The Chain Game Lounge

[GTAKid667]

Chain Game Announcement!

Hello! I hope you are all keeping well. It has been a great year so far for the Chain Game and as always I’m glad to see continued support from the community. The last few rounds have seen an increase in pace, and we’ve seen several returning players joining in with the fun. It’s incredible seeing the continued interest in our game as the Grand Theft Auto series continues to age, and I hope you have all been enjoying participating.

Temporary Chief Arrangements
I am going to be away between 20th July and 31st July.

Sorviknight will assume the role of Temporary Chief in my absence and oversee the running of the community. We will continue to run rounds as normal during this time and do not anticipate there to be any disruption. I am confident that Sorviknight will do a great job of managing the game and ask that you all offer your support by continuing to follow the rules and keep the game running as smoothly as possible.

If you have any queries or encounter any issues during your turns, please post here in the Chain Game Lounge or in the #general channel of our Discord Server. A member of the team will be able to assist.

Please note that the message inbox of the Chain Game GTAForums account, our social media direct messages, and our email address will not be monitored until my return on the 1st August.

For anyone wishing to contact me, I will not be completely unreachable during this time, but please note that I will be unable to assist with anything relating to the Chain Game and you will be directed to use one of the channels above.

Closing Words
We launched Round 73 of the GTA Vice City Chain Game earlier today and I look forward to seeing you all join in with what I know will be another enjoyable round.

If you’re reading this message and you aren’t a member of our community yet, I would encourage you to consider joining us. We welcome anyone interested in the Grand Theft Auto series and do not require you to be experienced with the series to join in with the rounds.

 

Thank you all for your continued support.
 

GTAKid667, Chain Game Chief

 

[GTAKid667]

Chain Game Announcement!

I hope everyone is well. The Chain Game has seen plenty of action in recent months and I am glad to see so many of you joining in with the fun.

We recently completed the new second-fastest round of the Grand Theft Auto IV Chain Game, completing the round in the commendable time of 14 days, 20 hours, and 40 minutes with a team of 7 players. It is always fun to see rounds run at such a pace, and the excitement it generates is often coupled with the participation of new players, and those who have not participated in a while.

Thank you all for continuing to be a part of the community and I hope to see your continued support and participation in the rounds being launched in the months ahead.

The Chain Game Contributors
In August, we launched “The Chain Game Contributors”, a new topic dedicated to the people who have played a major role in making the Chain Game what it is today. We are always looking for ways to highlight contributions made to the game and this topic gives us a perfect opportunity do so and remind everyone that the game is the product of the dedication and support of our growing community.

The Chain Game Contributors topic replaces the “Special Thanks” section that followed the Players List in individual round topics. By having one dedicated topic, we are less restricted by the length of the post and can properly summarise all of the contributions made over the last 18 years. This also means that the links in the individual round topics will always point to an active, up to date list of the people who have made our game what it is today.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to check the topic out yet, please do, and on behalf of the Staff Team and the wider community I would again like to express my gratitude to all of the contributors listed for their part in the development of the Chain Game.

Upcoming Rule Changes for the Grand Theft Auto IV Chain Game
The next round of the Grand Theft Auto IV Chain Game will feature a rule change to the Assassination missions.

For those unfamiliar, the Assassination missions are unlocked following “Truck Hustle” and are given by “The Fixer” over a public payphone in Port Tudor. In recent rounds of the game, players have been allowed to complete only one of these missions, in addition to one story mission, and one random encounter.

During Round 11, the Assassination missions will be restriction-free, meaning that players will be allowed to complete as many as they wish during their turn. We are making this change following an internal observation of how these missions have been completed in recent rounds, and also due to the nature of the missions - each being quick to complete, while not updating the title of the save file, and with the percentage for completing the missions only being awarded once the entire strand has been completed. We are also hoping that this will increase the freedom that players have when completing turns.

