🔥 Hot or Cold

How to play Hot or Cold

Each round one player becomes the word holder: they take the phone, look at the secret word without showing anyone, and turn the screen away. Everyone else guesses in turn. After each guess the word holder taps one of the five buttons on screen: Freezing, Cold, Warm, Hot, or On fire. The meter slides from blue to red, so the whole room can see how close the last guess landed. When someone says the word, the holder hits "Got it!", picks the winner from the list, and the point is recorded.

How closeness is measured

You are judging meaning, not spelling. If the secret word is "lighthouse", then "lamp" is warm, "coast" is hot, and "table" is freezing. The word holder's only real job is to stay consistent; change the yardstick halfway through and the round falls apart. Guessers should follow the meter instead of shouting random words: if the temperature drops, back up and try a different direction.

Points and turns

Whoever names the word takes a point. The word holder rotates every round, so everyone gets to do both jobs. The scoreboard stays on screen. You can put a 60 or 120 second clock on a round if you like; if time runs out, nobody scores. Groups who would rather play without the pressure can just leave the timer off.

Variations

With two players, take turns holding the word and count how many guesses each of you needed; fewest guesses overall wins. In a big group, split into teams, give each team 60 seconds, and score a point for every word cracked in time. To make it much harder, allow only "Freezing" and "On fire" and throw the three middle answers away.

Hot or Cold is a free group game that turns a crowded living room into a game table in about two minutes. No sign-up, no setup: open it in one phone's browser and make sure nobody but the word holder sees the screen.