You're sitting at your desk. The blank page is staring you down like a debt collector. You want to draw, but your brain is essentially a dial-up modem trying to load a high-res image. This is exactly why Josiah Brooks—better known to his millions of fans as Jazza—built Jazza's Arty Games. It wasn't meant to be a drawing app itself. It was a digital "kick in the pants" for artists who were tired of drawing the same three characters over and over again.
But if you go looking for it on the iOS App Store or Google Play today, you’ll likely find... nothing. A ghost town. The app that once powered thousands of "Challenge Mashup" videos has largely vanished from mobile platforms.
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What Jazza's Arty Games actually does
Let's get the biggest misconception out of the way first. You don't draw inside the app. There are no brushes, no layers, and no stylus support. It is a prompt generator on steroids. Basically, it’s a digital companion. You open it, hit a button, and it tells you what to do on your actual paper or in Procreate.
The app is built around "Single Play" and "Arty Party" modes. If you’re flying solo, you’ve got eight different modules to pick from. Some are simple, like the Color Challenge, which restricts you to a palette of 1–5 colors. Others, like Incremental Design, are genuinely stressful. It makes you draw a character in five stages, revealing new details one by one so you have no idea what the final design will look like until you’re done.
It's chaos. Controlled, creative chaos.
The technical death of the mobile version
So, why did it disappear? Honestly, it’s a classic case of "software rot." In late 2024 and throughout 2025, users began reporting that the app simply wouldn't open on newer versions of Android and iOS. Jazza Studios eventually confirmed the news to concerned fans: the app is no longer officially supported or compatible with most modern mobile devices.
Building an app is one thing; maintaining it against the constant tidal wave of OS updates from Apple and Google is another beast entirely. For a small studio, the cost of re-configuring the entire codebase didn't match the revenue coming in. While it’s a bummer for people who paid their $3.99 back in the day, the mobile version has been effectively retired.
Where can you still play it in 2026?
If you're desperate to get your hands on it, don't go hunting for shady APK files on weird websites. That's a great way to get a virus and a bad way to get a drawing prompt.
The Jazza's Arty Games PC App is the only version still officially standing. You can find it on the Jazza Studios website or via Gumroad for about $2.99. Because PC environments (Windows/Mac) are a bit more stable than mobile operating systems, this version has survived the cull.
Here is what you actually get in the current PC build:
- Multiple Profiles: You can save your specific art supplies (like your Copic marker sets) so the Color Challenge only gives you colors you actually own.
- The Scribble Challenge: It generates a random line, and you have to incorporate it into a full drawing.
- Design Mix: It takes two random objects—say, a "toaster" and a "dragon"—and forces you to merge them.
- Custom Generator: This is the secret weapon. You can input your own lists of words, meaning you can basically build your own version of the game.
Is it still worth it?
The art community is a bit divided on this one lately. Jazza himself has faced some heat for his stance on generative AI, which felt like a betrayal to some of his "human-made art" hardcore fans. It’s a bit ironic, really. A guy who built a career on tools that help humans think of ideas is now exploring tools that generate the ideas (and the art) for you.
However, if you ignore the YouTube drama, the Arty Games tool remains a solid fundamental exercise. It’s essentially a digital version of those "drawing prompt" jars we used to make in middle school. It forces you to deal with "Environment Challenges" (drawing interiors vs. exteriors) and "Copy Challenges" that actually build your observational skills.
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Getting the most out of the challenges
If you decide to pick up the PC version or find an old tablet that still runs the app, don't just "play" it. Use it to fix your weaknesses. If you hate drawing backgrounds, set the Environment Challenge to "Intense" and don't let yourself quit until the timer hits zero.
The "Arty Party" mode is also underrated for groups. If you have friends over—or more likely, a Discord call—you can sync up the challenges. It’s essentially a high-speed art competition that keeps everyone from overthinking their sketches.
Next Steps for Your Practice:
If you want to replicate the Arty Games experience without the app, start by building a "Material Profile" in a notebook. List every marker or pencil color you own and assign them numbers. Use a random number generator to pick three. That is your palette for the day. For character prompts, try the "3-word method": one noun, one adjective, and one weird setting (e.g., "Grumpy Librarian in Space").
The app was never the magic wand—it was just the spark. You still have to do the drawing.