Contact
The host has shown only the first letter of a word; the rest explain other words starting with it to one another, while the host interferes by solving them first.
The host thinks of a word and reveals its first letter. From there they are outnumbered: the rest try to draw the letters out of them one by one, and the host tries to stop it.
The drawing out is the game. Asking outright is not allowed, but you may explain another word on the same letter to the group: "it's what people live in". If somebody works out that a house was meant, they call contact, and the two of them name their words at the same moment. The words agree, and the host reveals the next letter.
The host has exactly one way to interfere: to understand the clue before everyone else and name that word first. The contact is then broken, no letter is revealed, and the players have to think of a cleverer clue — though not so clever that nobody gets it at all.
Rules of Contact
The hidden word
The host thinks of a common noun in the singular and names only its first letter.
Clues
Any player at any moment gives a definition of another word beginning with the same . The word itself is not said — only the definition.
The host, on hearing a clue, tries to work it out and name the word intended: "no, it's not a house". If they manage it, the clue is beaten off and the players think of another.
Contact
If a player works out the clue before the host does, they declare .
The group then counts aloud to ten. While the count runs, the host may still name the word intended and .
If the count ends and the host has not named it, the player who declared contact and the author of the clue say their words at the same time.
Revealing a letter
The words agree — the host reveals the next letter of the hidden word. Every clue after that must begin with the new sequence of letters.
The words do not agree, or the host named the word before the count ran out — no letter is revealed.
End of the game
The game ends when somebody names the hidden word itself, or when it stands revealed in full.
Whoever named the hidden word usually becomes the next host.
Worth knowing
How far the count runs after a contact is declared is for the group — usually to ten. Whether a contact counts when two players name different words that both fit the clue is nowhere settled. Whether contact may be declared to several players at once, and what happens when only the clue's author understood it, is likewise a matter of agreement.
Glossary of terms
- Breaking the contact
- The host names the intended word before the count runs out. No letter is revealed.
- Contact
- A player's declaration that they have understood somebody else's clue. It gives the host a count of ten in which to name that word themselves.
- The open letters
- The beginning of the hidden word that the host has already shown. Every clue must start with them.