Word Connection
Party games · Word games
Also Word Connections, Grid clues, Spy words, One word three cards
Create a free account to keep score — you come straight back here.
Summary — 4–12 players
Word Connection is a party game of clues on a grid of twenty-five words. Each side has a clue-giver who alone can see which words are theirs, and says one word and a number out loud — river, three — to point their team at them. The team turns the words it thinks the clue means, one at a time, until it gets one wrong. Find all of yours first and you win; turn the trap and you lose.
- Scored by
- A match is one board. The first side to turn every one of its words wins it; a side that turns the trap loses it on the spot.
- Origin
- Unknown
Rules
How to play
Players and equipment
Four to twelve, each with a phone, in two teams. Uneven teams are fine — three against four plays — but a team needs at least two: one to give the clues and one to guess. The words come from the app's library, or everybody writes six of their own and the app fills the rest.
The deal
The app lays out twenty-five words in a five-by-five grid, the same on every phone. Secretly, nine belong to the side that starts, eight to the other side, seven are bystanders, and one is the trap. Each side has one clue-giver, who alone can see which word is which: on their phone every card wears a thin frame in its colour, and the trap is black. The clue-giver changes with each game, round the team's seats.
Play
The sides take turns. On your side's turn the clue-giver says one word and a number out loud — "river, three" — and the app hears none of it. The number is how many of your words the clue points at. The clue may not be a word still face down on the grid, and the table's own rules say the rest: no compound words, no rhymes, nothing about the letters.
Then the guessers turn cards. Tap a word, then Guess, and it turns over for everybody. Your own word, and you may go again; the table's rule is the number plus one, the extra for a word left over from an earlier clue, and the table keeps that count. A bystander ends your go. The other side's word ends your go and counts for them. The trap ends the game, and you have lost it.
Guessers may stop at any point with End our go. The clue-giver may not help: no hints, no faces.
Scoring
Scoring
- Found every one of your words first
- 1
- A point to everyone on the side
- The other side turned your last word for you
- 1
- A point to everyone on your side
- The other side turned the trap
- 1
- A point to everyone on your side
A game is one board. The leaderboard counts matches won, and a win is a win for every member of the side — the ladder rates it, and teammates are never rated against each other.
A worked turn
The giver's words include "bank", "river" and "fish". The clue is "water, three". The team turns "river" — theirs, go again. "Fish" — theirs. "Bank" — theirs, and a fourth is allowed for the bonus; they turn "note", a bystander, and the go ends with three found.
Ending
The game ends the moment a side has turned every one of its words, or the moment anybody turns the trap. The next board is dealt at once, with the other side starting and the next clue-givers round the seats.
Strategy
Giving a clue
Look for the word that reaches two or three of yours and none of theirs. Check the trap first, every time: a clue that could mean the trap is a clue you do not give. A number of two that lands is worth more than a four that does not.
Guessing
Say your reasoning out loud; the clue-giver is listening and cannot answer, but your teammates can. Tap the surest word first. Once the clue has given you what it promised, think hard before the bonus guess — it is where traps get turned.
The bystanders
Seven of the twenty-five belong to nobody. A turn that ends on one costs you only the turn, so with a lead, a cautious bonus guess is fine; behind, you need the risk.
FAQs
How do you play Word Connection?
Twenty-five words in a grid; two teams; each team's clue-giver can see which words are theirs. The giver says one word and a number, the team taps the words it thinks the clue points at, and keeps going until it taps a wrong one. First team to find all of its words wins; the trap loses on the spot.
How many players?
Four at the least — two a side — and it plays up to twelve. Uneven teams are allowed.
Can the clue be more than one word?
The clue is said out loud, so the table decides: one word is the rule, and most tables allow a name and refuse a compound.
What does the number mean?
How many of your words the clue is about. You get that many guesses plus one, and the table counts — the app turns as many cards as you tap, so a side that goes on past its number does so in front of everybody.
What if we tap the other team's word?
It turns over for them and your turn ends. If it was their last word, they have won.
Who goes first?
The side with nine words, which alternates with each board. The app says whose go it is at the top of the grid.
Can the clue-giver change mid-game?
Not within a board — the key is on their phone. The next board moves the role one seat along in each team.