We will be collecting feedback from players of the Grand Theft Auto IV Chain Game during the round for their stance on this issue and will look to make this a permanent change should there be an agreement. If you have something to say about this change but are not contacted, please let us know.

Temporary Chief Arrangements
I am going to be away between 10th September and 20th September.

During this time, Sorviknight will lead the Chain Game as Temporary Chief overseeing the community and all active rounds. As with previous absences, rounds will continue to run as normal, and we do not anticipate there to be any disruption.

As a general rule that will particularly apply during this period, if you have any queries or encounter any issues during your turns, please post here in the Chain Game Lounge or in the #general channel of our Discord Server. A member of the team will be able to assist.

Please note that the message inbox of the Chain Game GTAForums account, our social media direct messages, and our email address will not be monitored until my return on the 21st September.

Closing Words
This weekend we begin a new adventure in Grand Theft Auto IV and I encourage you all to join in with the fun. You should also keep an eye on the rounds we launch between now and the end of the year, there may be something special on the way!

We are also looking for more people to assist with updating the Players List during active rounds of the Chain Game. This involves monitoring the round and updating turn counts and player titles once turns have been completed. If you are interested in volunteering, please let us know. Please note that you do not have to be a participant of the Chain Game to assist.

Thank you all for your continued support.

GTAKid667, Chain Game Chief

[GTAKid667]

Chain Game Announcement!

I hope everyone is well. It continues to be a great year for the Chain Game with an increased amount of participation during the rounds and both new and returning players joining us for the fun. Since the start of the year we have launched 25 rounds of the Chain Game which exceeds the total number of rounds launched in each of the past 3 years. I hope that you are all enjoying the game and will continue to join us through these final weeks of the year.

Updates to the Chain Game Staff
We are excited to announce that Bunneyko and Stahli are joining Chain Game Staff.

Bunneyko has been a member of the community since 21st October 2017 when she took her first turn in the Grand Theft Auto III Chain Game.

In the years since, Bunneyko has not only been an extremely active player, but also a considerable support to our work in managing the Chain Game. She notably managed The Chain Game Players Parking Event in the months leading up to Round 100 of the Grand Theft Auto III Chain Game, leading a group of regular players to choose a set of vehicles that would be included in the special starter save used for the round. In managing this event, Bunneyko showed great leadership skills moderating the discussion effectively and creating documents and screenshots of suggestions that were made to assist with the selection process.

In recent years, Bunneyko has regularly assisted with updating the Players List and Special Vehicles List during active rounds and has recently taken on a new project that assists with our internal documentation of the Grand Theft Auto III Chain Game. Since January 2019 she has also helped to moderate our Discord Server.

Today she joins our team as “Chain Game Officer”, a position that is very well-deserved for her outstanding contributions and support over the past 6 years. Congratulations!

Stahli has been a member of the community since 11th August 2011 when he took his first turn in the Grand Theft Auto III Chain Game and more recently returned following a long-term absence on 18th November 2021.

In addition to being an extremely active player, Stahli has regularly assisted with updating the Players List and Special Vehicles List during active rounds, and providing valuable feedback on plans for the Chain Game.

He has also been a considerable support towards our internal projects including the re-creation of the Grand Theft Auto III Chain Game’s Special Vehicles Lists. In the past 6 months, Stahli has re-created more than 80 lists which will greatly assist with our internal documentation and also allow us to repair the opening posts of completed rounds.

Today he joins our team as “Chain Game Officer”, a well-deserved position for the contributions he has made towards our community in the past few years. Congratulations!

Together, Bunneyko and Stahli join me, Assistant Chief Sorviknight, and Parik and thehambone in their new roles of Chain Game Officer to create a staff team that will continue to deliver an enjoyable experience for the community and work towards our many goals and aspirations that will result in development and growth for all aspects of the Chain Game.

I hope you will all join me in congratulating Bunneyko and Stahli on their new positions.

Closing Words
We’ve been hard at work behind the scenes on multiple projects that we hope will be appreciated by the community and look forward to revealing more in the coming months. As mentioned in our previous announcement, you should also keep an eye out for something special coming in the next few weeks.

