nothing to switch off: each runs only when you press its button.
To block the microphone, switch it off for Rent Party in your phone’s or browser’s settings, and the permissions page says when the microphone is used.
Got a question right now? Ask the help assistant.