About ThoughtMatch

ThoughtMatch is an online version of a word game people have played around tables and on long car rides for years. One person guards a secret word, and everyone else tries to read each other's minds quickly enough to pull it out of them, one letter at a time.

By Ansh R. Suryavanshi, creator of ThoughtMatch

The game behind it

ThoughtMatch is an online take on the party word game known as "Contact".

• One player, the Dener, thinks of a word and reveals only its first letter.
• The others think of words that start with those letters and give clues for them.
• When someone believes they know the word behind a clue, they call contact.
• The Dener then has a few seconds to guess that word and break the contact before it lands. If it lands, another letter of the secret is revealed.

The magic of the game is the moment two people realise they're thinking the same thing. The Dener's job is to get there first.

Played in person, the game runs on spoken clues and a lot of trust. Online, ThoughtMatch takes care of the bookkeeping, so the fun stays in the guessing:

• it keeps clue words private;
• it times the ten-second contact window;
• it checks whether everyone wrote the same word;
• it reveals letters fairly.

If you haven't played before, the how to play page walks through a full round.

What we care about

No sign-up, ever, to play

Game nights fall apart when the first ten minutes go to creating accounts. In ThoughtMatch you type a name and play. Friends join with a six-character room code or a link. Your browser remembers your seat if your connection drops, so you can rejoin without starting over.

Works on the phone in your pocket

Most people play on their phones while sitting together or on a call, so every screen is designed for a small touchscreen first. On a laptop the same game spreads out into two columns. There's nothing to install.

Fair, private words

The game is built so nobody can peek:

• The secret word only exists on the Dener's screen until the round ends.
• Clue words are hidden from everyone but the person who wrote them until a contact resolves.
• Secret and clue words must be real dictionary words, which keeps the game fair across different groups of friends. Clue text can still be as playful as you like.

Light on data

There are no accounts and no player database. Rooms live in memory and disappear when everyone leaves. The privacy policy spells out the details.

Who makes it

ThoughtMatch is designed and built by Ansh R. Suryavanshi, an independent developer in India. He also makes TabooParty, an online version of the classic describing game.

ThoughtMatch is free to play. Ads on our articles and guides help cover the cost of running the servers. The game itself stays ad-free while you play.

Credits

• Word list: based on SCOWL (Spell Checker Oriented Word Lists) by Kevin Atkinson, filtered to remove offensive words, plus a short list of common places, days, festivals and languages chosen for ThoughtMatch.
• Sounds: by Kenney (kenney.nl), released into the public domain under CC0.
• Fonts: Baloo 2, Rubik and Lilita One, from Google Fonts under the SIL Open Font License.

Get in touch

Found a bug, have a word you think should be allowed, or want to tell us about a great game night? Email hello@thoughtmatch.online. More ways to help are on the contact page.