Karagöz: Shadow Play
Step behind the screen and make the crowd laugh.
How to play
The puppet hangs on a single rod; you work it by sliding your finger or mouse. When a cue reaches the line in the middle, make the move it asks for: enter, duck, jump, headbutt, dance, flip, run. The better your timing, the bigger the laugh.
How to play Karagöz: a complete guide
Karagöz is a timing and movement game that puts traditional Turkish shadow theatre in your hands. You step behind the screen and work the puppet with a single rod: you move the rod, and the arms and legs swing on their own, just like a real leather figure. Move cards scroll across the top of the screen; when a card reaches the line in the middle, you perform that move. The more cards you catch, the louder the hall laughs. The game has 12 nights split into 3 acts, 4 unlockable puppets, a rival puppeteer and a Lesson that teaches the moves one by one.
Goal
Each night is a short Karagöz play. Hacivat is always on stage with you. Cards arrive one after another and each has a timing window: do the move as the card approaches the line and it counts as a hit; once the window closes, the card turns into Missed. At the end of the night you earn stars based on how many cards you landed. Your goal is to make the audience laugh and finish all twelve nights; for a perfect run, three stars on every night.
Like a real Karagöz play, every night runs through four parts: Mukaddime, Muhavere, Fasıl and Bitiş. In between, Hacivat and Karagöz trade jabs in speech bubbles; when you play Karagöz, a flip or headbutt can knock off his cap, the işlik, and show his bald head.
Controls: working the puppet
On a computer you just move the mouse, no need to hold the button; the puppet follows the cursor. On a phone you slide your finger across the screen. The keyboard works too: arrow keys or WASD move the puppet, Space jumps, S ducks, Esc or P pauses.
| Card | What to do |
|---|---|
| Enter | Move the puppet to the glowing spot on the screen. |
| Duck / Jump | Bring the puppet down to the bottom of the screen, or lift it up. No need to yank it fast. |
| Headbutt | Crash quickly into Hacivat's head; a gentle touch doesn't count. |
| Dance | Shake the puppet left and right, fast, a few times in a row. |
| Flip | Double tap or double click. Flinging it to one side and pulling straight back also works. |
| Run | Tuzsuz Deli Bekir is coming: take the puppet out past the edge of the screen. |
| Bow | Hold still on stage for a moment; the puppet bows to the audience. |
| Catch | Grab the falling apple, coffee pot or turban with the puppet. |
| Hide | Move behind the screen on the left side of the stage. |
| Copy | Hacivat does a move (jumps, ducks or dances); you repeat it. |
Score, streaks and stars
Every hit is worth 100 points. Land it close to the centre of the window and you get Right on time plus 50 points; a little early or late shows Nice. Consecutive hits build a streak, and the bigger the streak, the more each card is worth (at a ten-card streak, double). A missed card resets the streak and drops the laugh meter a little.
Stars are based on your hit rate, not your score:
- 90% of the cards or more: 3 stars, The hall roared
- 75% or more: 2 stars, The hall laughed
- 50% or more: 1 star, A few people laughed
- Below 50%: no stars, The crowd got bored
Acts, nights and puppets
The campaign has 3 acts and 12 nights:
- Apprentice: Salıncak, Hamam, Tahmis, Kanlı Nigâr
- The Rival: Aşçılık, Kayık, Düello, Cambazlar
- The Festival: Bahçe, Tımarhane, Son Düello, Büyük Şenlik
To open a night you need at least 1 star on the one before. As the nights go on, cards come faster and the timing window gets tighter; the newer cards (Catch, Hide, Copy) are introduced gradually. The stars you collect also fill the hall with more spectators.
On the Puppets screen you pick who to play. Karagöz is open from the start and good at everything. Beberuhi unlocks after Hamam, Tuzsuz Deli Bekir after Kanlı Nigâr and Zenne after Cambazlar. Beberuhi is light and flips easily; Bekir is heavy, hard to topple, and his headbutts get bigger laughs; Zenne's dances get bigger laughs.
