Real conversation, around a real fire.

Free question cards and fire tools for your circle. Pass one phone around, answer out loud, put it face down. No app, no account, nothing to download.

The only approved reason to be on your phone around the fire.

Free · No account · Nothing to download

Start now

Story Starters

What's a smell that instantly takes you back to childhood?

One of 170+ prompts.

What is Fireside?

Fireside is a set of conversation decks and fire tools for around the fire, the digital companion to the Walden Backyards Fireside Chats card deck. It is free, with no account and nothing to install. It is made by Walden Backyards, a backyard fire company.

Two ways to play

Both are free, and both start in about ten seconds.

Pass the PhoneOne phone moves around the circle. Big cards, one prompt at a time, nothing to set up.Start now Circle SyncEveryone keeps their own phone. One person starts the circle, the rest join with a 4-letter code, and each prompt lands on every screen at once.Host a circle

Play around the fire

Decks and games for the conversation.

Start hereFireside ChatsPick your decks, then pass one phone or sync the circle Story WeaverRound-robin storytelling, plus Campfire Libs fill-in-the-blank tales Hot Takes & PollsVote on fireside dilemmas, hear the verdict Last WordOne photo for every fire, paired with one word and kept in your Fireside Logbook

Fire tools

For the fire itself, and the food around it.

The Field GuideFix a fire, stack it right, host with ease Fire BuilderPick your wood and wind, get the right fire Camp PotluckOne shared menu for the fire, with recipes to match

Free prompts and games

Find a question or game for your next gathering around the fire.

Fire Pit Conversation StartersQuestions worth gathering around Free Campfire Games for GroupsPlay after the sun goes down Backyard Icebreaker PromptsMake new company feel familiar

Put the phone down. Keep the people.

Built for the slow hours by the fire, with the people who matter.

More about Fireside

Fireside is the free digital companion to the Walden Backyards Fireside Chats card deck, and it comes in two parts. The decks: five sets of prompts for around a fire, plus storytelling, secret-ballot voting, a shared potluck board, and a one-word photo logbook. The tools: a Field Guide to the fire itself, so you can build it, light it, keep it going and put it out without a panic.

There is no app to download and no account to make. It runs in the browser on whatever phone is closest to the flames, and it costs nothing.

A Circle Sync room stays open to anyone holding its 4-letter code, so keep the code to your own circle. Nothing here is published anywhere public and no profiles are built.

Fireside is made by Walden Backyards, a backyard fire company. The physical deck and the fire features behind it live at waldenbackyards.com.