Telephone mystery message box

March 20, 2022 8:27 AM

I'm making a kind of scavenger hunt game (a bit like an alternative reality game, but for people I know), and I'd like a feature where someone has to call a phone number and enter a 4 (or so) digit code to hear a recorded message. I'd like to have this number be able to serve a few messages for a few different codes. I'd also like this to be a UK number if possible. I'm not sure how to Google for this; is anyone aware of a service like what I've described?
posted by Chef Flamboyardee to Technology (2 answers total)

Best answer: Twilio may be able to do what you describe. I’ve set up similar interactions using their developer API, and I’m under the impression they have some canned interactions and quick tutorials to make this easy. Their voice guide would be a place to start.
posted by migurski at 8:39 AM on March 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: A system that plays different recordings or performs actions based on user input via a phone keypad is called an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. A system like that which is hosted in the cloud (rather than in an office or datacenter) is generally called a cloud IVR.

Twilio does offer an IVR service that might be a good fit for this. Googling "UK VOIP IVR" or "UK cloud IVR" also seems to bring up relevant listings.
posted by I EAT TAPAS at 9:03 AM on March 20, 2022 [1 favorite]