Earshot Worlds Play it by ear.

How to Play Message in a Bottle

Everything you can say on the shore — finding bottles, answering them, and sending your own words out on the tide. If you remember nothing else, remember the opener words: “my message is” when you toss a bottle, “my reply is” when you answer one. Alexa’s ears need those opening words to catch your dictation.

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Getting started: your first visit to the shore

  1. Open the shore. Say “Alexa, open Message in a Bottle.” Waves, shore birds, and the shore itself welcome you. Your shore saves as you play, and it is always there when you return.
  2. Check for replies first. If someone has answered one of your bottles, their reply washes up first thing on your visit — before anything else happens.
  3. Find your first bottle. Say “find bottles.” The waves set three bottles at your feet, each described by its look: its colour, its cork, its wax seal.
  4. Choose one. Say the number — “one,” “two,” “three” — or describe it: “the green one,” “the wax one.” You will hear the bottle opened — cork, paper — and the note inside read aloud. If it carries a vague tag, you will hear roughly where it drifted from. That is all anyone ever learns; writers are anonymous, always.
  5. Answer it, or move on. Say “reply” to write back, “another bottle” to see what else the tide brought, or “toss it back” to return this one to the sea for someone else.
  6. Suggested first goal: open a few bottles, reply to the one that moves you, then toss a bottle of your own before you go. The sea only works because everyone does both.

Finding and opening bottles

“find bottles”
The waves set three bottles at your feet, each described by its look: its colour, its cork, its wax seal.
“one” · “two” · “three” — or “the green one”
Choose a bottle by its number or its look, and it is opened for you: cork, paper, and the note read aloud.
“another bottle”
Set this one down and see what else the tide brought.
“toss it back”
Return the open bottle to the sea for someone else.
“repeat”
Hear the last thing the skill said again.

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Replying

“reply”
Answer the writer of the bottle you just heard. The skill says: “Begin with the words: my reply is — then say your reply. For example: my reply is, then your words. It needs at least five words. Keep it under 300 characters, and I will read it back before anything is sent. Take your time.”
Start with “my reply is”
Always. Alexa’s ears need those opening words to catch your dictation; without them your words may not be heard at all. The opener itself is never stored — only your own words after it are counted, read back, and kept. If the skill ever says “I did not catch that,” it will remind you of the opener and, the second time, speak a full example — just begin again with the opener words.
The five-word rule
Every reply — like every bottle — must have at least five words. You are always told this before you speak. If your reply comes out shorter, the skill tells you the count and keeps nothing: “That was 3 words. A reply needs at least five, so nothing was kept.” A short attempt costs you nothing — just say it again, a little longer.
“yes” · “redo” · “cancel”
After the read-back: “yes” sends the reply on its way, “redo” lets you say it again, “cancel” sets it aside.
One reply each
One reply per bottle per person keeps the sea fair. Your reply is delivered only to the bottle’s writer, on their next visit — it is never posted for everyone. Like every bottle, it waits for the keeper’s approval before it travels.
“answer”
If a reply washes up for you, say “answer” to write back once. After that round trip, the bottle’s journey is complete and it retires.

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Tossing your own bottle

“toss a bottle”
Start writing. The skill says: “Begin with the words: my message is — then say your message. For example: my message is, then your words. It needs at least five words, and up to about sixty. Keep it under 400 characters, and I will read it back before the bottle is sealed. Take your time.”
Start with “my message is”
The same opener rule as replies: begin with the opener words so Alexa catches every word. Only what you say after them is counted, read back, and stored.
The five-word rule
Every bottle message must have at least five words — a bottle should say something. Too short, and the skill tells you the count and keeps nothing, at no cost to you: say it again, a little longer.
“yes” · “redo” · “cancel”
The skill reads your message back. “Yes” seals it, “redo” says it again, “cancel” sets it aside.
“my tag is …” — or “no tag”
After sealing, you may add a vague tag: begin with “my tag is,” then the place — “the coast of Nova Scotia,” a province, a country — or say “no tag.” The tag is the only hint of origin a finder ever hears. Your real location is never asked and never shared.
Then it waits for the keeper
Your bottle waits on the keeper’s desk. Nothing human-written floats until the keeper approves it. You will be told it is waiting; when it floats, it is simply out at sea.

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Reporting — and how the sea stays kind

“report”
Flag the bottle you just heard for the keeper, then say why in a word: “rude,” “creepy,” “spam,” “other,” or “skip.” One report marks the bottle; two reports from different players pull it out of the sea until the keeper rules on it.
The automatic filter
Before anything is stored, every message passes an automatic filter. Personal information — phone numbers, emails, addresses, links, social handles — contact or meet-up invitations, explicit content, threats and hate are refused on the spot, kindly and with the reason spoken.
The keeper
Every human-written bottle and reply is then read and approved by the keeper — a human moderator — before it can float. The keeper can decline a message, remove a single bottle, remove everything a writer has sent, or bar a writer from the shore entirely. Writers are never named to anyone: the keeper, like every player, never hears who wrote anything.
Anonymous, always
No names, no accounts read aloud, no locations. A finder hears your words, and — only if you chose one — your vague tag. That is the whole of it.

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Your counts and the daily limits

“my shore” · “status”
How many bottles you may still open today, replies and tosses left, and of your own bottles, how many are at sea and how many are waiting on the keeper.
Daily limits
Open 20 bottles, reply to 5, toss up to 3 — every day, for everyone.
The flood gates
New writers start gentler — 1 toss a day until their first bottle is approved — and there is a short wait between tosses, a limit of two bottles waiting unreviewed at once, and no sending the same words twice. These keep the ocean from filling with spam.

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Getting help

“teach me”
The whole story of the shore, spoken.
“what can I do”
A suggestion based on where you are.
“help”
The short command list.
“stop”
Leave the shore whenever you like.

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Tips

  • The openers are the whole trick. “My message is…” to toss, “my reply is…” to answer, “my tag is…” to tag. Start with them and Alexa hears every word; the openers themselves are never stored.
  • Five words or more, every time. A bottle should say something — a kindness, a joke, a small true thing from your day. Short attempts cost nothing, so take a breath and say it a little longer.
  • Write the bottle you would love to find. The sea gives back what it is given. The bottles people remember are the ones written like that.
  • Keep your tag vague on purpose. A coast, a province, a country — a hint of weather, never a map pin. Your real location is never asked; don’t offer it in the message either.
  • Report, don’t argue. If a bottle feels wrong, say “report” and let it drift no further. Two reports pull it from the sea, and the keeper decides.
  • Come back tomorrow. Replies wash up while you are away, and the counts — 20 opens, 5 replies, 3 tosses — refresh with the new day.