Play Word Chain online with friends

What is Word Chain?

Word chain games are among the oldest word games, played on car journeys and in classrooms everywhere (in Japan, shiritori has been played for generations). Each word sets up the next, and nobody wants to be the one who gets stuck.

The fun is the pressure: your turn, a ticking clock, and every word you know already used. Online, the server keeps the clock, checks the letters and counts the lives. For rules a computer can't judge, like rhymes, the players flag and vote.

How to play Word Chain

1. The turn order is random. The first player starts the chain with a seed word, which can be any word.
2. Take turns. On your turn, send a word that follows the mode's rule from the current word, before your timer runs out.
3. Lose a life for a miss. Breaking a rule the server checks, repeating a word, or sending nothing in time costs a life.
4. Flag bad words. Think someone's word breaks the rule? Flag it and the others vote.
5. Last one standing wins. Lose your last life and you're out. The game ends when only one player has lives left.

Seeds and fresh starts

Running out of time on a seed costs nothing: the next player seeds instead. If every player still in fails one after another, the chain is dropped and the next player starts a new one. Words already played still can't be repeated.

Flagging and voting

• You can flag any of the last 5 words, except seed words and your own. You need a life left to flag.
• Everyone except the flagger and the word's player votes Valid or Invalid, players who are already out included. The turn clock stops during the vote.
• The vote lasts up to 15 seconds and the votes cast decide; a tie keeps the word. If nobody votes, the word stands and nobody loses a life.
• Invalid: the word's player loses a life and the word's points, and the chain goes back to the word before. Valid: the flagger loses a life.

Rounds and winning

A round is one turn for every player still in; then the turn order is reshuffled, and the round's top scorer wins the round. When someone loses their last life, the round ends and the host starts the next. The last player with lives left wins, and the leaderboard ranks everyone by points.

Word Chain modes on Ping44

The host picks one of 8 modes in Game settings. In some the server checks the rule; in others the group judges by flagging and voting.

• Classic Word Chain: start with the last letter of the previous word. Apple → Elephant → Tiger. The server checks it.
• Category and Alphabet Chain: words belong to a category the host chooses and follow the alphabet: Ant → Bear → Cat. The server checks the letter, the group judges the category. After Z comes A, and if nobody manages a letter in a whole round, play moves on to the next.
• Semantic Chain: each word must be related in meaning to the last. Fire → Heat → Sun. The group judges.
• Rhyming Chain: each word must rhyme with the last. Cat → Hat → Bat. The group judges.
• Last Two Letters Chain: start with the last two letters of the previous word. Station → Onion → Only. The server checks it.
• Reverse Word Chain: end with the first letter of the previous word. Apple → Zebra → Jazz. The server checks it.
• Sentence Chain: start your sentence with the last word of the previous one. "I saw a dog." → "Dog barked loudly." At least 2 words; the server checks the first word.
• Custom Word Chain: up to 5 rules from 20 kinds, or written by the host. The group enforces them.

Letter checks compare base letters and ignore capitals, so "Éclair" starts with E.

The 20 custom rule kinds

• Starts with, ends with, contains, or doesn't contain letters you choose (1 to 10).
• At least 2 to 15 letters, at most 2 to 20 letters, or exactly 2 to 15 letters.
• A set number of syllables (1 to 6).
• Fits a topic (such as food), or is in a language (such as French).
• Starts with a vowel, or has a double letter like "ee" or "ll".
• No letter twice in a word, or each word longer than the one before.
• One word only: no spaces or hyphens.
• Nouns only, verbs only, or adjectives only.
• No names of people or places, or no plurals.

Hosts can also type their own rule, up to 200 characters.

Host settings

• Turn time: 5 to 60 seconds (10 by default).
• Starting lives: 1 to 10 (3 by default).
• Category: for Category and Alphabet mode, up to 30 letters and spaces.
• No timer for first round: first-round turns wait for each player, so new players can learn.

Mid-game, the host can restart a stuck round (the chain starts over, that round's points are thrown away and lives are kept) or end the game.

Scoring on Ping44

• 1 point per letter of each valid word, up to 15 points a word. Spaces and punctuation don't count; seed words score too, and so do sentences, with the same cap.
• 0 points and a life for a wrong word, a repeat or running out of time. A word voted invalid loses its points.
• Lives bonus: when the game ends, each player still in adds points × lives left ÷ starting lives, rounded down. With 100 points and 3 of 3 lives left, that's 100 more; with 2 of 3, 66 more.

Tips and strategy

• Leave the next player a hard letter. In Classic mode, words ending in letters few words start with (like X) make the next turn harder. The chain comes back to you, though.
• Go long, but not too long. Longer words score more, up to 15 letters.
• Watch the history. A repeat costs a life, and the screen shows only the latest 10 words.
• Flag only when you're sure. If the vote goes against you, you lose the life.
• Protect your lives. Each life lost shrinks your end-of-game bonus.

How to start a game of Word Chain on Ping44

1. Go to ping44.com, sign in with email or Google (free) and create a room. Friends can join as guests by just picking a name.
2. Share the invite link, the 6-character room code or the QR code.
3. In the lobby, choose Word Chain, then pick one of the 8 modes in Game settings and set the turn time and lives.
4. Start with 3 to 20 players; anyone else can watch as a spectator.

Why play Word Chain on Ping44

• An instant referee. The server checks letters and repeats the moment a word arrives, runs every timer and counts every life.
• Votes that can't stall. Every flag vote ends within 15 seconds.
• Voice chat built in (the host turns it on), plus text chat with emote reactions.
• Free, no ads, no download. It runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers.
• More games in the same room, like NOUN or 20 Questions. See all our word games.

Frequently asked questions