The Networking Game

GET MUCH BETTER AT NETWORKING

Coffee Mark is a free-to-play online cartoon game that makes you better at event networking. Play tonight. Work the room tomorrow.

Free to playDesktop and mobileIn your browserIn English

Unlock the game How it works

Coffee Mark title screen: cartoon founders and investors on a sunny old town square, with the line: People remember how a conversation made them feel.

What it is for

Networking is a skill. Skills need practice.

Most people learn networking the hard way: at real events, with real people and real awkward silences. Coffee Mark gives you a safe place to practise. You try the situations you usually avoid, see what works and go again. No one is watching and nothing is lost.

Starting conversations

Walk up to someone you don't know and open with ease, without a rehearsed pitch.

Becoming memorable

Leave a coffee mark: one clear message and a short, real story people repeat after you walk away.

Remembering
people

Keep one small story about each person, so the next conversation picks up where the last one ended.

Leaving and following up

Close a conversation gracefully and turn it into a relationship the next day.

How you will play

The night before, the event, the lesson

You play a founder heading to a startup conference. Every scene is a situation you will meet at a real event, and every choice gets a reaction.

Pack your day bag mini-game: drag business cards, power bank and spare charger into the bag, leave the inflatable flamingo behind.

Step 1

Prepare the night before

It is 11 pm in a hotel room and you know none of the 600 people coming tomorrow. Research three attendees, put a QR code on your lock screen, post where people can find you, build your one-minute intro and pack your bag in 30 seconds.

A four-minute conversation with an investor at Harbour Summit, with answer options and the Trust, Curiosity, Coffee Mark and Pushiness meters.

Step 2

Talk to people at the event

Walk the square and meet founders, investors and nervous first-timers. Each conversation follows a real networking flow, from earning attention to agreeing a next step. Trust, Curiosity, Coffee Mark and Pushiness react to every answer you pick.

Insight card for the Superconnector: what worked, what got in the way, and a tip to try at your next event.

Step 3

Get your insight card

After every conversation you see what worked and what quietly closed the door. Each card ends with one thing to try at your next event. Your preparation pays off too: the intro and the research from last night show up in your answers.

Three events, rising difficulty

Bigger events unlock as you leave more coffee marks.

Bastion in Timișoara: a sunny Baroque square with café umbrellas and a registration desk.

FriendlyBastion, Timișoara600 product people on a Baroque square. Everyone seems to know everyone.

Harbour Summit in Valletta: evening drinks on a terrace above the harbour at sunset.

MediumHarbour Summit, VallettaLimestone halls, rapid investor pitches and drinks on a sunset terrace.

Frostbyte in Helsinki: a dark expo hall with lasers and a glowing stage screen.

HardFrostbyte, HelsinkiDark, loud and huge. Lasers, long coffee queues and a sauna side event.

The player's phone in networking mode, showing two QR codes labelled LinkedIn and WhatsApp. — **Connect in two seconds.** Two QR codes on your lock screen, LinkedIn and WhatsApp. Ask which app they use, scan, take a selfie, done.

1 + 1 = 200: two connected characters, each with a whole network lighting up around them. — **Then the pro level.** Introduce the people you meet to each other. One good introduction opens two whole networks: 1 + 1 = 200.

From the game to the room

Play tonight. Use it tomorrow.

The game is short on theory and long on practice. Every situation ends with a concrete move, so you walk into your next event with a short list of things to do, not a pile of theory.

Research a handful of people and remember one detail about each.
Open with a small favour or a curious question instead of a pitch.
Introduce yourself in two sentences and a short, real story.
Leave every conversation with a clear next step.

The office the morning after: following up with the people you met, with a board asking who should meet who.

Try this at your next eventAt every event, help at least one newcomer: a charger, a tip about where conversations happen, one introduction. It costs you five minutes, and those people remember you for years.

Where it comes from

Built on our Business Networking Workshop

The game grows out of the full-day workshop we run for acceleration programs and growing organizations. Behind it are more than 15 years of building startup ecosystems and communities.

The workshop goes deep with a group in one day. The game lets anyone practise the same moments on their own, whenever they want.

See the workshop

The Frostbyte event in Coffee Mark: a long queue in the Helsinki sleet under a glowing neon sign, a volunteer in a pink hat checking tickets. — Frostbyte, Helsinki: the hardest event in the game. The queue starts outside, in the sleet.

Unlock the game

Two clicks and you are in

The game is free. All we ask is that you follow NetworkSmith, so you get our networking tips and event stories as they come out.

Shareable Coffee Mark result card: 5 connections, 3 Coffee Marks, 1 introduction, 2 ambassadors. Can you beat it?

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Play Coffee Mark

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For teams and programs

Want your whole team to play, then practise live?

Pair the game with the Business Networking Workshop and turn networking into a strategic growth driver for your organization.