How to Guess Faster in Taboo

While your teammate describes, you see a board of blank tiles. Each tile shows only its difficulty and how many points it is worth, so you know how many words are in play and roughly how hard each one is.

You type guesses into the guess box under the board and press Enter or the Guess button. The game checks every guess against all the words on the board, not just the one your describer is talking about.

• Capital letters, spaces and punctuation are ignored, so "ice cream" and "IceCream" count as the same guess.
• A guess that is almost right, such as a long word with one letter wrong, earns half points. Typing the exact word later swaps those for full points.
• Wrong guesses cost nothing. There is no penalty for trying, only for staying quiet.
• Your wrong guesses appear in the live guess feed, so your teammates and describer can see them.

Most describers open with what kind of thing the word is. Catching that first phrase is worth more than catching any later detail, because it tells you which part of your memory to search.

If you miss the start, do not wait for the describer to repeat it. Guess something from the most likely category, and their reaction will tell you whether you are in the right area.

Pay attention to small words like "a place", "a feeling" or "something you do". They separate nouns from verbs, and they save you from typing ten objects when the answer is an action.

The fastest guessers send a guess as soon as they have one, even a weak one. A wrong guess shows the describer what you are thinking, which helps them steer you.

Keep guesses short. One word is quicker to type than a phrase, and most board words are single words. If the clue points to a phrase, type the key word first and add the rest if it fails.

On a phone, keep the keyboard open between guesses rather than tapping away to read chat. Every time the keyboard closes and opens again, you lose a second or two.

Often you have the right idea in the wrong form. When the describer says "yes, but", cycle through the forms of the word quickly.

• Singular and plural: "biscuit" and "biscuits".
• Person, thing and action: "painter", "painting" and "paint".
• Compound words and their parts: "sunflower", "sun" and "flower".
• British and American spellings: "colour" and "color", or "tyre" and "tire".
• Synonyms at the same level: "sofa", "couch" and "settee".

If a tile shows that you earned half points, you are a letter or two away. Try the obvious spelling fixes before you change your idea.

You are not guessing alone. Read the live guess feed and use what others have already tried, so you never repeat a guess someone has just sent.

If a teammate typed "river" and the describer said "close", try the neighbours of that word: stream, lake, canal, bank. Building outward from a near miss is usually faster than starting fresh.

On teams of three or more, split the work without discussing it. If one teammate is trying synonyms, you can try related objects or places instead, and between you the search covers more ground.

Sometimes the describer freezes, usually on a hard word. A silent turn wastes everyone's time, so give them something to react to.

• Ask a category question out loud: "Is it a thing? A place? A person?" A nod or a yes gets them moving again.
• Throw out a deliberately broad guess, like "food" or "sport". Even a no gives the describer a starting point.
• Remind them gently that they can move to another word. On Taboo Party there is no penalty for leaving a word.
• Stay positive. A describer who feels watched in silence tends to freeze for longer.

The blank tiles carry useful information. The difficulty label tells you whether the describer is on an everyday word or something abstract, and the points hint at how long or unusual the word is.

Six correct guesses in a turn bring three bonus words to the board, and more arrive at 10, 14 and 18. A team that keeps guessing fast can see many more words than the starting ten.

Signed-in players can also spend coins on hints for a word: its length, its vowels or its first letter. Hints suit a long, high-value word that your team has nearly cracked.

The host can switch on Guesser voice in the lobby. Guessers can then speak their answers, and the browser turns speech into guesses. It works best in Chrome and listens for English, so it is not offered for the Hindi word packs.

Voice guessing is handy on a phone or for players who type slowly. In a busy call it can also pick up other people talking, so test it for a turn before you rely on it.

When another team is describing, your screen shows their real words. Use that time to learn: notice which clues land quickly and which ones send guessers the wrong way.

If the host has switched on Taboo reporting, you are also the referee. Tap a word tile when the describer says a word from their board, and tap it again to take the report back if you misheard.

Keep your microphone quiet during their turn. Shouting answers for the other team is the quickest way to start an argument, and it spoils the guessing for the players who are meant to be racing the clock.

• Waiting for certainty before typing anything.
• Repeating a guess that a teammate already tried.
• Talking over the describer while they are giving a clue.
• Arguing about a clue mid-turn instead of guessing.
• Sticking with one idea after the describer has clearly said no.

Fix these habits and your team will guess more words per turn, even with the same describers and the same word pack.