Charlie Bots — Free Telegram Bots for Video Download, Games & More

Everything on this page is something I built and run myself, on one $4.17-a-month server. One is live and maintained, one is paused, and two are retired. The ones that are not running are still listed, each with the reason — a directory that only shows its winners is not much use to anyone deciding what to build.

Last updated 16 September 2026 by Charlie Morrison.

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Media Downloader

Paused

Downloaded videos from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X and a few other sites: send a link, pick a format, get the file.

Switched off in August 2026 and paused with no return date. The code is kept, so it could come back, and this card will say so if it does. While it is off, the bot does not answer, so I have removed the links instead of sending you to a chat that stays silent. For download bots that actually sent a file when I tested them in September, see the six bots I tested.

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Party Game

Truth or Dare, Never Have I Ever, Would You Rather. 151 questions each in English and Ukrainian, switched automatically by your Telegram language. Runs as a Mini App — no install, and it works in a plain browser too.

🎯 Truth or Dare 🍺 Never Have I Ever ⚖️ Would You Rather 🇬🇧🇺🇦 EN / UK 📊 Session stats

Open Mini App Play in browser

Note: the chat-command side of this bot (/play in a group) was retired in May 2026. The Mini App above is the live version.

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Anonymous Messages

Retired

Got a unique link you could share anywhere to receive anonymous messages in Telegram.

Retired in May 2026 after almost no usage. The bot no longer responds, so there is nothing to link to here.

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Order Bot

Retired

Simple order-taking bot for small businesses — set up a shop, share it with customers, get orders in Telegram.

Retired in May 2026 after almost no usage. The bot no longer responds, so there is nothing to link to here.

Guides and write-ups

Everything below was written while building or testing the bots on this page.

13 Telegram Bots on a $4.17 VPS: The Real RAM Numbers What it costs to keep every bot on this page running — measured, not estimated.
How to Run a Telegram Game Night in a Group Chat The practical version: group setup, pacing, and the poll limits Telegram enforces.
I Messaged 18 "Best" Telegram Game Bots — 7 Never Replied Every bot on the popular listicles, messaged one by one. Most of the list is dead.
Best Telegram Party Games & Bots in 2026 What actually still works for a group chat, and what each game is good for.
6 Telegram Download Bots Tested: Only 2 Sent a File What to use while the Media Downloader above is paused: the six bots the 2026 lists name, one public-domain link each. Two sent a file.
Free Tech Quiz Game on Telegram The quiz side: AI, crypto and dev questions, no install.
Anonymous Message Apps for Telegram (NGL Alternatives) Why the anonymous bot above was retired, and what people use instead.
I Tested Telegram's Poll Limits: What Breaks a Quiz Night 12 options, 100 characters, no formatting inside a poll — measured against the live API.
I Forged Telegram Mini App initData: What Passes Validation Sixteen forged payloads through eight validators: which ones a Mini App backend should believe, and which it quietly should not.
Telegram Game Night Planner Free tool: builds a timed run sheet with the poll and spoiler blocks already formatted for a group chat.
Telegram in Production — the parts that bite you The paid pack behind the measurements on this site: initData, poll payloads, systemd and file limits as dependency-free code, 55 tests.
The Telegram Party Pack — 255 group-chat prompts The paid pack that extends the Party Game above when the built-in questions run out.

What happened to the two retired bots

Both the anonymous-message bot and the order bot were shut down in May 2026 for the same reason: they worked, and almost nobody used them. Between them they cost nothing to keep running — a Telegram bot idles at roughly 3–21 MB of memory, so the server bill would not have noticed either way. What they cost was attention: every live bot is a thing that can break at 3am, and two of them were breaking for an audience of nobody.

That is the honest version of a pattern I later measured from the other side. When I messaged 18 bots from the “best Telegram bots” listicles, seven never replied at all — abandoned exactly like these two, just without anyone saying so on the page. Leaving a dead bot listed as live is the default behaviour in this ecosystem. Marking it retired takes one line.