The free odd one out word game Odd One Out

How to play Odd One Out

You need 3 to 12 people and one phone, and the whole game comes down to one question: who is different? Here's the twist that sets it apart from most hidden-role games: the odd one out doesn't know they're the odd one out. Everyone thinks they have the normal word until the clues start to feel a little off.

1. 1Pick a word-pair pack: Food, Animals, Places, Things, Activities or Mixed. Choose 1 odd one out, or 2 if you have 7 or more players.
2. 2Pass the phone around. Each player taps to see their word in private, then hands it on.
3. 3Most players get the same word. One gets a similar word, like “tea” when everyone else has “coffee.” Nobody is told which group they're in.
4. 4Going around the circle, each player gives a one-sentence clue about their word. Don't say the word itself.
5. 5Go around a second time. By now, somebody's clues probably don't quite fit.
6. 6Vote on who you think has the odd word. Then tap Reveal to see both words and who had the odd one.

A sample round: most players have “coffee,” one has “tea.” Clues go around: “I need it every morning.” “It's better hot.” Then the tea player says, “I like it with a little honey.” Nobody is sure. On the second lap someone says, “The smell fills the whole kitchen,” and the tea player starts to wonder if the odd one is them.

Odd One Out word pairs

Each pair is two words that are close but not the same. Pick Food, Animals, Places, Things or Activities, or play Mixed to draw from every pack. In each pair, one word goes to most of the group and the other goes to the odd one out. Every pair is family-friendly.

Odd ones, the blank twist and winning

With 3 to 6 players, one odd one out is enough. From 7 players up you can add a second. Now two clues might sound slightly wrong, and the group has to decide whether it's hearing a pattern or just a couple of clumsy clues.

The blank twist is optional. Turn it on and the odd one out gets no word at all, so they know right away they have to bluff. That makes it play like our Imposter game, which is a nice change of pace when your group wants a clear liar to hunt.

Deciding who wins is up to you. A simple way: if the vote lands on the odd one out, everyone else wins the round. If it lands on anyone else, the odd one wins. Some groups add a house rule where a caught odd one out gets one guess at the majority word to steal the round.

Tips for clues and votes

• Remember that you might be the odd one. Before you speak, think about which similar word someone else could have.
• Keep your first clue broad. Get more specific on the second lap, once you've heard everyone.
• Avoid clues that fit only your exact word. If you are the odd one, a super-specific clue gives you away instantly.
• Listen for clues that almost fit. “Almost” is where the odd one hides.
• If you start to suspect you're the odd one, quietly steer your next clue toward what the others seem to describe.
• Don't vote for the quietest person by default. The odd one is often the most confident player at the table, because they don't know yet.

Ways to play

Where Odd One Out works best

It works anywhere a group can sit in a circle and talk: a party, a family dinner, a sleepover, a campfire. It's quiet, it needs nothing but one phone, and a round takes a few minutes.

It's a great next step for groups that already know Imposter and want something sneakier. Since nobody knows their role, even experienced players can't plan a bluff ahead of time. Word lovers enjoy it too, because the pairs make you think hard about what really separates two similar things.

Teachers can use it for vocabulary practice in a small group of up to 12 at one tablet. It won't work on a projector, because each player's word is secret. Describing a word in one sentence and catching small differences in meaning is a good workout for language learners. When you want a change, ManyMini has more games for the same phone.

Where this word game comes from

The two-word idea is popular in East Asia. In Japan, a game called Word Wolf has players chat about a topic while one of them secretly holds a different word. Its creator, Shin Kawasaki, first posted the rules on his blog in 2003, and it came out in print in 2012. In China, a version called Who Is the Undercover became widely known, helped by celebrity rounds on the TV variety show Happy Camp.

Odd One Out is our own free take on that classic idea. It has no connection to any of those games, shows or apps. The word pairs are ours, and it runs in any browser with no download and no account.

Questions