Groupthink shows you sixteen words in a grid and tells you nothing else. They belong to four hidden groups of four, and your job is to find the groups rather than the words. The difficulty is deliberate overlap: several words look like they fit a group they do not belong to, and four mistakes ends the day.
How to play Groupthink
Tap four tiles you think belong together, then press Submit.
A correct group locks to the top of the grid with its category written out and a colour showing how hard it was meant to be — yellow easiest, then green, then blue, with purple the trickiest.
A wrong group shakes the grid and costs you one of four mistakes; the dots under the board show how many you have spent.
If exactly three of your four belonged to one group, the board tells you so with "one away" — a strong clue that one word is doing a second job.
Shuffle rearranges only the tiles you have not solved yet, and Deselect clears your current four.
The hint solves the easiest group still on the board outright. You get one per puzzle, and it is only offered while at least two groups remain.
Once three groups are down the fourth resolves itself, and finishing with no mistakes is recorded as a clean solve.
"One away" tells you which word is lying
You see ORANGE, PLUM, LEMON and PEACH and submit them as fruits. The board says one away. That means exactly three of those four share a group — and the odd one out is almost certainly ORANGE, because it is the only one that also reads as a colour. Swap it for the fruit you had dismissed, DATE, and the group lands, which simultaneously tells you ORANGE belongs to a colours group with VIOLET, ROSE and JADE. A single "one away" resolved two of the four groups.
Groupthink strategy
Do not submit the first four you see
The obvious group is the trap. Puzzles are built so that four or five words plausibly fit an easy category and only four of them actually do, with the extra ones belonging to the purple group. Before submitting, count how many tiles could belong to your category — if it is five, you don't know the group yet.
Look for the sixteenth word first
Find the one or two tiles that fit nowhere obvious. They are the purple group's anchors, and identifying them is usually easier than identifying the group itself. Once you have a word that plainly belongs to none of the three easy categories, the three tiles that join it are the ones nobody else wanted.
Sort by category, not by tile
Ask what four categories a setter would build from these sixteen words rather than which four words look similar. Hidden structures repeat: words that all precede or follow the same word, all the same thing with a letter added, all anagrams of something, all homophones. Naming the category makes the fourth member obvious.
Spend mistakes on information, not on hope
You have four, and a wrong submission where three words are right is worth far more than one where two are. If you are going to guess, guess a set you are three-quarters sure of, so "one away" hands you a usable fact. A scattergun submission that is two away tells you nothing and costs the same.
Use the hint on the easy group to starve the hard one
The hint always solves the easiest remaining group, which is the group you least needed help with — but removing four tiles from the grid also removes them from every wrong theory you might form about the purple group. When the tricky group has you stuck, clearing the clutter is more useful than it sounds.
Frequently asked questions
How many mistakes can I make in Groupthink?
Four. Each wrong set of four costs one, and the fourth ends the round and reveals all four groups.
What does "one away" mean?
Three of the four tiles you submitted belong to the same group, and one does not. It tells you a group is nearly right without telling you which word is wrong.
What do the colours on a solved group mean?
They rank intended difficulty: yellow is the easiest group, then green, then blue, and purple is the trickiest — usually the one built out of a hidden wordplay rule.
Do I get a hint?
One per puzzle, and it solves the easiest group still unsolved for you. It is unavailable once only one group is left, because the board would resolve itself anyway.
Do I have to find all four groups?
You only have to find three. Once three are locked in, the last four tiles can only be the fourth group, so the board completes itself.
Is there a new puzzle every day?
Yes, one a day, the same grid for everyone, and one attempt at it. It is free and there is no sign-up — your progress, including how you left the tiles arranged, is saved in your own browser. Previous days and their groups are in the Groupthink archive.