Forehead Guess

How to play

1. Set the players, round length and pack: Three players are set up by default; type names or leave them blank (they become Player 1, Player 2…). Pick the round length (30, 60, 90 seconds or untimed), rounds each (1-3), a pack (mixed, everyday things, animals & plants, jobs & roles, places, food & drink) and a level (kids, everyone, tricky). The card count updates live — or just hit Start.
2. Hand the phone over and tap “I'm ready”: The handoff screen shows whose turn it is, the round, what clue-givers mustn't say and how to hold the phone: sideways against your forehead, screen facing out, no peeking. “I'm ready” asks for motion access and goes full screen; saying no is fine — tapping the top or bottom half works just as well.
3. Tilt down for correct, up to pass, then fix calls: Nod down once (or tap the bottom half) to start the 3-2-1, then the first word flips in. Friends describe it and you shout guesses: correct = tilt down or tap the bottom half, pass = tilt up or tap the top half. When time runs out the card on screen doesn't count. In the recap, tap any word to flip its call, then pass the phone to the next player.

Rules & variants

The rules fit in one breath: a word appears on the screen, the person holding the phone to their forehead can't see it, everyone else describes it out loud, and the guesser tilts down when they get it or tilts up to pass. Each correct word scores 1 point; passing costs nothing and you can pass as often as you like. Tapping works exactly like tilting — the bottom half of the panel is correct, the top half is pass — and both work from the very first card, so a phone without motion sensors or a denied permission never stops the game.

How a match runs: total rounds = players × rounds each, taken in roster order, so three players with two rounds each go 1 2 3 1 2 3. Every round has five beats: handoff, a practice card, a 3-2-1 countdown, the timed round, and the recap. The practice card draws no word and runs no clock — it's just one nod to get the feel. The countdown doesn't eat into the round; the clock starts the moment the first word appears, and a tap during the countdown skips it without counting as an answer.

Why one card is always void: as soon as a word is called the next one appears, so in a timed round there is always one uncalled word on screen. When time runs out that word doesn't score, isn't listed in the recap and doesn't go back into the deck — everyone has already seen it. Untimed rounds end after the 10th call, so nothing is voided there.

The recap settles arguments. It lists every word called this round with a ✓ or –, and tapping a word flips it; the round score and the match total update on the spot. The classic dispute — “you said part of the word!” — isn't something software can judge, so the room decides and fixes it in two seconds. Beat this phone's best round for the chosen length and a “New record” badge lands on that recap; a round with no passes earns “Flawless”.

Packs and levels are separate dials. The pack sets the topic — everyday things, animals & plants, jobs & roles, places, food & drink, or all five mixed. The level sets how hard the word is to describe: kids words are concrete things you can explain in one sentence, everyone words are common vocabulary, tricky words need a roundabout description. Every word is written for this site, with no brand names or celebrities.

What “no repeats” means exactly: within one shuffle of the deck a word never comes back, whether it was guessed, passed or voided. At the start of a match the game also steers clear of words used in your last few matches on this device (up to 120 per pack), dropping that preference when the pool gets too small. If a pack combo is ever used up, the game says so and reshuffles.

How tilting is read: the game measures the screen's angle to the horizon, so it works the same whichever way you grip the phone and with rotation lock on or off. Tilting down about 30° counts as correct and tilting up about 40° as pass — the pass threshold is higher on purpose, so glancing up to think doesn't throw a card away. After each call you bring the phone back level before the next tilt counts, and extra triggers within 300 ms are ignored.

Variants and house rules: a one-player roster isn't ranked, which suits a group taking turns without keeping score; a quick game uses 30-second rounds; a kids' game uses the kids level and untimed rounds of 10 cards. Turn off “Tilt to answer” for tap-only play. Popular house rules: saying part of the word voids the card, one-sentence clues only, or only one person may give clues.

Progress and resume: a match in progress is saved in this browser as an event log. Refresh, switch apps, lock the phone or take a call, and you come back to a paused round with the same word, the same time left and every call and score intact — it never resumes on its own. Tap Resume, nod once, and a short 2-1 countdown picks up where you left off. The timer uses a monotonic clock, so changing the system time doesn't affect it.

FAQ