Duel nights and helpers
On the Düello and Son Düello nights, the meter of your rival Çelebi Hayalî runs beneath yours. To win the duel you need to land at least 70% of the cards in Düello and at least 80% in Son Düello.
The Lesson teaches the seven basic moves (enter, jump, duck, dance, headbutt, flip, run) one at a time with no time pressure. It opens by itself on your first Play if you have no stars yet, and you can reopen it from the Plays screen. If you finish a night with fewer than three stars, a Call the audience back button appears: if you want, you watch a short ad and replay the night with timing windows half again as wide. It is always your choice.
Tips
- Don't wait for the card to touch the line; the window opens a little before it, so start the move as the card approaches.
- After each move, bring the puppet back to the middle of the screen at resting height. Ducking and jumping only count again once the puppet returns to the middle.
- When headbutting, come at Hacivat's head from the side and fast. A slow approach doesn't count.
- On a Copy card, don't rush: Hacivat shows the move first, and you do it as the card reaches the line.
- For the bow to the audience, leave the puppet on stage and keep your hand still; a short pause is enough.
Karagöz: shadows on the screen
Karagöz is the traditional Turkish shadow theatre: figures cut from painted leather are pressed against a lit screen. The banter of Karagöz and Hacivat has made audiences laugh for centuries; it was added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2009.
- Type
- Shadow play (coloured leather puppets worked from behind a screen)
- Birthplace, according to legend
- Bursa
- Puppet material
- Camel or cattle hide, scraped translucent and painted
- Parts of a play
- Mukaddime, Muhavere, Fasıl, Bitiş
- Traditional time and place
- Ramadan nights, circumcision feasts; coffeehouses
- UNESCO
- On the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2009
History and legend
Karagöz is a shadow play that became widespread in the Ottoman era. Nobody knows for sure how shadow theatre reached Anatolia; many researchers believe it came from East and Southeast Asia by way of Egypt and spread through the Ottoman lands from the 16th century on.
According to the best-known legend, two builders working on a mosque in Bursa, Karagöz and Hacivat, bantered so wittily that the other workers stopped to listen. When the construction fell behind, the two were punished; to console the people who missed them, a man named Şeyh Küşteri made figures of the pair and played them behind a screen. This is a legend, not documented history, but the Karagöz tradition honours Şeyh Küşteri as its patron, which is why the screen is also called the Küşteri meydanı, the square of Küşteri.
Screen, figures and puppeteer
The play is performed on a stretched white cloth screen, also called the ayna (mirror). In the old days an oil lamp or candle burned behind it. The puppets are called tasvir: camel or cattle hide is scraped thin until light shines through, then painted and cut with openwork. The figure is pressed against the screen and moved with a rod, which is why the shadows appear in colour rather than black.
The artist who performs is called the hayalî. The hayalî voices every character alone, mimics accents and sings. A small whistle held in the mouth, the nareke, marks the characters' entrances and the fights. Before the play, a decorative picture called the göstermelik stands on the screen, usually with no direct link to the story.
Structure and characters
A traditional Karagöz play has four parts: the Mukaddime, where Hacivat enters and recites a song and a poem about the screen; the Muhavere, a free-wheeling exchange between the two heroes; the Fasıl, where the actual story is told; and the short closing, the Bitiş. Karagöz is a plain-spoken, blunt, somewhat rough but good-hearted man of the people; Hacivat speaks flowery Ottoman Turkish and has an opinion on everything. Much of the comedy comes from Karagöz misunderstanding Hacivat's fancy words.
Many other types appear on the screen: the swaggering tough Tuzsuz Deli Bekir, the chatty dwarf Beberuhi, Zenne, the general name for the female characters, and a whole cast from different Istanbul neighbourhoods and regions.
Tradition, the game and today
Karagöz was performed especially on Ramadan nights in coffeehouses and at circumcision feasts. In 2009 it was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity; today it lives on at festivals, in schools and in places like the Karagöz Museum in Bursa.
