ThinkAlike Help Guide

Everything you need to know about the word association party game.

Overview

ThinkAlike is a word association party game. Players see a word and try to "think alike" by submitting matching answers.

Play The Deck to practice, host a local multiplayer game for friends nearby, or join someone else's game using a shared code.

Game Modes

Connection

A word appears with a blank before or after it. Fill in the blank with a word that naturally connects — forming a compound word, common two-word phrase, or logical extension.

"_____ CAKE" → CUP (cupcake)
"PLANET _____" → ARY (planetary)
"_____ FRONT" → COLD (cold front)
"TOUGH _____" → LOVE (tough love)

Association

A word is shown on its own. Respond with the first word that comes to mind.

"OCEAN" → WAVE
"MUSIC" → SONG

Game modes apply to The Deck and Host games. When you join a game, the host's selected mode is used.

Hosting a Game

Host a local multiplayer game for friends nearby. This is the most common way to play.

1. Tap HOST and choose a game mode.
2. Enter your display name in the lobby.
3. A 5-letter game code is generated — share it with friends.
4. Wait for players to join (minimum 2 including you).
5. Tap START GAME when everyone is ready.

Each round, a word appears for all players. Once everyone submits an answer, results show who matched. Continue to the next word or end the game at any time.

The host controls the pace — advancing rounds, viewing results, starting tiebreakers and ending the game.

Playing with only Host + 1

Multi-player games with > 2 players provide better dynamics to the game, but two people can go head to head to see how aligned they are.

The tradeoff to playing with two people is that scoring doesn't really matter (you will always have the same score since there are no other players to match to), but you will always end the game in a tiebreaker (if chose to limit the game to # of rounds or points) and get to have fun going head to head to see who wins.

Joining a Game

Join a friend's game using their shared code.

1. Tap JOIN from the home screen.
2. Enter your display name and the 5-letter game code.
3. Tap JOIN to search for the game.

Once connected, wait for the host to start. Each round, type your answer and submit. Results appear after everyone has answered.

If you get disconnected, rejoin with the same game code — your score and progress are preserved, though you may miss a round and join on the next word.

Playing The Deck

Backstory: This was the start of the game. An electronic "deck" of words used to run the game. One player running the deck, saying out loud what the word is. Players writing down answers on paper. External scoring.

The Deck can still be used that way, if you'd like. It can provide a way to play this game among groups with mixed iOS/Android phones, or no phone at all. It also lets you practice word association at your own pace with no scoring. Just flip through the "deck" and think about what word or completion of a word your mind thinks of first.

1. Tap THE DECK from the home screen.
2. Choose your game mode, or skip if you've set a default.
3. Press BEGIN to see your first word.
4. Optionally type your answer, then tap NEXT for a new word.

An optional timer tracks how long you spend on each word. Toggle it in Settings.

Scoring

In multiplayer, points are awarded based on how many others submitted the same answer:

Rarer matches are worth more. Connecting with just one other player earns the maximum 3 points.

During a multiplayer game, tap your score at the top of the screen to view a live scoreboard showing all players ranked by their current score.

Game End Conditions

• Unlimited — the host ends the game manually. No tiebreaker round.
• By Score — ends when a player reaches the target score (default 20, range 3–100).
• By Round — ends after a set number of rounds (default 10, range 1–50).

Configure these in Settings before starting. The host's settings apply in multiplayer.

Tiebreakers

When a multiplayer game ends with two or more players tied for the top score, a tiebreaker round begins.

Targets shrink and appear faster over time. A single miss eliminates you — last player standing wins.

If all remaining players miss on the same round, an additional tiebreaker round commences.

Removing Players

The Host has the ability to forcibly remove players from the game. This could be for numerous reasons, but shouldn't be necessary most of the time. Removing a player will clear their score and it will not be preserved if they re-join the game.

To remove a user during a current round, either swipe-left or long-press on the users name and click "Remove".

To remove a user during the round results, long-press on their name in the Scoreboard and click "Remove".

