Play with friends

One player hosts and plays, friends join, and bots fill the empty slots. Chiip's online play works by address and is built for Tailscale: a private network where nothing is opened on anyone's router, nothing is exposed to the internet, and only the people you invite can connect. (It also works on a LAN, and anywhere the friends can reach the host's address on UDP port 26000.)

Step by step

Everyone does step 1. The host does 2 and 3, the friends 4.

1. Install Tailscale from tailscale.com/download (free for personal use; Windows, macOS and Linux) and sign in. Check that it says Connected.
2. The host invites friends. The best way is to share only the host's computer, so friends can reach the game and nothing else of yours: open the Tailscale admin console, find the host's computer, open its … menu, choose Share… and send the invite link to each friend. A friend opens the link, signs in to Tailscale (a free account) and accepts. (You can also invite friends into your whole tailnet under Users → Invite, but then they can reach all your devices, so only do that for people you trust with that.)
3. The host starts the game: main menu → Host. The lobby shows Friends join at, with the host's Tailscale address (it starts with 100.) and a Copy button. Click Copy and send the address to your friends in chat.
4. A friend joins: main menu → Join. Paste the address into Join by IP and press Join. Everyone sees the others in the lobby. Next time the host is under Recent on the Join page, one click joins. (On the same Wi-Fi or LAN the Join page also lists the games on your network by itself, with a Join button each; Tailscale does not carry that announcement between devices, so over Tailscale paste the address once.)
5. In the lobby, click Switch team to pick a side (your team is blue, the other red). The host's Edit setup opens the usual match setup (mode, map or rotation, team sizes, bot difficulty, length, friendly fire); empty slots are bots. The host presses Start and everyone's game loads.
6. Pick your class in the first freeze time (M) as in a game alone. Type to your friends with Enter (in the lobby and in a match; Esc cancels). After the match everyone can vote for the next map (with a rotation); the host chooses Next map (the most voted), Play again or Lobby.

Someone who leaves during a match is taken over by a bot; someone who joins a running match takes over a bot of their team. When the host quits, everyone goes back to the menu.

If it doesn't connect

• Everyone must run the same version of Chiip: the host answers "The host runs a different version of Chiip." otherwise.
• Is Tailscale Connected on both computers? Try tailscale ping 100.x.y.z (the host's address) in a terminal; the first ping may take a moment while the two computers find a direct route.
• The host's firewall must let Chiip in (Windows: Private networks; macOS: Allow when asked). If you clicked Deny by mistake, allow Chiip under Windows Defender Firewall → Allow an app, or macOS System Settings → Network → Firewall → Options.
• The port is 26000 (UDP) unless the host changed it in the lobby; a different port can be pasted with the address (100.x.y.z:27000).
• Playing on the same Wi-Fi? The lobby also lists the host's LAN address; use that one for friends in the same house.

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