Common threads

This is a small game that has turned out to be a solid way to spend a spare 30 minutes with a few friends. It’s conversational, casual, and extremely low-stakes; not too different from I Spy.

How to play

One player thinks of two seemingly unrelated things and a trait they have in common or a tenuous connection that makes them somehow similar. They then prompt everyone else with these two things, and the first person to guess the correct common thread wins. Note that the crowd may come up with many common threads (this is part of the fun!), but play continues until you correctly guess what the original prompter had in mind.

In practice, common threads tend to land somewhere between trivia and punch lines, and leave a lot of room for creativity. The quality and type of common threads will vary greatly across different groups with different social vibes.

Some examples from my play sessions:

• Tropic Thunder and Scientology: Tom Cruise
• Boats and rope: knots
• A bench and a surgeon: they can both support a family

You can choose to keep score or not, and you can pass control around as you see fit. Don’t overthink it, unless you’re prompting, in which case please overthink it.

Some variants

Cooperative mode: Rather than having one correct answer, start with a random prompt and see how many you can come up with as a group.

Time trials: First answer (or first answer that makes a pre-selected judge crack a smile) wins.

Quality assurance: Everyone submits an answer, anonymously, in writing. The judge then picks their favorite.

Last person standing: After the prompt is given, players take turns coming up with common threads. If a player can’t come up with one (or one that the crowd approves of) within 10-15 seconds, they’re out until next round. Last player remaining wins.