Common Ground
Think like a stranger: ten prompts, one stranger, how many answers match?
- Round
- 2 minutes
- Scoring
- Crowd game
- Works on
- Mobile & desktop
- Category
- Casual
Common Ground controls: Type or tap the keys · Enter sends. Press Play, then the game takes the keyboard. Press Tab to leave it.
Free play · 2 minutes · no sign-in
Type or tap the keys · Enter sends
How to play Common Ground
Read the prompt on the postcard: ten arrive every day, the same for everyone.
Type the first answer that comes to mind (or tap the on-screen keys). Three labels suggest answers as you go.
Press Enter or tap a label to send it before the ten-second postmark runs out. Enter on an empty line skips.
After ten prompts, watch your postcard meet a stranger's: every matching answer lights up in red.
Read what most people said to each prompt, then tap to finish and share how many you matched.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Touch: tap the on-screen keys | Type your answer; SKIP passes, SEND sends |
| Touch: tap a label | Send that suggested answer |
| Touch: tap the finished card | Finish the day's postcard |
| Mouse: click the keys and labels | The same as on a phone |
| Letters, Space, Backspace | Type and correct your answer |
| Enter | Send the highlighted label (or your own words); skip an empty line; finish |
| 1, 2, 3 | Send the first, second or third label |
Tips
Go with your first thought. The obvious answer is the one a stranger is most likely to give too, and the ten-second postmark is there to stop you from being clever.
Think about the most famous example, not your favourite: for a famous Steve, the stranger is probably not thinking of your uncle's favourite actor.
Use the labels. They suggest answers from the list as soon as you type two letters, so a quick tap is faster than finishing the word and avoids typos that would not match.
Watch the "most said" line under each row after the reveal. Over a few days you learn how the crowd thinks, and your matches go up.
Answers outside the list are allowed but can never match anyone, so if a label offers what you meant, take it.
About Common Ground
Common Ground is a free online mind meld game about one question: do you think like everyone else? Each day brings ten quick prompts, the same for every player: Something yellow. A famous Steve. Something you find in a junk drawer. You type the first thing that comes to mind, and when your ten are in, your postcard is matched against a random stranger who answered the same ten earlier today. Every answer you both gave is common ground. Banana and banana? A match. Steve Jobs and Steve Martin? Not this time. It is a think alike game for coffee breaks and group chats, it runs in your browser with no download, and a whole day takes about a minute, which makes it one of our favourite quick games.
The whole game is an airmail postcard. Each prompt is written on the card under "Dear stranger,", a round postmark counts down ten seconds, and you type your answer on the line. As you type, three address labels suggest answers from the prompt's list, and Enter sends the highlighted one, so "ban" becomes banana and "jobs" becomes Steve Jobs. Spellings, plurals and synonyms fold together, which means "bananas", "Banana" and "banana" all count as the same answer, and so do sofa and couch where they mean the same thing. If you type something the list does not know, you keep it: it is written on your card as your own answer, just for you, and it is never shown to anyone else.
Then comes the best part. Your postcard is posted and a stranger's comes back, laid out side by side: ten rows, your answers on the left and theirs on the right. Every row where you match with a stranger lights up with a red airmail band and a wax seal, and a stamp slams down with your score: "Matched 7/10". Under each row you also see what most people said today ("most said banana · 41%"), and the end card tells you how your pair compares with everyone else's. Early in the day, before twenty people have played, you meet the house player instead, the Postmaster, and your postcard waits for the strangers who come after you.
Common Ground has no leaderboard and no ranked play, because the result depends on someone else's answers: it is a crowd game, built for the moment of "no way, they said that too". The share button turns your day into a short line with a row of squares, like a daily puzzle result, so you can see whether your friends meet stranger after stranger on the same wavelength. The prompts are original, family-friendly and harmless, with around 150 of them in rotation, from colours, snacks and pets to cartoon dogs, famous Toms and excuses for being late. It is great for anyone who loves a great minds think alike moment, and it sits well among our casual games for adults and casual games.
It plays the same on every screen. On a phone, tap the letters of the on-screen keyboard and tap a label to send it; on a computer, just type, press Enter to send the highlighted label or the number keys 1, 2 and 3 to pick one, and Enter on an empty line skips a prompt. You will find it among our mobile games, PC games and keyboard games.
Details
- Category
- Casual Games
- Tags
- Genre
- Casual
- Orientation
- Portrait (9:16)
- Works on
- Mobile & desktopPhones, tablets and computers
- Controls
- Keyboard, mouse or touch
- Released
- Updated
- Credits
- Design and development: Gamefinity
- Age rating
- 4+
Common Ground FAQ
How long does a game of Common Ground take?
About a minute: ten prompts with a ten-second clock each, then a short reveal of your postcard next to a stranger's. Ten new prompts arrive every day at midnight UTC.
Who is the stranger?
A random player who answered the same ten prompts earlier today. You only ever see their answers from the game's list, never a name or anything they typed themselves, and all ten of your rows are matched against the same person.
How is the score calculated?
One point for every prompt where you and the stranger gave the same answer, out of ten. Spellings, plurals and synonyms count as the same answer. The game's own score only counts the prompts you answered, and there is no leaderboard, because the result depends on someone else.
What happens if my answer is not in the list?
You keep it. It is written on your card marked as not in our list, just for you: it is never sent to anyone and it cannot match a stranger. Pick a suggested label when it says what you meant.
Who is the Postmaster?
The house player. Before twenty people have played a day's prompts there are not enough strangers yet, so the Postmaster answers instead with common answers, and your postcard waits to meet later players.
Can I play Common Ground on my phone?
Yes. It is built for phones held upright: tap the letters of the on-screen keyboard and tap a label to send it. On a computer you can simply type.
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