The Telepathy Game: 200 Prompts, Full Rules and a Host Script — for Work, School, Couples, Big Groups and Online

The telepathy game — ishin-denshin in Japanese, sometimes called the unanimous-answer game — is the strongest communication game that needs no equipment: everyone writes an answer to the same prompt without conferring, reveals on “three”, and the round succeeds if everyone matches. It works as a workshop icebreaker, on school trips, at parties and between two people killing time.

This guide is written so you can run the game today: rules and a host script, difficulty tuning, an online setup, and 200 prompts sorted by category. Every prompt follows the “three to ten plausible answers” formula, so they work as they are. At the end we cover the modern version where you answer with a drawing and an app scores how much the two drawings overlap.

The basic rules (explainable in one minute)

1. The host reads a prompt, e.g. “name a sandwich filling.”
2. Players write an answer without conferring — paper, whiteboard or a phone note — within 10–30 seconds.
3. Everyone reveals on “three.”
4. A unanimous match succeeds. In big groups, score the number of matching players instead.
5. Ten prompts; count successes or points.

Only two things are banned: conferring and steering (“we're all writing pizza, right?”). Keep those two rules and it becomes a genuine guessing game about what everyone else is most likely to think of.

Three scoring variants

A host script you can read aloud

1. Intro (20 s): “We're playing the telepathy game. I'll read a prompt; without talking, write what you think everyone will answer. If we all match, we win. There are no right answers.”
2. Practice round: “Practice: name a red fruit… ready? Three, two, one — reveal.” → “Four apples. That's a match.”
3. Main game: “Ten prompts, twenty seconds each.” → for each: “Prompt: … Twenty seconds… five, four, three, two, one, reveal.”
4. On a miss: always ask one person “why that?” — it's the best part.
5. Close: end on an easy prompt (“something that says sun”) so the last round is a unanimous win.

The prompt formula: three to ten plausible answers

Prompt quality decides ninety percent of the fun. A good prompt has three to ten plausible answers.

• One or two answers (“how many days in a week?”) → matching is trivial, no fun
• Three to ten (“a sandwich filling” → ham, cheese, tuna, egg, chicken…) → ideal; both matches and misses happen
• Unlimited (“your favorite word?”) → nobody matches, though it works for the minority variant

Second trick: replace the subject with something the group actually shares — “this company's claim to fame”, “a dish from the restaurant we just left”. Match rates rise and the laughs become in-jokes.

Tuning difficulty

200 prompts by category

Difficulty runs ★ (easy match) to ★★★ (splits easily). Start with ★.

Classics and food (30) ★

• A sandwich filling
• An ingredient in curry
• A type of sushi
• A red fruit
• A yellow food
• A classic breakfast
• A dish that tastes like home
• Something you buy at a convenience store
• A kind of bread
• An ice-cream flavor
• Something in a hot pot
• A picnic food
• Fair food
• Something to eat in summer
• Something to eat in winter
• A snack
• A fast-food chain
• The first order at a bar
• A birthday cake
• A vending-machine drink
• A café order
• A type of noodle
• A rice bowl
• A lunchbox side
• The most popular school lunch
• The first cut you order at a BBQ
• A pasta dish
• A traditional sweet
• A midnight craving
• A souvenir food

Animals and nature (20) ★

• The most popular animal at the zoo
• An animal to keep as a pet
• A sea creature
• Something that flies
• An insect
• A fast animal
• A big animal
• A cute animal
• A winter animal
• A flower
• A spring flower
• A tree
• A famous mountain
• A famous river
• A constellation
• A kind of weather
• Something you carry on a rainy day
• Something that says summer
• An autumn flavor
• Something to do when it snows

Daily life (25) ★★

• How to spend a day off
• The first thing you do in the morning
• The last thing you do before bed
• Something always in your fridge
• Something always in your bag
• The worst appliance to have break
• Your most-used app
• The most annoying chore
• The thing you lose most often
• A Monday-morning thought
• A Friday-night plan
• The king of convenience-store desserts
• Something you buy at a dollar store
• Something you always pack for a trip
• Something you do on the commute
• A song you sing in the shower
• Something you do when you can't sleep
• The first thing you'd buy with a lottery win
• One item for a desert island
• Your favorite season
• Your signature dish
• The chore you avoid
• What you're saving for
• The most expensive thing in your room
• The guiltiest late-night snack

Hobbies and culture (20) ★★

• A popular sport
• An Olympic event
• A musical instrument
• A karaoke classic
• A Studio Ghibli film
• A famous animated series
• A theme park
• A theme-park ride
• A board game
• A New Year's game
• A mobile game
• A travel destination
• A country to visit
• A hot-spring town
• A tourist spot in your country
• A World Heritage site
• A famous painter
• A classical composer
• Something you eat at the cinema
• A comic-book hero

Work and training (25) ★★

• A skill every professional needs
• A trait of an ideal boss
• Something that goes wrong in meetings
• A rookie mistake
• This company's claim to fame
• Our team in one word
• The most productive hour of the day
• Something always on your desk
• A go-to lunch
• An office annoyance
• The best thing about remote work
• A stock phrase in emails
• A cause of overtime
• A moment that boosts motivation
• Something to look forward to after work
• Something you want to learn in training
• This company's strength
• The best thing a customer can say
• What a team needs most
• The most important part of reporting
• Something this company should have in five years
• The most popular person in the office
• A good restaurant near the office
• A year-end party act
• Today's training in one word

School and kids (20) ★

• A favorite color
• A favorite subject
• The best school lunch
• A sports-day event
• Something to bring on a field trip
• A piece of stationery
• A favorite place at school
• A recess game
• A summer-holiday assignment
• Something teachers always say
• A dream job
• A birthday present
• Playground equipment
• Something that says New Year
• Something that says Christmas
• Something that says Halloween
• A fast animal in a race
• A book to borrow from the library
• A trait of the most popular kid
• A school-trip destination

Couples (25) ★★★

Write your prediction of your partner's answer and it becomes a how-well-do-you-know-me game.

