Arcadópolis
First Lines
First Lines: guess the book from its first sentence
First Lines is a free game of guessing books from their first sentence, in your browser with nothing to download. You read how a book begins and pick which one it is from four.
The sentences are the real ones, from the 136 books in the Library that aren’t poetry or plays: 78 in English and 58 in Spanish, from Austen, Dickens and Twain to Cervantes and Galdós. A game has 10 rounds and the daily one, 5 sentences that are the same for everyone. When you answer, the book appears with its cover, and one button opens it in the Library reader.
It’s one of the 51 games in the Arcadópolis Games folder.
Free, no ads, nothing to install.
Install First Lines on its own on your home screen
What it has
- 136 real first sentences, checked one by one: no prefaces or dedications.
- Books in English, in Spanish or all together; the four choices are always in the same language.
- One hint per round: the year the book came out and its genre.
- Points for each right answer, for speed and for streaks.
- Today’s first lines: 5 sentences, the same for everyone, once a day.
- Each book’s cover and a button to read it in full in the Library.
How to play
- Open the Games folder and tap First Lines.
- Choose Game or Daily and, for a game, which books you want: all, in English or in Spanish.
- Read the sentence and tap the book you think it’s from (or use keys 1 to 4). If you’re not sure, the hint tells you the year and genre.
- When you answer you see the book and its cover. Tap Next for the next sentence, or Read in the Library to open it.
How scoring works
Each right answer is worth 100 points. Answer fast and you get up to 50 more (they drain away with the seconds), and each right answer in a row adds 10 for the streak, up to 50. The hint costs 30 points from that round. A wrong answer takes nothing away, but it breaks the streak.
Tips for recognizing a book
Style says a lot: long sentences full of commas tend to come from nineteenth-century novels; a confident first person (“I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York”) points to a travel or adventure tale. Look at place and character names, old spellings and the tone: a children’s story rarely starts like a mystery novel. And if you’re torn between two, the year in the hint usually settles it.
Common questions
Are the sentences real?
Yes. They come from the Library books, all in the public domain, and were checked one by one to keep the first sentence of the work itself and not one from a preface, a dedication or an editor’s note.
Can I play with books in English only?
Yes. For a game you choose All, In English or In Spanish. The four choices in each round are always in the same language as the sentence, so the language doesn’t give the answer away.
Can I read the book afterwards?
Yes. When you answer, a Read in the Library button appears that opens that whole book in the Arcadópolis reader, for free.
Also in Arcadópolis
Word of the DayGuess the five-letter word in six tries, in English or Spanish; the daily word is the same for everyone.
Daily CrosswordA new crossword every day with 12 words about painting, books, music and Arcadópolis.
TriviaTen twenty-second questions across ten categories, with a daily challenge and online matches.
Arcadópolis has 66 more apps on the same desktop: games, music, a 3D museum and a 3D library.