How to play Clueless: rules, scoring and clue-writing tips

How a card works

A game is a deck of cards (13 by default). Each card has five words. Players take turns as the guesser in a random order.

1. Pick a number. The guesser picks a number from 1 to 5 without seeing the card. Everyone else can see all five words, and the number decides which one is the mystery word.
2. Write clues. Every other player writes a one-word clue. With only three players, the two clue-givers write two clues each. You can change your clue until everyone's in.
3. Check the clues. The clue-givers see every clue side by side. Clues that match are taken out automatically, and any clue-giver can take out a clue the game missed (or bring one back).
4. Guess. The guesser sees the clues that are left, and how many were taken out, and gets one guess. They can also pass.
5. See the result. The word, the guess and every clue are shown, including why any clue was taken out. Then the next player becomes the guesser.

If nobody knows the word, any clue-giver can swap the word once per card. The guesser's card moves to a different word, the clues are cleared and the clue timer starts over.

What counts as a clue

A clue has to be one word. The game refuses a clue that's the mystery word itself, its plural, the word with an ending added, or a word that contains the mystery word (or is contained in it). So for “fire”, both “fires” and “firefighter” are out.

Numbers, acronyms and sounds are fine: “007”, “NASA” and “Riiing” all count as one word.

Two clues are treated as matching if they're the same word, plurals of each other, or the same word with an ending, like “prince” and “princess”. During the check, clue-givers should also take out anything the game can't catch: two words that sound the same, a made-up word, or the mystery word in another language.

Scoring

• Right guess: the card is scored for the team. Everyone whose clue made it through to the guesser also earns a “helpful clue” point.
• Wrong guess: that card is lost, and so is the top card of the deck. A wrong guess costs two cards.
• Pass, or run out of time: only that card is lost.

The guess check is forgiving. It ignores capital letters, accents and punctuation, a leading “a”, “an” or “the”, and plurals, and it lets a one-letter typo through in words of seven letters or more. If the guesser clearly got it and the game still says no, the host can count it on the results screen, which also gives back the extra card.

At the end, the team's score is the number of cards scored out of the deck. Score every card and you've played a perfect game.

How to write a clue that survives

Here's what makes Clueless tricky: your best clue is usually everyone else's best clue too, and matching clues cancel out. If the word is “beach” and four people write “sand”, the guesser sees nothing.

• Skip the most obvious clue, sometimes. Ask yourself: what would everyone else write? If one clue jumps out, assume at least one other person will write it too. Go one step to the side: “towel” or “seashell” instead of “sand”.
• Think about the other four words. The guesser doesn't see the card, but a clue that fits two of the five words isn't really a problem. A clue that fits a common word better than the mystery word is.
• Specific beats general. “Lifeguard” narrows things down more than “summer”.
• Combine in your head. Three good clues together often point at a word that none of them name alone. You don't need to give the whole answer, just your piece of it.
• Know your guesser. A clue that references a show they love or a trip you took together can be perfect for them, even if nobody else would get it.

Tips for guessing

• Look for the word that ties all the clues together, not the one that best fits the first clue.
• Count the missing clues. If three clues were taken out, a lot of people wrote the same thing, so the word probably has one very obvious association that you're not seeing.
• Pass when you're lost. A wrong guess costs the team two cards; a pass costs one. If you have no idea, passing is the smart move.

Host settings

• Deck size: 5 to 25 cards (13 by default). Shorter decks are good for a quick game or a first try.
• Clue time: 30 seconds to 3 minutes (60 by default).
• Guess time: 20 seconds to 2 minutes (60 by default).

Picking a number gets 20 seconds, and checking the clues gets 60. Clue writing ends early once every clue-giver is done.

Spectators can watch at the spectate link and see what the guesser sees, so you can put the game on a TV without spoiling anything.

Questions