Your first game of ThoughtMatch, step by step
The rules make the most sense when you watch them happen. This guide follows four friends through one complete round, from sharing the room code to adding up the points, so you know what to expect before your own first game.
Before you start
You need 3 to 12 people, each with a phone, tablet or computer and a web browser. Nobody needs an account or an app. ThoughtMatch has no voice chat of its own, so if you aren't in the same room, start a call alongside the game.
Our group for this walkthrough is four friends on a video call: Priya, Sam, Jo and Ade. Priya will be the Dener in the first round, which means she hides a secret word and tries to stop the others uncovering it. Sam, Jo and Ade are the team.
Creating a room and sharing the code
One person hosts. The host creates the room and controls the settings, but plays like everyone else.
Hosting. Sam opens ThoughtMatch, types his name on the name tag and taps Host a game. The lobby shows a six-character room code and a Copy invite link button. He pastes the link into the group chat.
Joining. Jo and Ade tap the link, type their names and land in Sam's lobby. Priya opens the game herself, types the code under Got a room code? and joins the same way.
Settings. Sam leaves the words on Dictionary, picks "take turns" for the next Dener, turns the round timer off and chooses "everyone is Dener once", so each friend gets a round. Then he taps Start game.
The Dener hides a word
The Dener's word has to be a real dictionary word (or a common place, day, month, festival or language), 4 to 15 letters long, and never a person's name. Only the Dener sees it.
Choosing. Priya sees "You're the Dener". She types BRIDGE and taps Hide it.
What everyone sees. A B followed by five blank tiles. That B is the prefix: every clue word must start with it.
If a Dener can't think of anything, they can tap Skip my turn while choosing and the role moves on.
The first clues go up
Anyone except the Dener can post a clue at any time. A clue has two parts: a private word that starts with the prefix, and public clue text that everyone reads, the Dener included. The text can't contain the word. Each player can have up to three clues open at once.
Sam's clue. Sam types the word BANANA privately and posts the clue "What Jo puts in every smoothie".
Jo's clue. Jo types BOOK and posts "Pages between two covers".
Ade's clue. Ade types BURGER and posts "What Sam orders at every diner, whatever the menu".
Notice the difference already. Jo's clue is a plain definition anyone could solve. Sam's and Ade's lean on things the group knows about each other.
A contact that fails
When you think you know the word behind someone else's clue, you press Contact! and type the word privately. That starts a ten-second window that everyone can see. Others can join during it, and only one contact runs at a time.
Contact! Ade reads Sam's smoothie clue, presses Contact! and types BLUEBERRY. Jo joins and types BANANA, because she knows exactly what goes in her smoothies.
The Dener fights back. Priya types BERRY, then BREAD into her guess box. Neither matches any clue.
The result. The ten seconds end. Jo matched Sam, but Ade didn't, and every contacter has to match. The contact fails. Everyone, Priya included, sees BANANA and BLUEBERRY, and both words are used up for the rest of the round. Sam's clue leaves the table because its word is now known.
Nobody loses points for a failed contact, but it costs the team a good word and shows the Dener how the team is thinking. The lesson: join a contact only when you're confident, because one wrong word sinks it for everyone.
The Dener breaks a clue
The Dener's guess box is checked against every open clue at once, and wrong guesses cost nothing. If the Dener types the word behind a clue, that clue is broken: its word is shown to everyone and no letter is given away.
A break. Priya looks at "Pages between two covers" and types BOOK. Jo's clue is broken, BOOK is shown to everyone, and Priya scores +2.
Tip: Definition clues are the easiest thing on the table for the Dener. The guide to writing clues shows how to turn one into something only your friends would get.
A contact that holds
If every contacter writes the same word as the clue giver, the contact holds. The Dener has to reveal the next letter, and every other open clue is cleared so everyone starts fresh with the longer prefix.
Contact! Sam reads Ade's diner clue, laughs, presses Contact! and types BURGER. Jo joins and types BURGER too.
The race. Priya has ten seconds. She tries BACON, BAGEL and BURRITO. Not one of them is right.
A new letter. All three wrote BURGER, so the contact holds. Ade scores +3 as the clue giver, and Sam and Jo score +2 each. Priya reveals the second letter, and the board shows BR. Sam had posted another clue in the meantime, "Wakes us up at the cabin", for BIRDS. It no longer fits the prefix, so it's cleared, and its word stays secret.
The team does it again with the new prefix. Words that were revealed earlier, like BOOK and BURGER, can't be used again this round.
Two letters down. Sam posts "Bristles, teeth, twice a day" for BRUSH. Jo posts "What Ade insists you do to tea for exactly four minutes" for BREW. Ade and Sam both contact Jo's clue with BREW, and Priya can't find it in time. The contact holds: Jo +3, Ade and Sam +2 each. The board shows BRI, and Sam's BRUSH clue is cleared unbroken.
The team guesses the word
The team shares three guesses at the secret word each round. Any player can suggest one, and it only goes ahead if every other player agrees within 20 seconds. One Disagree, or running out of time, drops the suggestion without using a guess.
Talking it over. BRI and three blank tiles. On the call, the team lists six-letter words: BRIGHT, BRICKS, BRIDGE, BRIDAL, BRINGS.
A dropped suggestion. Sam suggests BRIGHT. Jo taps Disagree, because she thinks it's too early to guess. Nothing is spent.
A wrong guess. A minute later Ade suggests BRICKS. Sam and Jo both tap Agree. It's wrong, and the team has two guesses left.
The right guess. Jo remembers Priya talking all week about walking across a famous bridge on holiday. She suggests BRIDGE, and Sam and Ade agree. It's correct.
Because guesses are shared, nobody can spend one alone, so talk before you tap.
How the round ends and the points
The players win a round when the word is fully revealed, when a contact holds on the secret word itself, or when one of their guesses is right. The Dener wins if all three guesses run out, if the round timer (when it's on) expires, or if most players vote to give up.
Jo's guess finished this round, so she scores +5, and each player on the team scores +3 for the win. Here's how the round added up:
| Player | What happened | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Jo | Contacted BURGER (+2), gave the BREW clue (+3), cracked the word (+5), team win (+3) | 13 |
| Ade | Gave the BURGER clue (+3), contacted BREW (+2), team win (+3) | 8 |
| Sam | Contacted BURGER (+2), contacted BREW (+2), team win (+3) | 7 |
| Priya | Broke the BOOK clue (+2) | 2 |
Had the team run out of guesses, Priya would have scored +10 for winning the round. Scores carry across the game, and the next player takes a turn as Dener. With "everyone is Dener once", this game lasts four rounds, and the leaderboard at the end shows the totals.
What to try in your second game
Once the basics click, try changing one thing at a time.
- Turn on the round timer. Three, five or eight minutes. When it runs out, the Dener wins, so the team can't wait around for the perfect clue.
- Change who becomes Dener. "Whoever cracked the last word" hands the role to the player who finished the round, which rewards bold guessers.
- Use the Dener's mic. Tap it once and keep saying words out loud. Each one is checked against every clue, hands-free, until you tap it off.
- Flag an inside reference. If a clue seems gettable by only one friend, the Dener can flag it once. Players with no stake in it vote within 20 seconds, and a majority voids it. A tie keeps it.
- Try another word mode. The host can switch Words to Any word or Hinglish for a looser game.
When you're ready for the finer points, the strategy guide covers timing and managing your clues, and playing the Dener explains how to defend a word. The full rules are on the how to play page.
Got three friends and ten minutes? Play your first round.
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