Settings

• Theme — System, Light, or Dark appearance.
• Word Length — set minimum and maximum word length (3–10 characters). Note that if you restrict lengths to the extreme ends of that range, you'll cycle through and repeat words more frequently. If it seems like longer words are too hard to pair with, reduce the maximum length of words which will appear in games in the settings.
• Timer — show or hide the per-word elapsed timer in The Deck.
• Sounds — toggle sound effects on matches.
• Spaces in Answers — allow or strip spaces from submitted answers.
• Game End Mode — choose Unlimited, By Score, or By Round.
• Target Score / Rounds — set the goal for score or round-based games.
• Default Game Mode — set Connection or Association as your default.
• Skip Mode Prompt — jump straight into Host or The Deck with your default mode.
• In-App Purchases — enhance your gameplay or remove all ads.

Experimental Features

• Join Timeout — how long to search when joining a game (5–300 seconds, or disabled).

Ads & Remove Ads

ThinkAlike shows small banner ads on select screens — the home screen, lobbies, and round results. Ads only appear during active multi-player gameplay after the player submits their answer and is waiting for others.

You can permanently remove all ads with a one-time Remove Ads purchase, available in Settings under Purchases.

On first launch, you may be asked whether to allow tracking. This is optional — the app works the same either way. Allowing tracking helps show more relevant ads.

In-App Purchases

Remove Ads

As called out above, you can remove all ads with a one-time purchase.

Any players who wish to remove ads must make this purchase. For example, if the host removes ads, players joining the game will still see ads unless they have also removed ads.

Expanded Players

By default, games support up to 4 players (host + 3 others).

The Expanded Players upgrade increases the limit to 8 players total. Devices should be connected via WiFi when supporting > 4 players.

This is a host-only upgrade. Consider purchasing if you plan to host a game with > 4 players.

Word Packs 1 & 2

By default the game comes with ~500 words. In Connection mode it will play each of those words using their before/after position.

Two additional packs are available for purchase, each with ~500 new and different words.

Word pack upgrades apply to those hosting games, or playing The Deck. If you're only ever joining a game someone else is hosting, there is no need for this purchase.

Statistics

The Statistics view provides information on how many words have been played per game mode, and allows you to clear the history.

Clearing history will allow those words to appear again. For Connection mode, the word will appear in both its before and after forms.

Game History

The Game History view, accessible from Statistics, shows a log of your past multiplayer game sessions. Each entry includes:

• Date and time of the game
• Number of rounds played
• Game mode (Connection or Association)
• Whether you hosted or joined
• Final results — winners and scores if you hosted, or your win/loss outcome if you joined
• A round-by-round breakdown showing each word and all players' answers

Tap Clear All History to remove all saved sessions.

Tips & Strategy

• Connection mode — think of compound words and common phrases. The most natural pairing often wins.
• Association mode — go with your gut. The most obvious word is usually what others think too.
• Read the room — pay attention to how other players think so you can predict their answers.
• Know your opponents — often knowing something about your opponent (likes, hobbies, interests, etc.) can guide you.
• Rare matches — matching with just 1 other player scores 3 points, so a less obvious answer can pay off.
• Some matches are hard — some words will have an obvious pairing when coming after the word, but may be tough when flipped around. Sometimes the only answer is a plural form of the word, or a word you can only seem to preface with "un" or "the" or "not". It's not about necessarily making sense or following strict grammar rules, it's about matching to your opponent(s).
• Warm up — use The Deck to get your mind thinking about words before jumping into multiplayer.
• Stay connected — if you lose connection, rejoin with the same code to pick up where you left off.
• Switching Apps — switching to other apps while waiting for other players should be possible, and ThinkAlike will try to reconnect automatically. A few things to keep in mind:

  Missed a round? The host may have moved on to the next word while you were away. You'll miss scoring for that round.

  Away too long? If you were gone for a couple minutes, or your phone's screen locked, you may need to re-join with the game code.

  Game ended? If the game finished while you were away, you won't see final results or participate in tiebreakers. My advice? Stay in the game!