Thank you all for your continued support as always, and here’s to an exciting new chapter ahead for the Chain Game.

GTAKid667, Chain Game Chief

 

[44Orca]

Congrats to both!

Both good players and I also learned a bit from them.

Hoping to see many new players appearing for the next rounds like I was!

[Stahli]

Thanks @44Orca, I'm glad. I also hope that one or more people will join Chain Game. would be nice

 

And thanks to the CG-Team for this trust. I 'm looking forward to a new phase of good collaboration.

[Dom.]

I've watched the Chain Game from the back-seat for years and now I'd finally like to give it a go, I think. It looks like an interesting little setup.

[Stahli]

Great news. We are waiting for your first turn.

[GTAKid667]

Chain Game Announcement!

Hello! I hope everyone is well. As we approach the end of the first quarter of 2024, I would like to thank everyone who has participated in the Chain Game so far this year, or who has supported us as a member of our growing community.

So far this year we have launched 10 rounds – 3 for Grand Theft Auto III, 3 for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, 3 for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and 1 for Grand Theft Auto IV – and have seen a range of both new and existing players join in with the fun.

If this level of activity continues, we could well be looking at another record-breaking year for the game. It’s an exciting time to be a part of the Chain Game community and hope to see you all continue to show your support in the months ahead.

Temporary Chief Arrangements
I am going to be away between 20th March and 31st March.

During this time, Sorviknight will lead the Chain Game as Temporary Chief overseeing the community and all active rounds. He and the team will ensure that there will be no disruption to the game throughout this period, continue to launch new rounds, and regularly monitor currently active rounds for any issues that may arise.

I would like to remind all members of the community that if you have any queries or encounter any issues during your turns, please post here in the Chain Game Lounge or in the #general channel of our Discord Server and a member of our team will assist. Please note that the message inbox of the Chain Game GTAForums account, our social media direct messages, and our email address will not be monitored until my return on the 1st April.

I am certain that Sorviknight will do a great job, and that I am leaving the community in safe and capable hands.

Closing Words
As I write this announcement, we are currently running rounds for Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, and San Andreas. We are always looking for new players and if you are reading this but are not yet a member of our community, I would like to invite you to join us for the fun by taking a turn!

Thank you all for your continued support.

GTAKid667, Chain Game Chief

 

[GTAKid667]

Chain Game Announcement!

I hope you are all keeping well. We are fast on the approach to the last quarter of 2025, another great year for the Chain Game with consistent activity across all four games, played in by a variety of regular, new, and returning players.

Thank you as always to our community members for your continued and unwavering support, whether taking part in the rounds themselves, messaging in our Discord Server, or supporting from the sidelines. I am thankful that after all these years we still have a dedicated and loyal community, one that continues to be at the heart of everything we do.

Updates to the Chain Game Staff
We are excited to announce that TubewayArmy is returning to Chain Game Staff.

TubewayArmy joined the Chain Game community in November 2014 during Round 35 of the Grand Theft Auto III Chain Game where he made an immediate impact and famously tracked down the final Hidden Package so that we could complete the round in an era where we did not have maps and tools.

In October 2015, TubewayArmy joined the Chain Game Staff team and was instrumental in the creation and launch of the GTA Vice City and Grand Theft Auto IV Chain Games.

In the years following, he oversaw the creation of the Discord Server, Steam Group, X (Twitter) Page, and worked as a major contributor behind the scenes on the development of the Chain Game Index and commemorative rounds including Round 100 of the Grand Theft Auto III Chain Game.

Outside of working on our internal projects, TubewayArmy focused on community engagement, helping to bring us all closer together as one combined community rather than separate communities. Events that TubewayArmy helped to oversee, including Factions and Island Divisions, saw record levels of activity for the Chain Game and attracted positive attention from the wider Rockstar Games community, which has helped to support the community’s continued growth.

