Mind Dial
Give clues so your team guesses the secret target on the spectrum!
How to Play
Goal
Guess where the secret target sits on a spectrum between two opposites.
Clue Giver
Each round one player gives a clue. Only they can see the target position on the spectrum.
Guessing
All other players place their guess on the spectrum (0-100).
Scoring
Closer to target = more points: Bullseye (±5) = 4, close (±15) = 3, good (±25) = 2, ok (±40) = 1.
Winner
After all rounds, the player with the most points wins.
Strategy & tips
As the clue giver, avoid extremes and aim for gradations. If the target sits at eighty per cent hot, fire is a poor clue — it only points to the far right. Better is something clearly hot but recognisably not the hottest thing there is.
Think about the group, not yourself. The best clue is not the one most precise for you, but the one your team will disagree about least. A term everyone places similarly beats a personally perfect one.
As the guessing team, talk about the scale, not the word. The question is never what the term means but where it falls between the two poles. Debating whether something is expensive gets further than debating what it is.
Variants
No teams
Everyone guesses together towards a target score. Takes the competition out and opens up the discussion.
Custom scales
The group invents its own pairs of opposites. Works surprisingly well and quickly gets personal.
One word
The clue must be exactly one word. Considerably harder and often funnier.
How it works
1. Create a game
Click "Create Game" and receive a 6-digit code.
2. Share the code
Share the code with your friends – via WhatsApp, Telegram, or just tell them.
3. Play instantly
Your friends enter the code and you start playing immediately. No login required!
Origin
The hidden-dial format was published in 2019 by Wolfgang Warsch, Alex Hague and Justin Vickers and struck a chord because it requires no knowledge at all — only judgement.
Psychologically it is an experiment in shared frames of reference: it measures how similarly two people place the same concepts on a scale. That is exactly why it plays completely differently with close friends than with strangers.
Frequently asked questions
How does the scale work?
A hidden target sits between two opposites. The clue giver sees it, their team does not, and must describe it with a single term.
How many players do I need?
Four to twelve. The discussion is richest from six upwards.
Do I need general knowledge?
Not at all. It is purely about judgement, which is why children and adults compete on equal terms here.