How to play Tomojoo

Tomojoo is a word game where everyone plays on their own phone. The rule fits in one sentence: you have 30 seconds to change ONE letter of the word, then it’s the next player’s turn.

The rules in 1 minute

1. 30 seconds. When it’s your turn, the word appears and the countdown starts. Tap the letter to change, then the new letter.
2. Only one letter changes and the new word has to be a real word: CAT → COT → DOT → DOG. Plurals and verb forms count too.
3. Never the same word twice in a game, and never two turns in a row for the same person.
4. Take turns. Live, the word moves on to the next player by itself. All day or in a chain, the next player gets the link and has 24 hours to open it.
5. No word, you lose: nothing found in 30 seconds, or the link not opened in time. In a take-turns game, that player is out and the last one standing wins.
6. From 3 to 6 letters. You pick the difficulty when you start, and the starting word is random: no two games are ever the same.

What if no word can follow?

Don’t panic: Tomojoo restarts the chain with a new word, one letter longer. No moves left at 3 letters? The chain goes up to 4, then 5 and 6 letters. With more than 16,000 words, it can go on almost forever.

Hints and giving up

Stuck? The hint 💡 shows a letter you can change. And if you really can’t find anything, you can give up 🐱: the chain stops… and you’re the one who loses!

Take turns, live or on WhatsApp 👥

Choose “Live” or “All day” when you start, then send the link to your friends (2 to 12 players). Everyone opens it and enters their name: they all show up in the waiting room. When everyone’s there, the person who created the game taps “Let’s go!”. You play in the order you joined, round and round. Nothing in 30 seconds? You’re out 💀, next player. The last one standing wins 🏆.

Streaks 🔥 and shields 🛡️

Just like Snapchat streaks, every day the chain survives adds one more day to its streak. Every 10 days of streak, the chain earns a shield, for free and without lifting a finger. If someone forgets to play in time, a shield gets used up instead: the chain goes on, and that person gets the full time to play again. With no shield left, the chain is broken.

Four ways to play

Live: everyone opens the link at the same time, like Kahoot, and the word jumps from one phone to the next by itself. All day: the same take-turns game, in a WhatsApp group, with 24 hours per turn. Chain with friends: the word goes from hand to hand, to anyone you like. Solo: against the clock, on the play solo page. The longest games go up on the leaderboard.

Tips for finding the next word

• Change the vowels: BAG → BEG → BIG → BUG, or LOST → LAST.
• Change the first letter: that’s often where you have the most choice (BAKE, CAKE, LAKE, MAKE, TAKE, WAKE…).
• Think of verb forms: SING → SANG → SUNG.
• Leave easy words for the others: a word with lots of possible next words keeps the chain going. A tricky word with only one way out can make the next person lose!
• Practice solo against the clock on the play solo page.

Frequently asked questions