TubewayArmy re-joins the team today as “Chain Game Deputy Chief”, our second-most senior staff position, and will oversee the development of the Chain Game at management level, working together with myself, the rest of the staff team, and our contributor network to deliver exciting new projects to the wider community.

I hope you will all join me in giving TubewayArmy a well-deserved and warm welcome back to the team.

Closing Words
Later today we launch Round 91 of the GTA Vice City Chain Game which I hope you will all join us for. Round 189 of the GTA San Andreas Chain Game remains available to play too for those of you that favour the west coast.

As a growing staff team, our priority remains as making the Chain Game the most welcoming and inclusive community, with further rounds and special events to come in the months ahead. If you’ve never participated in the Chain Game, now is a great time to join us, and for those of you that have been around a while, thank you – your support means everything.

Wishing you all a great time ahead.
 

GTAKid667, Chain Game Chief

 

[Catalyst126]

Welcome back TubewayArmy!

[Stahli]

Welcome back @TubewayArmy. Its great to have you back on board. 

[GTAKid667]

Chain Game Announcement!

It has been a while since we last had two announcements in the space of a month but here we are with more news!

Rule Updates for the Grand Theft Auto IV Chain Game
We are introducing permanent changes to the Grand Theft Auto IV Chain Game rules that will come into effect next round.

The Fixer's Assassinations: Further to a successful trial in Round 11 and feedback from the community, players will now be able to complete multiple assassinations in one turn. This is a change that reflects the quick nature of these missions and is designed to increase player freedom and improve the pacing of future rounds.

Thank you to 44Orca, Bunneyko, Chyea, pangoomis, resbas, Rikka, Stahli, and TubewayArmy for providing feedback on this change, and to Parik, Sorviknight, and thehambone for their assistance in the implementation of this change.

Low Effort Missions: “Brian’s First Encounter” and “Jeff’s Third Encounter” will now be considered 'Low Effort Missions' meaning that players will be able to complete either or both of them in their turn in addition to one mission and one random encounter.

"Mr. and Mrs. Bellic": A clarification to the existing rule regarding “Mr. and Mrs. Bellic” will be made in the opening posts. Players can complete “Mr. and Mrs. Bellic” as a 'Low Effort Mission' with either, but not both of the missions that take place either side of it.

For example, in the “Deal” mission strand, the player would be able to complete either:

• “If the Price is Right” and “Mr. and Mrs. Bellic”
• “Mr. and Mrs. Bellic” and “A Revenger’s Tragedy”

 

The player is also free to complete just one of the three missions in their turn. Completing all three missions from either the "Deal" or "Revenge" mission strand is not allowed during one turn.

Thank you to lol232 for suggesting the improvements to the 'Low Effort Missions' exception and to Sorviknight for his assistance in their implementation.

Upcoming trial of changes to the Wait Rules
As part of our ongoing commitment to ensure that the game remains fair for all players, we will be trialling new wait rules in upcoming rounds of the Grand Theft Auto III and GTA Vice City Chain Games.

We have recently noticed an uneven distribution in the number of turns taken and the amount of content completed in each round, meaning that an unfairly significant part of the round is being completed by one person.

It is important that we remind all players that the Chain Game is a team game, where everyone who wishes to participate feels able to do so, and is able to complete a range of content that the game has to offer.

As I discussed at length in a post made in the Grand Theft Auto III Chain Game Lounge in 2020, players should be considerate about the amount of content they are completing, particularly if that same content has been completed by them regularly in previous rounds, and/or if we are still in the early stages of a round.

This behaviour can be discouraging to other members of our community who may wish to participate in the round but when they find the time to participate feels that there is not enough left for them to do, or for new players, who want to join in but do not feel that there is an opportunity for them to do more than one mission.

We want the Chain Game to be welcoming and exciting to all players, both new and returning, and so will be trialling these changes with a view to make a permanent decision on the most appropriate wait rules that ensure fairness for all.

