How to Play Contact

Contact is a free multiplayer word game for three to ten players. One person picks a secret word and reveals the first letter. Everyone else tries to crack it. Not by guessing alone, but by quietly thinking of the same word as someone else at the table.

Most people get the hang of it in one round. Here's everything you need to know.

The roles

Every round has two sides. One person is the Word Master. They pick the secret word and defend it. Everyone else is a Contactor. Contactors work together to reveal the word letter by letter. Roles rotate after each round.

Setting up a round

• Open the homepage. Pick a character and type a name.
• Hit Create Room. You get a six-character code.
• Share the code. Up to ten people can join.
• Pick a Word Master.
• The Master types a secret word. Only the first letter is shown to the room.

The core loop

Contactors can't just guess. They post clues hinting at words they think might match.

Say the letter shown is B. A contactor types "yellow fruit monkeys love." They're privately thinking BANANA. They're hoping somebody else reads the clue and lands on the same word.

If a second contactor reads it and thinks "oh, banana," they hit Contact. Both players lock into a 3-second countdown. At zero, they both need to have typed the same word. Match, and the next letter is revealed.

The Master fights back

While the countdown ticks, the Master can block by typing what they think the clue-giver meant. Beat the countdown with the right word and the clue dies. No letter revealed. The clue gets crossed out and the round keeps going.

This is most of the game. The Master is reading the room. The contactors are trying to be just oblique enough to fool the Master, but just clear enough to connect with each other.

Direct Guess

If you think you know the full word, hit Direct Guessand type it. Right answer wins the round outright. Wrong answer hands the Master a serious advantage. Use it when you're sure.

How a round ends

Contactors win by revealing every letter, or by landing a correct Direct Guess. The Master wins by surviving. Block enough clues that the contactors stall out, or catch one in a bad Direct Guess.

Tactics that actually help

• Oblique beats obvious."Long yellow fruit" tells the Master what you mean. "What Donkey Kong throws at you" takes an extra beat, which is usually enough for a teammate to connect before the Master blocks.
• Watch the typing indicators. Two people typing on the same clue usually means a Contact is incoming.
• As Master, watch the danger meter.When it climbs fast, start blocking even when you're not sure.
• Voice chat helps. Text-only works fine. Voice is funnier.

Player count

Works with three. Sweet spot is four or five. Above eight, the chat gets noisy. Some groups like that. The Master has a harder time.

How long a round takes

Three to five minutes for most rounds. A full session of five or six rounds runs around half an hour.

No accounts, no downloads

You don't sign up. You don't install anything. We don't ask for an email. Open the site, pick a name, create a room. Works on desktop or phone.

Ready to play?

Head back to the homepageand create a room. If something here didn't answer your question, the FAQ probably does.