One long word on every phone, and a countdown to find as many smaller words inside it as you can. Longer finds are worth more.
The letters round from every teatime quiz show, played by everyone at once instead of one contestant at a time. Nobody has to wait their turn.
FACILITATOR
Only the letters in the word above. Keep them coming until the clock stops.
What a player is looking at, mid-round.
What actually happens
FACILITATOR appears on every device and the clock starts. Three-letter words come in first: cat, far, art, lot. Then the longer ones: facto, ratio, trial.
Somebody lands AIRCRAFT with two seconds left and the room reacts. Even the people who did not get it are impressed.
The reveal shows every word that counted and how many each person found. The board updates. The next main word is harder.
The rules
Players see one main word on their devices
Form as many smaller valid words as you can using only the letters in that word
Enter each word on your device before the timer ends
When the round ends, the accepted words are revealed
A live leaderboard tracks your score across all rounds
Score points by finding accepted sub-words. Longer matched words contribute more to your round score, and the highest total score across all rounds wins!
While you host
Once Sub words is running, the scoring, the leaderboard, and the ending are handled. You get to be in the room instead of behind a spreadsheet.
Leaderboard
Round 6 of 10
Final podium
Beth
1,080
Fola
1,240
Idris
940
Final scores after six rounds
A code goes on your screen. People point a camera at it, type a name, and they are in. No app, no accounts, no one asking what the wifi password is.
Answers are marked as they land and the board updates between rounds. You are not holding a clipboard, and nobody is arguing about who said it first.
Top three on the big screen at the end, and every player gets their own result card on their phone that they can save or send to the group chat.
The same session works with everyone around one table, everyone on a video call, or half and half. Nobody has to be in the right place to join in.
Where Sub words shines
Brand activation
A brand at a conference sets the main word to its own product name. Delegates compete to find sub-words while the brand's colours and name sit on the screen the entire time. Engagement gets measured in ten-minute sessions per person rather than a glance at a banner.
Quiet office
A team that would rather not do Charades plays this on a Friday afternoon instead. Quiet, focused, competitive without anybody having to stand up. The leaderboard supplies the energy and everyone goes home happy.
Classroom
A primary teacher builds sets from the weekly spelling words and plays five minutes at the end of the day. Students compete for the top spot. Spelling scores go up the following term.
Make it yours
Set the main word yourself and the whole round points at whatever you want it to point at.
Use the product name as the main word. People stare at it for a full round while trying to take it apart.
The couple's surname, or the birthday guest's full name. It is a soft, quiet round that suits the bit of the evening after the food.
This week's list, one word per round. Students get competitive about spelling, which is not a sentence teachers get to say often.
No shouting, no crosstalk, no accents to mishear. Sub-Words is the one word game that loses nothing over a video call.
How Sub-Words plays
Run a ready-made set, set your own main word, or play in teams for a completely different kind of energy.
People point their camera at the code on your screen, type a name, and they are playing. Nothing to download, nothing to sign up for, and it works the same whether they are in the room with you or dialled in from three time zones away.
Best for: virtual sessions, hybrid offsites, and any crowd big enough that you want everyone answering at once.
Split the room into colour-coded teams. A team huddles, argues, and sends one answer. You can also let every member answer for their team if you would rather nobody sits out.
Best for: in-person offsites, weddings, and family gatherings, where you want people talking to each other instead of into their phones.
Open the Playground and type your own questions, or upload a spreadsheet of them. Your company's acronyms, the couple's first date, the group chat's running joke. Save the set and run it again whenever you need it.
Best for: facilitators, community managers, MCs, and brand teams who want the round to be about the people in the room.
Offline · Coming soon
For groups that want to play without phones. Coming soon: the main word on one screen, each team shouting out finds while you score them, and the board updating between teams.
Ready to run
Someone has already done the setup. Pick one, share the code, and you are hosting in a couple of minutes.
