Mind Dial

about this tool

How to play

Mind Dial is a party game of clues and guesses for two to twenty people round one phone. Each turn, one player is the giver. The phone goes to them alone, and the page shows them a card with two opposite ends — Cold and Hot, Useless and Useful, Villain and Hero — and a target hidden somewhere on a half-circle dial between the two. The giver thinks of one clue that sits at that spot: if the target is three-quarters of the way towards Hot, "a cup of tea" might do; right at the Hot end, "the sun". They type the clue to show the table, or keep it to say out loud, and hide the target.

Everyone else talks it over and turns the dial — drag the needle, tap where it should point, or nudge it a degree at a time — to where they think the clue puts the target, then locks it in. Then the target is shown, with the needle on top of it.

The giver changes every turn, round the table in the order the names were typed, and a card is never dealt twice in a game until all of them have been. A card the giver cannot think of anything for can be swapped for a different one before they hide it; the target stays where it was.

Scoring

The target is five bands, each seven degrees of the dial's 180, worth 2, 3, 4, 3 and 2 points from one side to the other:

• 4 points — a bullseye, the needle in the middle band.
• 3 points — close, in a band either side.
• 2 points — near, in an outer band.
• No points — anywhere else on the dial.

The target is drawn at random, before anything on the page moves, with the same fair draw as the dice roller: every spot on the dial is as likely as any other, the very ends included. A target near an end has some of its bands off the edge of the dial, which makes it harder to hit.

Rate it

The second way to play a card turns the game round. Instead of a hidden target, the giver is handed a thing to rate — pizza, camping, spiders, the beach, singing in the shower — on a scale that suits it, such as Hate it to Love it or Boring to Fun. They set the dial in secret where they honestly rate it, and lock it in. Then the rest guess their rating: nobody gives a clue, since everyone already knows the thing, and the game is in how well you know the person holding the phone. It is scored exactly like a clue.

Together or in two teams

Together, everyone is on one side: the giver changes each round and the score is the table's, out of four points a round, over as many rounds as you choose. At the end the page says how in tune you were.

In two teams, the names are split in the order you typed them, every other name on the other team, so sit round the table alternately and type the names in seat order. A coin toss decides which team goes first, and the other team starts on 1 point to make up for going second. Teams take turns, each going round its own players as the giver. After a team locks its needle, the other team calls whether the target is left or right of it, and a right call scores them 1 point — so a team can score on the other team's turn. A bullseye leaves nothing to call: when the needle lands in the middle band, the other team's call scores nothing, whichever way it went.

The first team to reach 10 points, or the number you set, and be ahead wins. If both pass it together level, play goes on until one leads. And a team that scores a bullseye but is still behind takes another turn straight away, which keeps a game from running away from one side.

The cards

There are well over a hundred scales between two everyday ends, written to work for anyone, anywhere: hot and cold, cheap and expensive, rare and common, bad gift and great gift, villain and hero. For Rate it there are over a hundred things in six kinds — food, things to do, places, everyday objects, animals and habits — each on a scale that fits it, so a card never asks how spicy a holiday is.

On one phone, and nothing saved

The game is built for a phone passed round: big buttons, a screen that ignores the second tap of a double tap so nobody skips past the giver's secret, and a way to unlock a needle locked by mistake before the other team calls. The dial works with a thumb, a mouse or the keyboard — arrow keys move it a degree, Page Up and Page Down ten — and a screen reader hears where it sits between the two ends. The target swings into place and is uncovered with a short movement that is skipped when reduced motion is turned on, and it is never in the page until the person meant to see it opens it.

Nothing is stored or sent: the game lives in this page until you leave or reload it. Most desktop and Android browsers ask before a reload throws a game away; iPhones and links to other pages do not, so finish the game first. For a game of secret words instead, Undercover is played on one phone passed round too.

questions

How do you play Mind Dial?

Each turn one player, the giver, holds the phone alone. The page shows them a card with two opposite ends — Cold and Hot, say — and a target hidden somewhere on a half-circle dial between them. They give one clue that sits at that spot: if the target is three-quarters of the way to Hot, "a cup of tea" might do. The rest talk it over, turn the dial to where they think the target is and lock it in, and the target is shown.

How does the scoring work?

The target is five bands, each seven degrees of the 180-degree dial: a needle in the middle band scores 4, either side of it 3, and the outer bands 2. Anywhere else scores nothing. In two teams, once a team locks its needle the other team calls whether the target is left or right of it, and a right call is worth 1 point — unless the needle hit the bullseye, which leaves nothing to call.

What is the rate it mode?

Instead of a hidden target and a clue, the giver is handed a thing to rate — pizza, camping, spiders, singing in the shower — on a scale such as Hate it to Love it, and sets the dial in secret where they honestly rate it. Everyone else then guesses their rating, and it is scored the same way. It is a quick way to find out how well a table knows each other.

Can we play in teams?

Yes. Choose two teams and the names are split in the order you typed them, every other name on the other team. A coin toss decides which team goes first, and the other team starts on 1 point to make up for it. Teams take turns, each going round its own players as the giver, and the first team to 10 points — or the number you set — that is ahead wins. A team that scores a bullseye while still behind goes again at once.

How many players do we need?

Two or more to play together, where everyone guesses every card and the score is the table’s, over 3 to 30 rounds. Four or more for two teams, so each team has someone to guess its own giver’s clue. Up to 20 can play on one phone.

Is anything saved or sent?

No. The targets are drawn in your browser with its cryptographic randomness, and the game lives only in this page: nothing is stored or sent, and a target is never in the page until the person meant to see it opens it, so a screen reader cannot read it out early. Reloading or leaving the page ends the game; most desktop and Android browsers ask before a reload, but iPhones and links to other pages do not.