Fool the Bot FAQ

A party game of secret messages, played as the table vs the bot. Each round, one player, the sender, gets a secret word and has to get it across to their friends by drawing it or writing clues. Everyone else at the table and an AI race to crack it.

No. Fool the Bot runs in your browser and you play anonymously. Open the link, pick a name and an avatar, and you're in.

A live room takes 2 to 6 players, each on their own device. Playing alone? Send a challenge instead.

Drawing is one of the two ways to send a message, and the other is writing clues. Both are equal. The game is about getting a secret word across to people who know you, in a way the bot can't read.

Whoever gives the first correct answer. If a player cracks it first, the table wins the round. If the bot does, the bot wins it. If nobody cracks it in time, nobody scores.

Tap "Got it!" the moment you know. You get 15 seconds to type on a separate screen, and the drawing or clues are hidden while you type. A wrong answer sends you back to watching, with a 2-second wait before your next tap.

Send what only your friends would get: inside jokes, shared references, a place you've all been, the way a friend says something. Come at the word from an unusual angle. Avoid the most obvious picture or the dictionary definition, because that's exactly what the bot is waiting for.

The secret word, with some leeway: small spelling slips, missing accents, plurals and accepted synonyms all count. Related but different words don't, so car won't crack truck. The bot's guesses go through the same judge.

Clues can't contain the secret word or any form of it, including plurals, possessives, gendered forms, compounds or spelling it out letter by letter. They also can't speak to the AI. Clues that clearly break this are blocked before anyone sees them.

If you drop out, rejoin from the same browser and you'll get your seat back. Someone who joins after the game started watches until the next game. If the sender drops mid-round, their turn ends and the game moves on.

It watches the same screen you do, the drawing or the clues as they come in, and keeps guessing. It also sees every wrong guess made so far, its own and the players', so it never repeats one.

Never. It has to work the word out from the message, just like your friends. Its guesses are checked by the same judge as yours.

Because it's a race, and every guess is shown live to everyone, the players' and the bot's. The bot's wrong guesses are hints for you too, and yours are hints for it. Watch what it rules out, and think before you throw a wild guess its way.

Your tap time is what counts. If you tapped "Got it!" before the bot's correct guess and your answer is right, the table wins the round. If your answer is wrong, the bot's correct guess wins it.

There are two scores, the table's and the bot's. Whoever wins the round takes points by speed: 10 for an instant crack, sliding down to 5 at the buzzer. Nobody in time means nobody scores.

No. It's the table vs the bot: players play together as one team, and the sender wins with the table, so the best message is easy for your friends and hard for the bot. The final screen also shows who cracked how many, just for fun.

A short reveal: the word, who won the race and when, the points, and every wrong guess. Then the scoreboard, Table vs Bot. Everyone takes a turn as sender the same number of times.

Choose Send a Challenge, get a secret word, send it as a drawing in 30 seconds or as a few written clues, then share the private short link. It's your friend vs the bot: the message replays at its real pace, the bot guesses on the same clock, and the first correct answer wins, with the same speed points.

Yes. Write a few clues and your friend sees them appear one by one at the real pace, just as if you were sending them live, with the bot racing them the whole way.

Yes. Each person gets their own separate attempt. Afterwards they can play together with you or challenge you back.

Yes. Both ways of sending and challenges are free, with a starter set of 18 words.

The host pass unlocks hundreds of words for rooms you host. For what it costs and how long it lasts, see Pricing.

No. Only the host needs a pass. Everyone who joins plays the full word list for free.

See the Refund Policy for the details.

Current versions of Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Edge on computers, Safari on iPhone and iPad, and Chrome on Android. You can play in English or Hebrew, with full right-to-left support for Hebrew.

You play anonymously, and a cookie keeps your seat in a room. Drawings, clues and guesses are sent to AI providers so the bot can guess and the judge can check answers. Analytics run only with your consent where that's required. The Privacy Policy has the details.