During this trial, any round with different wait rules will be indicated with a message at the top of the round. Please look out for this message and ensure that you familiarise yourself with the wait rules that are in effect.

If any player has a suggestion or wishes to provide feedback on this trial, please let us know.

Guidance for Turn Notes
We have recently noticed an increase in turn notes that are both missing information and have information being noted in an unsuitable manner.

As a reminder to all players, providing accurate and complete turn notes is an important and non-negotiable part of taking a turn, and is necessary both to inform other players of what has been completed and also to support the Chain Game Staff with the updating of lists and internal statistics documentation.

All completed turns must mention all content that has been completed, the current completion percentage, and a download link to the save file. It is strongly recommended that we all follow the format available in the opening posts:
 

Mission:
Link:
Completion:
Notes:

The names of any missions and side missions should be included under “Mission” with any associated times or scores noted under “Notes”. You must note all times or scores achieved where this is displayed to the player and available in the stats menu.

For collectibles, unique jumps, rampages, robberies, and import/export missions, we need to know specifically which have been completed including their names and locations where applicable. You are welcome to note that all on a particular island have been completed, but we need the name of the island clearly written under “Notes” and the number of how many this is where applicable.

All information should be noted in text. You are welcome to include images in your post to assist with your description but this should not be in place of text. Please be mindful that images can expire from where they are hosted, which will cause issues when looking back on these turns in the future.

Some of the most common issues we are noticing at the moment include:

• Number of Hidden Packages collected in Grand Theft Auto III and GTA Vice City not being mentioned appropriately
• Purchased properties and assets in GTA Vice City not being mentioned
• Girlfriend activities and scores in Grand Theft Auto IV not being mentioned
• Special Vehicles not being mentioned when they are acquired or removed

If you forget to note any of the information highlighted above, please return to the relevant turn and amend your notes, ensuring you mention the original edit time. This needs to be in the post that the content was completed in, not a later turn.

We will be monitoring turn notes closely going forward and would ask all players to take note of what we expect. As the notes form part of the turn, you will be asked to stop participating in the Chain Game if there are repeated issues with your notes.

Closing Words
We are hard at work behind the scenes on some very exciting projects that we look forward to sharing more about soon. The team and I remain committed to ensuring that the Chain Game is an exciting and thriving community that all members enjoy being a part of.

We welcome all feedback and encourage suggestions to help us further develop our community. Many of the positive changes we are making at the moment are a result of community feedback and collaboration. If you have anything you wish to share with the team, please let us know.

Thank you to all members of the Chain Game community for their continued participation and support.
 

GTAKid667, Chain Game Chief

 

[GTAKid667]

Chain Game Announcement!

We’re introducing further changes to the Chain Game as we continue to review our processes and make the experience better for all.

Updates to Vehicle Hunt
A feature of our special rounds that include Generated Vehicles, we are updating the process for Vehicle Hunt, a minigame where players can search the map for hidden vehicles, submitting their findings in exchange for cookies.

All players of the round who wish to participate in Vehicle Hunt will continue to do so by searching for vehicles during their turn and noting them in their turn post using spoiler tags. As a reminder, we can only accept findings edited into your post within the three hour turn time limit, and encourage you to moderate how many vehicles you find in one turn so that other players have the chance to join in.

The staff will continue to confirm findings in our Discord Server but will now do so in a dedicated #generated-vehicles channel. This will keep the discussion separate to general chat but also allow us to remove the restriction of using spoiler tags. Any member of the community using this new channel to discuss Generated Vehicles will be able to do so without needing to use spoiler tags.

Additionally, we will no longer be revealing the owners of Personal Vehicles until all other vehicles have been found, meaning that players will always have the same chance of being awarded the additional cookie for a correct guess of the owner.

We are hoping that these changes will make for a better gameplay experience. For the benefit of all players and those of you who are not a part of our Discord Server, we will be continuing to maintain a checklist and album of findings in the opening posts of the round.