The parts of each night in the game come from the real structure: Mukaddime, Muhavere, Fasıl, Bitiş. Salıncak (The Swing), Hamam (The Bathhouse), Tahmis (The Coffee Roastery), Kanlı Nigâr, Aşçılık (The Cook) and Tımarhane (The Madhouse) are titles of traditional Karagöz plays. The single rod, Karagöz's one long arm, the sound of the nareke and the cap gag also come from the tradition. Master Hayalî, his apprentice and the rival Çelebi Hayalî, on the other hand, belong to the game's own story, as do the duels and the Büyük Şenlik night.
How Karagöz was made
Karagöz puts traditional Turkish shadow theatre in the player's hands. Colourful, translucent leather puppets are moved from behind the screen with a single stick; following the cards on stage, the player enters, jumps, bends down, dances, headbutts Hacivat, flips and runs away, all on time. The goal is to make the audience laugh. The puppets and scenery are not image files but are drawn in code.
In early tests the moves were hard to understand. So a lesson was added that teaches the seven moves one by one without time pressure, with a ghost hand showing each move while the player waits. Flip detection was rewritten: measurements had found twelve accidental flips, and that dropped to zero. When the game still felt too hard, the controls were eased: moving the puppet down or up is enough to bend or jump, a double tap also flips, and the timing window grew wider. Along the way it turned out that mouse and touch had not worked in the lesson at all, because the tests fed input directly; the bug was fixed and testing now uses a real mouse.
Next the puppets moved closer to their traditional look: Karagöz with his large black eye, round beard and long cap, Hacivat with his tall turban and pointed beard, bodies jointed at the waist, and cut-outs that let the light through. During a flip or a headbutt Karagöz may lose his cap, and the audience laughs at his bald head.
The story features Master Hayalî, who hands the screen to his apprentice, and the rival Çelebi, across three acts and twelve nights. Every night Karagöz and Hacivat trade jokes in speech bubbles, on duel nights the rival's laughter meter races yours, and the audience grows with your fame. If a night ends without three stars, the player may choose to watch an ad and replay it with more time.
Automated tests play every night and check the laughter meter. The game is available in seven languages.
Frequently asked questions
Who are Karagöz and Hacivat?
They are the two main heroes of Turkish shadow theatre. Karagöz is a plain-spoken man of the people, Hacivat a know-it-all with flowery speech.
How do I do a flip?
The easiest way is a double tap or double click. Flinging the puppet hard to one side and pulling it straight back also counts.
Why don't ducking and jumping always count?
Each of these moves counts once and resets when the puppet returns to the middle. If you leave the puppet low or high, the next card won't register; bring it back to the middle of the screen after every move.
How do I unlock new puppets?
Beberuhi unlocks when you finish Hamam with at least one star, Tuzsuz Deli Bekir after Kanlı Nigâr, and Zenne after Cambazlar. You choose your puppet on the Puppets screen.
How do I win a duel night?
You need to beat Çelebi Hayalî's meter: land at least 70% of the cards in Düello and at least 80% in Son Düello.
What does Call the audience back do?
It is an optional button that appears when you finish a night with fewer than three stars. If you watch a short ad, you replay the same night with timing windows half again as wide.
What should I do on a Copy card?
As the card approaches, Hacivat demonstrates a move: he jumps, ducks or dances. When the card reaches the line, you do the same move.
What are the nareke and the göstermelik?
The nareke is the small whistle the puppeteer blows for entrances and fights. The göstermelik is the decorative picture on the screen before the play starts. Both are in the game: the nareke sounds at the start of a night, and each night has its own stage decoration.
Is Karagöz: Shadow Play free?
Yes. No download or account needed; it plays right in your browser. Watching an ad for a hint is always your choice.
Will I lose my progress?
Your progress is saved automatically on this device. Sign in and it moves to your account, so you can continue on any device.
Can I play on my phone?
Yes. The game opens full screen on phones; tap the X in the corner to exit. On iPhone use "Add to Home Screen" to play it like an app.
Can I play Karagöz: Shadow Play offline?
Yes. A game you have opened once is stored on your phone or computer and opens without internet. Leaderboards and cloud saves need a connection.
Which languages are available?
Turkish, English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French and Russian.
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