ThoughtMatch house rules and variants
Once your group knows the basic game, small changes can make it feel new again. This page covers the variants you can set up with the host settings, and the house rules that only need everyone to agree.
Two kinds of variant
Everything on this page falls into one of two groups, and it helps to know which is which before you start.
- Built-in settings are options the host picks in the room. The game enforces them for you: the timer really runs out, and the game really ends after the chosen number of rounds.
- House rules are agreements between players. ThoughtMatch doesn't know about them and won't check them. They work because your group decides to play that way, the same as house rules in any board game.
The core rules never change: the Dener picks a secret word of 4 to 15 letters, players post clues for words that start with the revealed prefix, a contact holds only if everyone in it wrote the same word, and the players share 3 guesses at the secret word. If you need a refresher, read how to play first.
Built-in settings
The host sees three settings in the room. Each one changes the feel of a game in a different way.
Round timer: off, 3, 5 or 8 minutes
The timer is off unless the host turns it on. With a timer, the Dener also wins the round if time runs out before the players crack the word. That changes the players' approach. With no timer, they can afford to try careful, clever clues. With a short timer, they need fast, obvious clues and they need to use their 3 shared guesses before the clock beats them.
- Off suits new groups and relaxed evenings.
- 8 minutes adds a deadline without much pressure.
- 5 minutes keeps things moving in a busy room.
- 3 minutes is a sprint. It favours the Dener, so it's a good fit for a lightning round (see below).
Rounds: 3, 5, 8 or everyone once
"Everyone once" is the default, and it means each player gets a turn as Dener. It's the fairest choice, because everyone gets the same chance at the Dener's +10 for winning a round. With a big group it can run long, though. Twelve players means twelve rounds. A fixed 3, 5 or 8 rounds gives you a predictable length instead.
Next Dener: take turns, cracker goes next, or host picks
- Take turns goes around in order. It's simple and fair.
- Cracker goes next makes whoever finished the last round the next Dener. If the Dener won, the Dener stays on. This turns the game into "king of the hill": a strong Dener can hold the seat for several rounds until someone cracks their word.
- Host picks lets the host choose each time. Use it when you want to give a quiet player a turn, or to keep a newcomer away from the Dener's seat until they've watched a round or two.
Tip: The next Dener setting can be changed between rounds, so you can start with "take turns" while people learn and switch to "cracker goes next" once everyone is comfortable.
Setting combinations worth trying
These are just starting points. Mix and match to suit your group.
- Classic: timer off, everyone once, take turns. Good for a first game.
- King of the hill: 5-minute timer, 8 rounds, cracker goes next. The timer stops one Dener from holding the seat with a word nobody can crack, while the rounds limit keeps the night from running on forever.
- Quick break: 3-minute timer, 3 rounds, take turns. A full game fits in under ten minutes of round time, which is handy at lunch or between other games.
House rule: themed rounds
Before the round starts, the Dener says a theme out loud, such as "animals", "the kitchen" or "things at the beach", and picks a secret word that fits it. ThoughtMatch can't check the theme, so this relies on the Dener being honest.
A theme gives the players a big head start, because they can aim clues straight at the secret word. That makes it a gentle variant for new players. To balance it, some groups also ask that clue words fit the theme. That's much harder, because every clue word still has to start with the prefix.
Example. The Dener announces "animals" and chooses PENGUIN. Everyone sees P and 7 letters. Sam posts a clue with the private word PARROT and the clue text "It can repeat what you say." Two players press Contact! and both type PARROT. The Dener can't break it in time, the contact holds, and the Dener reveals the next letter: PE. Now Priya posts the clue "Waddles in a tuxedo" for PENGUIN. When a contact on that clue holds, it lands on the secret word itself and the players win the round.
House rule: clue in rhyme
Every clue must include a word that rhymes with the clue's private word. The rhyme helps the other players, but it helps the Dener just as much, so clue givers have to decide how much to give away. The normal rule still applies: the clue text can't contain the word itself, and it has to fit in 100 characters.
Example. The prefix is BR. Leo's private word is BRUSH and his clue is "Rhymes with hush, used twice a day." Now the players and the Dener are racing for the same word. Sam and Jo press Contact! within a second and both type BRUSH. The Dener's break attempt, BREAD, misses. When the 10 seconds end, the contact holds and the Dener reveals the next letter: BRU. A vaguer rhyme, like "rhymes with hush" on its own, gives the Dener longer to think, so the best rhyming clues add one detail that friends will spot quickly.
House rule: no-emoji clues
Agree that clue text is words only, with no emoji or symbols. A single picture can be a very blunt clue, and groups who enjoy wordplay often find that clues are more fun when you have to describe things.
House rule: team scoring across a night
Within a round, all the players work together against the Dener. Across a whole evening, though, you can split into two teams and add up scores. ThoughtMatch shows a points leaderboard at the end of each game but doesn't keep totals from one game to the next, so write team totals on paper or in a group chat.
Split the teams before the first game, then after each game add up each team's points from the final leaderboard. Teams of different sizes need care. A bigger team collects more of the +3 each player gets when the players win, so use each team's average score rather than its total.
Example. Team Owls is Maya (31) and Leo (18): total 49, average 24.5. Team Foxes is Sam (27), Priya (25) and Jo (14): total 66, average 22. The Foxes have more points, but on averages the Owls win the game.
House rule: the lightning round
End the night with a short, loud game. Set the round timer to 3 minutes and the rounds to 3. The house rule is that each player must post a clue within the first 30 seconds of every round. This gets everyone involved straight away, which matters because with only 3 minutes there's no time to hold back.
With so little time, players should spend their shared guesses earlier than usual. A wrong guess costs one of the 3, but if time runs out the Dener wins anyway, so an unused guess is wasted.
House rule: handicaps for experienced Deners
A Dener who knows the game well can make life very hard for newer players, breaking clues almost as fast as they appear. A handicap keeps it fun for everyone. Choose one or two of these:
- Everyday words only: the secret word must be one everyone at the table would know.
- One break attempt per clue: the game allows unlimited guesses when breaking a clue. Under this rule, the Dener only takes one shot at each.
- Announce a theme: the experienced Dener must play a themed round, as above.
- Count to five: the Dener waits five seconds after a clue appears before trying to break it, which gives other players time to press Contact!.
Tip: Handicaps work best when the experienced player offers them. Asking someone to hold back can feel like a complaint, while offering feels generous.
Agreeing on house rules
Because the game can't enforce house rules, settle them before the round starts, not in the middle of an argument. Say the rule out loud, ask if anyone has questions, and decide what happens if someone breaks it. Most groups simply ask the player to cancel their clue and post a new one. A player can withdraw their own clue as long as no contact is in progress.
Keep it to one or two house rules at a time. Stack too many and new players spend more time remembering rules than thinking of words. For more ideas on good clues under any rules, see writing great clues and strategy tips.
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