【1988 Archives】

Japanese mobile messaging service Line just debuted group video messaging988 Archives complete with an absolutely bonkers feature: the chats can include up to 200 participants.

Line's answer to Google Hangouts — or maybe more accurately, the teen-friendly Houseparty app — is fairly standard in terms of function and design.

After creating a group of contacts, users can initiate a video call by simply tapping the video call button. Participants can enter the chat as they like, and new members can be invited to calls already in progress.

Given the constraints of screen size, only four participants at a time will actually get any face time. As the group grows, bubble-shaped avatars of everyone else will pop up on the right side of the screen, which users can drag into the main group of four when they inevitably get sick of friend number 150's sass.

Taking a note from Snapchat (and everyone else copying Snapchat), users will be able to select from six different facial filters to add some flare to the conversation.

Line set the group cap at 200 participants for voice calls back in March, so the expansion from one-to-one video chat to up to 200 wasn't totallyunexpected. But that's still a ton of people to jam into one conversation.

This new feature comes after a flurry of activity for video messaging and group fun in other messaging apps, as Slack, Snapchat, and WhatsApp have added new features that expand their chat platforms.

None of them can match up to Line's 200 person hangouts, though. If you're looking to do something like catch up with every single member of your high school's graduating class all at once, Line is perfect for you.