When to guess the secret word

A team guess is the fastest way to win a ThoughtMatch round, and the fastest way to lose one. This guide explains exactly how the shared guesses and the vote work, then shows how to read the board so you guess at the right moment.

By Ansh R. Suryavanshi, creator of ThoughtMatch

How team guesses work

Every round, the players share three guesses at the Dener's secret word. They belong to the whole team, so nobody can spend one alone.

1. Any player except the Dener types a word and asks the team. Only one suggestion runs at a time.
2. Every other player apart from the Dener has 20 seconds to press Agree or Disagree. The person who suggested it counts as agreeing.
3. If everyone agrees, the guess goes ahead and uses one of the three.
4. If anyone presses Disagree, or the 20 seconds run out before everyone has agreed, the suggestion is dropped. No guess is used.

When a guess goes ahead, one of two things happens.

• It's right. The round ends at once and the players win. The player who suggested it counts as the one who cracked the word and gets +5, and every player except the Dener gets +3 for the win.
• It's wrong. The team has one fewer guess. Nobody loses points, and play carries on.

If the third guess is wrong, the guesses have run out and the Dener wins the round, taking +10. That's the whole cost of guessing badly: no penalty for the first two misses, and the round itself for the third. The rules page has the full list of ways a round can end.

What the board tells you

From the moment the Dener locks in a word, you know two things: its first letter and its length. Each held contact adds one more letter to the prefix. Together, the prefix and the letter count are a filter. Every candidate must start with exactly those letters and have exactly that many letters in total.

A useful habit is to say the shape out loud on your call: "PL, six letters." It sounds obvious, but it stops a classic mistake: guessing a word that fits the meaning you have in mind but not the tiles on the board.

Two more facts help you trim the list:

• The word is probably well known. With the default Dictionary setting, the secret is a real dictionary word, or a common place, day, month, festival or language, and never a person's name. A good Dener picks something everyone in the room would recognize, because an obscure word just makes the round frustrating. Put the everyday words at the top of your list.
• Plurals count as the same word. Singular and plural match, so PLANETS would count as a correct guess for PLANET. Never spend two guesses on two forms of one word.

Using clue words as evidence

Over a round, many words get shown to everyone: words behind held contacts, words the Dener breaks, and the words written in failed contacts. They're not all equally useful as evidence.

• A held contact rules its word out. If a contact holds on a word that fits the prefix and the length, that word can't be the secret, because a contact that lands on the secret word wins the round on the spot. Cross it off.
• Your team's wrong guesses rule themselves out. Keep track of them. In a noisy round it's surprisingly easy to suggest the same word twice.
• A break doesn't rule anything out. The Dener can break a clue on any word, including their own secret word. A broken word that fits the shape is still a live candidate, so don't cross it off.
• Failed and broken words shrink your clue options. Every word shown to everyone is used up for the rest of the round and can't be clued again. When the everyday words for a prefix are gone, new contacts get harder, and a guess becomes more attractive by comparison.

The risk and reward of an early guess

The three guesses aren't equal. The first is cheap: if it misses, you still have two, and the round goes on. The second costs more, because it leaves you one away from handing the Dener the round. The third is the expensive one. A miss ends the round and gives the Dener +10, and every contact you might still have made is lost too.

Weigh that against what waiting costs. Each held contact earns a letter and points, +3 for the clue giver and +2 for each contacter. But each new letter is harder to win than the last. The longer the prefix, the fewer clue words fit it, and the easier it is for the Dener to break every one.

That points to a simple shape for most rounds:

• With one letter showing, don't guess. The list is far too long.
• When the list is down to a handful of strong words, the first guess is worth spending on the most likely one.
• When you're down to your last guess, only use it when you're sure, or when the round is about to end anyway.

That last case matters. If the round timer is about to run out, or the team is about to vote to give up, the Dener is going to win regardless. Any guesses left are free shots, so use them. The strategy guide covers the rest of the round, from clues to contacts.

When to press Disagree

Pressing Disagree can feel unfriendly, but it's free: the suggestion is dropped and no guess is used. Press it when:

• The word doesn't fit the shape. Check the length and every revealed letter. Apart from the singular or plural of a word that does fit, a word with the wrong shape can't be right, and agreeing to it still spends a guess.
• It's already crossed off. It was the word behind a held contact, or the team already guessed it.
• You have a clearly stronger candidate. Disagree, then suggest yours straight away.
• It's your last guess and the room isn't sure. If you can't say why this word beats the others, keep clueing instead.

If you're merely unsure, a quick "why that one?" on the call is better than silence. If you don't agree in time, the suggestion simply lapses, which is the same as a Disagree but slower.

A worked example: PL and six letters

If PLUNGE had been wrong, the team would still have had two guesses. With only weaker candidates left, the better move would have been to win one more contact and see the fourth letter before guessing again.

One more quick case from the same board: suppose someone tries PLUMBER once PLU is showing. It fits the meaning of a few clues, but it has seven letters, not six. The game won't even put it to a vote: a suggestion has to start with the revealed letters and be as long as the secret word (a plural ending like PLUNGES is allowed, since singular and plural count as the same word). In Hinglish mode only the starting letters are checked, because spellings change a word's length.

A quick checklist

Before you suggest a guess, or agree to someone else's, run through these:

1. Does it start with every revealed letter?
2. Does it have exactly the right number of letters?
3. Has it been crossed off by a held contact or an earlier guess?
4. How many strong candidates are left, and how many guesses?
5. If it misses, can the team still afford the next guess?

If the answers are yes, yes, no, "only a few" and "yes", go for it. For close calls on what counts as the same word, see the FAQ.