Movie nights · all year round
One roll decides what you watch tonight.
Every movie night starts with the same argument: what are we watching? Squadbook rolls a film for the group from 36 lists, or plays your next film of a marathon in the best order to watch it. It remembers what you have already seen, keeps sequels in order, and lets everyone rate the film when the credits roll. It started as one friend group's Halloween spreadsheet and a random number. Now it is a command.
Free. No accounts to link, nothing to install. It works in any server Squadbook is in.
How a night goes
Roll, watch, rate
- An organizer runs
/movie rolland picks a list as they type: Halloween, Comedy, New releases, Star Wars. A film comes up with its poster, director, and running time. - Not feeling it? Press Skip and it rolls again. The film stays on the list for another night.
- Press Watching and the film is marked watched for your server, with the day and time.
- Everyone who is watching presses I'm in, so the night remembers who was there.
- When the credits roll, each person rates it from 1 to 5. One vote each, and you can change your mind.
/movie watched shows everything your server has seen from a list, when, who watched, and your group's favourites. /halloween and /christmas are shortcuts with the list already chosen.
The rules
The house rules a spreadsheet could never enforce
They come from a group that has run this ritual for years. The bot simply never forgets them.
| Rule | What it means on the night |
|---|---|
| Sequels wait their turn | A series unlocks in the order the films came out. Underworld comes up before Underworld: Evolution, and a prequel made later still waits for the films released before it. |
| Watched is forever | Once your server marks a film watched, it stays watched, year after year. Nothing resets when the season ends. |
| Watched once, watched everywhere | A film you watched or rated from one list counts on every list it is on. Watch Ghostbusters on Halloween and the Comedy list knows. |
| Land on one you have seen | If there is a sequel you have not watched, the roll hands you that instead. If there is nothing left in the series, the buttons change to Watch again and Reroll. |
| Skip is not a verdict | Skipping only rolls again. The film can come back another night. |
| Mistakes undo | Pressed Watching by accident? Undo takes the mark back, along with that night's attendance. |
36 lists, built in
A list for every night of the year
Pick one in the list option as you type, or run /movie lists to see them all with how far your server is through each.
Holidays
The Halloween list is every well-known horror film, plus the favourites that are not horror at all: Hocus Pocus, Beetlejuice, Ghostbusters, The Nightmare Before Christmas. The Christmas list runs from It's a Wonderful Life to Home Alone, and yes, Die Hard is on it. The other holidays are hand-picked.
Genres
The comedy, drama, rom-com, action, sci-fi, thriller and family and animated lists are hand-picked: the films people actually put on, not everything that happens to carry the tag. Horror is every well-known horror film, all 2,349 of them without the Halloween extras, for groups that want it all year.
New releases, out at home
200 of the best known films from the last year and a half. A film joins about three months after its US release, by then nearly every film can be rented or streamed at home, and stays for 18 months. No cinema trips required.
A roll reaches into the best known 300 of a list unless you ask for more. Choose Top 1,000 or Everything when the group wants a deep cut.
Or bring your own
Most groups have a list already. Put it on your server's backlog with /movie backlog add: start typing any film at all, not just the ones on the lists here, and pick it from the suggestions. Roll from it with /movie roll list:Our backlog.
Want a short list inside one of the built-in lists instead, say your group's Halloween favourites? /movie ours add does that, and rolls from that list then come from your picks by default.
Both are private. No other server can see them or roll from them, and what your group has watched is never shared either. /movie backlog show and /movie ours show list them with the films you have seen ticked off.
19 marathons
Every film of a saga, in the best order to watch it
On a marathon, /movie roll does not roll. It plays the next film your server has not watched, in best viewing order, with a progress bar on the card. Already seen it? We have seen it, next counts it and moves straight on, so a group that has seen some of the films never sits through them twice.
