Hint Taken — one word decides it all

What is Hint Taken

Hint Taken is a cooperative-competitive party game of hints, in the spirit of Just One. Everyone except the guesser sees the secret word and writes one hint. The twist is that identical hints are crossed out: if two players wrote the obvious association, the guesser never sees it. So the winning hint is not the obvious one but the precise and unexpected one.

The table host chooses the word language: English or Russian. A hint is always exactly one word.

How a round goes

• 3 to 8 people play. The guesser changes every round in turn, and a game lasts one to three circles — two by default.
• The server shows the secret word to everyone except the guesser. Each player writes a hint — exactly one word — within 90 seconds. With three players, everyone writes two.
• Before the guesser sees the hints, the other players check them: identical and unfair hints are crossed out — same-root words, translations, sound-alikes and made-up words.
• The guesser has one attempt and 45 seconds, or can pass, and then the round ends without points.
• If the word is guessed, the author of every remaining hint gets +1, the guesser +2, and the author of the best hint, marked with a heart, another +3.
• When all circles are played, the player with the most points wins.

A sample round

The secret word is umbrella, and the guesser cannot see it. Five players write hints: rain, rain, cane, Poppins and folding. In the check both rains are crossed out as identical, and the guesser sees only three hints. From Poppins and folding the answer is easy.

The word is guessed: the authors of the three remaining hints get a point each, the guesser two. The guesser marks Poppins with a heart, and its author gets three more. Those who wrote rain get nothing — the obvious hint collided.

How to write a good hint

The first association that comes to you probably came to your neighbour too — and identical hints are crossed out. If the word is sea, someone else will almost certainly write water. Step aside: surf, tide or lighthouse lead to the same word but are unlikely to collide.

At the same time the hint should make sense to this guesser. Shared memories, the guesser’s job or hobbies, and famous quotes work well. The sharpest hint of the round gets a heart — three extra points, so originality pays twice.

How to start

Sign in with email or Telegram, press Create, choose Games and Hint Taken, then Create and sit down. Invite friends with an invitation on the site, in Telegram or with the table link. Before starting, the host picks the word language, the difficulty and the number of circles. Camera and microphone work right at the table, so everyone sees the guesser react to a great hint.