Explain it — without saying it

What is Guess the Word

Guess the Word is a team game of explaining words, familiar from Alias. One player sees the word and explains it to their team without saying the word or anything with the same root. The team guesses while the timer runs. The more words you get through in a minute, the more points you score.

The table host chooses the word language: English or Russian. With an English interface a new table starts with English words automatically.

How a turn goes

4 to 10 people play in two teams. Before the game the server splits everyone into red and blue at random and picks who goes first. Each turn has up to 12 seconds to get ready, then 60 seconds of explaining.

The explainer sees six cards; when all are marked, the next six arrive at once. The explainer marks the words: Guessed is plus one point, Skip is minus one. The score never drops below zero. The game is played to 20 points and checked at the end of a round: if the starting team reaches 20, the opponents still take their turn, and the team with more points wins. The explainer changes in turn, so everybody explains.

A sample turn

The explainer has six cards: lighthouse, honey, passport, storm, chess, scooter. “Stands on the shore and shines for ships” — the team says lighthouse, Guessed. “Bees make it, sweet and golden” — honey, another point. The team gets stuck on passport, so the explainer presses Skip: minus one point, but no time lost. When all six are marked, the next cards appear.

An experienced team gets through ten words or more in a minute. The explainer marks the words, so if the team said a word with the same root, the fair thing is to skip the card.

How to explain faster

• Start with the shortest path: a category and one vivid detail. “Animal, red, sly, in fairy tales” beats a long description.
• Opposites, gaps in famous phrases and shared memories of your group work well.
• Do not get stuck on a hard word. A skip costs one point, while half a minute on one card costs three or four words you will not get to.
• Guessers should call out options right away: the explainer hears where you are heading and corrects you.

How to start

Sign in with email or Telegram, press Create, choose Games and Guess the Word, then Create and sit down. Send your friends an invitation or the table link. In the table settings the host picks the word language, the difficulty and, for Russian words, themed sets. The game starts once at least four players are at the table.

Explaining is done out loud, so you need a microphone. The camera is off by default — turn it on if you like to help yourself with gestures. If a team has fewer than two people left, the other team wins.