• Your partner's favorite food
• Something your partner dislikes
• The first place you went together
• Your partner's current obsession
• Your partner's catchphrase
• A trip you'd both like
• What your partner does before bed
• How your partner spends a day off
• Your partner's most-used emoji
• Something always in your partner's bag
• Your partner's childhood dream job
• Your song
• Your partner's tell when annoyed
• Your partner's morning drink
• What to do on your next anniversary
• Your partner's lock screen
• Your partner's karaoke go-to
• Your partner's most treasured object
• One thing you have in common
• Your partner as an animal
• The ideal day off
• The next date spot
• A dish you want your partner to cook
• Your partner's favorite season
• Your relationship in one word

Big groups and parties (20) ★★

“Who here is most…” prompts — reveal by pointing.

• Who here wakes up earliest?
• Who here is the best cook?
• Who here has the worst sense of direction?
• Who here sings best?
• Who here is most likely to be late?
• Who here will marry first?
• Who here is luckiest?
• Who here is most like a dog?
• Who here is most like a cat?
• Who here will be rich?
• Tonight's host in one word
• One word for the guest of honor
• Where should we all go together?
• What does everyone want to eat right now?
• The date of our next get-together
• The last dish of the night
• The most expensive thing in this room
• Today's weather in one word
• One thing everyone has in common
• Tonight in one word

Seasons and events (15) ★

• Something to bring to a picnic under the blossoms
• A long-weekend plan
• Something that says rainy season
• Something that says summer festival
• Fireworks-night food
• A summer-holiday tradition
• An autumn-leaves spot
• A Halloween costume
• A Christmas present
• Something to do at year end
• A New Year's dish
• A New Year's visit
• Something that says Valentine's
• A graduation song
• Something to buy for a new apartment

Drawing prompts (20) — where matching becomes a gradient

Answer with a drawing instead of a word. Perfect matches almost never happen, so every round is about where you differed.

• Circle
• Star
• Heart
• Triangle
• Square
• Moon
• House
• Flower
• Sun
• Tree
• Fish
• Umbrella
• Crown
• Butterfly
• Cat face
• Rocket
• Birthday cake
• Snowman
• Apple
• Glasses

By group size

Two players

Unanimity is too easy with two, so play streak mode (how many in a row?) or three answers (three points for three matches). And the variation only two people can pull off: drawing. A drawing carries more information, so agreement becomes a gradient instead of hit-or-miss (see below).

Four to eight

The sweet spot. Majority scoring gives every round drama, and revealing on held-up whiteboards or sketchbooks gets the laugh the instant answers appear.

Ten or more (parties, classrooms, training)

Teams of four. The host reads to the room; a fully matching team scores. Team-versus-team naturally produces cheers from the matching team and “how?!” from the rest. Ten prompts, 20–30 minutes.

Playing online (Zoom, video calls)

1. Type answers in chat but hold the send until the host's signal so they appear together.
2. Or write on paper and hold it up to the camera — better for small groups.
3. The host shares one prompt per slide.
4. The chat log doubles as the score sheet.

For drawing rounds, an app that links two phones with a 4-digit passcode and reveals only when both have submitted (the MindMatch app below) recreates “three, two, one” across a call.

Apps that run the game online

Workshops and team building: debrief questions

The game earns its place in training because it makes “my normal isn't your normal” visceral in five minutes. Debrief with these and an icebreaker becomes a lesson.

• Which prompts matched and which split? Was it the number of candidates, or whether we shared the experience?
• Was there a prompt where you were sure there was only one answer?
• What do we assume “goes without saying” at work — and does it?
• What would we need to share up front to raise our team's match rate?

Common failures and fixes

Telepathy in pictures — the version that scores your match

The word game's weakness is that answers are binary. Drawing fixes it: give both players “house”, and even two triangle-on-square houses differ in chimney and stroke order. You see how much you matched, not just whether.

The iPhone app MindMatch turns this into a one-phone game: Player 1 draws, the handoff screen hides it, Player 2 draws, reveal together. Five dimensions — shape, placement, orientation, stroke, rhythm — are scored out of 100 and one of 69 verdicts names the pair. Two-device mode links phones with a 4-digit passcode for remote simultaneous reveals.

Where the game comes from

Ishin-denshin is a Zen term for transmitting truth from mind to mind without words. As a game it spread through Japanese variety television in the 1990s as a unanimous-answer quiz and became a fixture of school trips, camps, parties and corporate training. Similar games exist everywhere — telepathy, mind meld, the Korean 이심전심 게임. No equipment, one-line rules, any number of players: that's why it has lasted thirty years.

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