Word Detective
A new association game where one-word clues lead to the truth
Players
4–50 players
Play Time
10min-
A new association game where one-word clues lead to the truth
A short, team-vs-team association game where imagination and deduction decide the winner. Convey the secret answer using only single-word clues; teammates must figure out the answer from those clues. But your opponents hear everything — guess wrong, and the other team gets a chance. Simple rules and hiragana-only answers make it accessible from kids to adults.
Split into Red and Blue teams. Pick one leader per team.
Only the 2 leaders see the truth (same truth for both teams). The lead-off team's leader expresses it with one word. Any part of speech works — nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. If a clue is too direct or isn't a single word, that team forfeits answering for the current truth. The eldest player decides on rule violations.
The leader's team uses the clue to deduce the truth and answer. From Turn 2 on, the other leader's clue is also a major hint.
Wrong: pass the turn to the other team with the same truth. More turns = more clues, but fewer points to earn. Correct: the truth is revealed and points go to the team. The next truth begins with the team that hasn't yet scored leading off.
When all rounds are done, totals for Red and Blue determine the winner.
Dokopa offers fine-grained rule customization.
These settings are a good place to start.
The team with more points when the set number of rounds ends wins
The first team to answer correctly earns the points
Express the truth in 1 word. If the answer is "cat," try "animal" (category), "cute" (trait), "dog" (opposite), "kotatsu" (high association) — get creative
No compound words like "cute animal"
Don't include the truth word, and avoid clues so direct only the truth fits (for "cat," "kitty" or "meow" are out)
Pick clues that bring at least 3 different words to mind
Borderline calls go to the eldest player. If they're contested, the youngest — or the player who looks most like an NHK announcer — judges
Consider a 60-second time limit per turn
Clues that nail the truth in one shot risk being ruled invalid — aim for clues that take a few rounds to crack
You are students at a detective academy, a school rumored to have a 50% graduation rate. Holmes, Kindaichi, and Columbo are said to have graduated here. Now graduation has finally arrived. The final exam: a contest against the classmates you've trained alongside. Two teams compete; only the winning team graduates. The losing team is expelled. The game tests your power of free association to translate the truth, your reasoning to deduce it from sparse clues, and your insight into how the leader and the others think. Lose, and three years of grueling training evaporate. Enjoy the game with that weight in mind.
This game was developed with original rules and features, taking inspiration from "Rensō Game" — a Japanese TV program broadcast on NHK for 22 years, from 1969 to 1991.
Play Word Detective for free on the Dokopa app.