Updates to the Opening Posts
We are introducing a new version of the opening posts in the next round that further simplifies their length and complexity, continuing a process we began in 2020 of making our opening posts more accessible for all and streamlining the gameplay experience and operations of the Chain Game.

Included in this change will be an update to our collection of Frequently Asked Questions in the Lounge to migrate useful information that will no longer be a part of the round opening posts.

We will also be retiring the Special Vehicles List, a long-standing list that tracks the collection of vehicles with special properties obtainable only under specific circumstances. While we will no longer be featuring this list in our opening posts, we continue to encourage players to collect special vehicles should they wish, and the existing rule exceptions for this will be kept in place.

With these changes in place, the new opening posts will allow for greater visibility of our most important rules, be quicker to read, and quicker to scroll through once you are familiar with them. We plan to continue making minor updates to further improve the opening posts going forward and encourage your suggestions.

Upcoming changes to the Discord Server
Since launching the Discord Server in 2017, members of the Chain Game community have been able to connect with each other in a way that transcends the capabilities of our forum topics, including real-time chat and large-scale community events.

As we look to further increase our focus on community engagement, we are planning to make improvements to the server over the next few months, including new emojis, stickers, and discussion channels.

So that we can best serve those of you that use our server regularly, we are interested in hearing your suggestions. Let us know how we can make the server work better for you and keep an eye out for these improvements as we introduce them.

Upcoming changes to the Steam Group
From 1st January 2026, we will no longer be posting announcements in the News Forum of our Steam Group, consolidating our social focus on the Discord Server and X (Twitter) Page.

We will continue to keep the Steam Group active and in line with our Rockstar Games Crew as a group you can join to connect with other members of our community on those platforms.

To keep up to date with the latest announcements we encourage you to follow the Chain Game Lounge on GTAForums and join our Discord Server where announcements and round launches are posted to our #news channel.

Closing Words
We are committed to putting the community first with our ideas and make these changes to improve the experience for everyone. If you have participated in the Chain Game this year, we have messaged you asking for feedback on your experience. We use this feedback to shape our decision making process and ensure that all members of the community are considered before changes are made.

For those of you who wish to contribute to the Chain Game another way, we are always looking for people to join our growing network of contributors. Whether this is updating a list during a round or working on a project behind the scenes, your help makes a major difference to our community. If you are interested in getting involved in this way, please get in touch.

As we continue this exciting time of development, we will be making further changes to our processes and hope to grow our team of staff to help deliver our vision for the upcoming year. We hope to see you all stay with us for the journey.

 

Thank you all for your continued support.
 

GTAKid667, Chain Game Chief

 

[fireguy109]

I was reading the news this morning and was pleasantly surprised to see the PC Gamer article about the Chain Game (link). Very cool to see the game is still going strong! I think I previously missed the earlier GamesRadar interview that’s linked in it regarding the Round 100 game, what a blast from the past to look back on that. Lots of life changes since then. I figured I’d log back in for the first time in ages and say congrats to the team and particularly GTAKid on keeping it going for III and expanding it to the newer games. To everyone who continues to take a turn - keep it up!

[GTAKid667]

Thank you @fireguy109, that's very kind and it's great to hear from you again. When I think about my time leading the Chain Game and some of the friendships I have made here, I think back to III Round 25 where I first spoke to you and @Th3MaN1 (amongst others!). If it wasn't for the support I received from you all so early on I'm not sure I'd still be here doing what I do.

 

It really means a lot to me for us to receive this kind of spotlight and I have to extend a thank you to Joe Donnelly for this excellent article and the work he does for PC Gamer highlighting many communities and projects focused on GTA. The internet has changed a lot in the past 20 years and as I say in the article, I feel now more than ever there is a genuine importance and place for these communities.

 

A huge thank you as well to @TubewayArmy and @Stahli who work so tirelessly behind the scenes to keep the game running and who make our plans become a reality, and to all of the players over the years for being a part of our history. I am glad to be a part of this with all of you - thank you.