| Marathon | Films | The order |
|---|---|---|
| Marvel: The Infinity Saga | 24 | Story order, from Captain America in the 1940s to Far From Home. |
| Marvel: The Multiverse Saga | 13 | Story order. A few Disney+ series fill gaps between these films. |
| Star Wars saga | 11 | Story order, Episode I to IX with Solo and Rogue One where they happen. |
| Middle-earth | 7 | Story order: The War of the Rohirrim, The Hobbit, then The Lord of the Rings. |
| Wizarding World | 11 | Story order: Fantastic Beasts first, then Harry Potter. |
| Jurassic Park and World | 7 | Story order, which here is also release order. |
| Fast and Furious | 11 | Story order: Tokyo Drift comes after Fast and Furious 6, where it actually happens. |
| Mission: Impossible | 8 | Story order, which here is also release order. |
| John Wick | 5 | Story order: Ballerina happens between Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. |
| Pixar | 29 | Release order: watch Pixar grow up, from Toy Story to today. |
| Toy Story | 4 | Story order, which here is also release order. |
| Shrek and Puss in Boots | 6 | Story order: Puss in Boots is a prequel, The Last Wish comes after Shrek. |
| Studio Ghibli | 23 | Release order, starting with Nausicaä, which led to the studio being founded. |
| James Bond | 25 | Release order. Casino Royale (2006) starts a new story, a good place to join. |
| Alien | 7 | Story order: Prometheus and Covenant first, Romulus between Alien and Aliens. |
| Halloween (Michael Myers) | 4 | The 1978 original, then the 2018 trilogy that follows straight on from it. |
| Scream | 6 | Story order, which here is also release order. |
| The Conjuring Universe | 10 | Story order, starting with The Nun in 1952. |
| Planet of the Apes | 9 | Story order: the modern films first, then the 1968 original and its sequels. |
/movie watched on a marathon shows the whole order with what you have seen ticked. Films count across lists here too: Toy Story watched on the Pixar marathon is already ticked on the Toy Story one.
Who can do what
One person runs the night. Everyone has a say.
| Action | Who | Command or button |
|---|---|---|
| Roll a film, or play the next of a marathon | Organizers: anyone with Manage Server, or your organizer role | /movie roll |
| Mark it watched, skip, undo | Organizers | Buttons on the card |
| Mark a film without rolling | Organizers | /movie mark |
| Say you are watching | Everyone | I'm in on the card |
| Rate the film | Everyone, one vote each | The 1 to 5 buttons |
| See what you have watched | Everyone | /movie watched |
| See every list and your progress | Everyone | /movie lists |
| Add any film to your backlog | Organizers | /movie backlog add, backlog remove |
| Edit your short list inside a list | Organizers | /movie ours add, ours remove |
| See your backlog or short list | Everyone | /movie backlog show, /movie ours show |
Questions
Before your first roll
Do we have to set anything up?
No. If Squadbook is in your server, /movie roll works right away. If you want only certain people to roll, set an organizer role once with /config organizer-role.
What happened to /halloween and /christmas?
They still work, and everything you watched with them is still there. They are now shortcuts for /movie with the Halloween or Christmas list already chosen.
Can we use our own list instead of thousands of films?
Yes. An organizer adds any film to your server's backlog with /movie backlog add, searching every film Wikidata knows, and you roll from it with list:Our backlog. To narrow one of the built-in lists instead, /movie ours add gives it a short list for your server; rolls from that list come from it by default, and you can still pick a wider pool for one night. Only your server can see either.
We listed a sequel but not the first film. Will it ever come up?
Yes. On your own list, a film only waits for an earlier one if that earlier film is on your list too. If you listed part two on its own, the bot takes you at your word.
We are halfway through a marathon already. Do we start over?
No. Run /movie roll on the marathon and press We have seen it, next on each film you have already watched. It counts them without asking who was there or for ratings, and stops on the first film you have not seen. Or mark them ahead of time with /movie mark.
Does it remember when we watched something and who was there?
Yes. Each night is saved with the day and time, and with everyone who pressed I'm in or rated the film. /movie watched shows your last ten nights from a list with names and ratings, and your five highest rated films.
Where do the films and posters come from?
The film facts come from Wikidata, the public database behind Wikipedia, ranked by how widely each film is written about. The genre, holiday, and marathon lists are picked by hand on top of that. The poster on a card is the picture at the top of the film's Wikipedia article. An odd pick can still slip through: press Skip, and tell us so it can be taken off.
Can a film we watched years ago count?
Yes. An organizer runs /movie mark, picks the list, starts typing the title, and picks it. The film is marked watched from that moment, with the same card for saying who watched and rating it. The same command is for anything you watch without rolling for it.
More answers, including linking and fixing things, are in the full FAQ.
Start keeping score.
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