A full guide: how players split into teams, what you may and may not say when explaining words, how points are scored within the minute, controls on muta.pro and tips for a fun game.
Alias is a team race of associations. Players split into teams, and each turn one member explains words to their team without saying the word itself. The team guesses against the clock while the minute runs. For each correctly guessed word the team gets +1 point, for skipping a hard word — −1. The winner is the team that first reaches 30 points.
📖 How Alias differs from Charades and how to play them online — in detail on the blog: "Describe the word" games online: Alias and Charades for a group.
The host explains the word without saying it or its root words — the team races to guess it.
Here it’s not the most erudite player who wins, but the team that best senses its own people and can come up with an unexpected hint in mere seconds.
Gather from 4 to 16 players and split into at least two teams — for example, “Blue” and “Red”. Within each team the members take turns becoming explainers: on muta.pro the host role automatically passes to the next team player on each of its turns. The game handles the words, the timer and the scoring — there’s no need to prepare cards or time it by hand.
Turns alternate between teams. The active team picks an explainer — on the site they are assigned automatically in turn. The explainer sees the card with the word, the rest of the team does not.
As soon as the word is revealed, a 60-second countdown begins. The timer ring shows the remaining time and turns red in the final seconds.
You may use synonyms, associations, descriptions, gestures and leading questions. The goal is for the team to say the chosen word.
Only members of the active team guess. As soon as the correct word is said, it is counted and the next one appears immediately.
If a word just won’t work, the explainer skips it and moves on to the next. A skip costs the team a point, so it shouldn’t be overused.
Before the minute ends, the team gets through as many words as it can. When time runs out, the turn passes to the opponents.
The main rule: you may not say the word itself or words sharing its root. Translations of the chosen word into another language and its syllable “parts” are also forbidden. If the explainer accidentally says a forbidden word, by the teams’ fair agreement that word is not counted and is skipped. Everything else — synonyms, associations, “what it’s like” descriptions and gestures — is allowed and welcome.
How a turn plays out in Alias: the explainer sees the card with the word (gold, large), gives hints, and the team guesses. Below — what’s allowed, what’s forbidden and how the score changes.
For each guessed word the team is awarded +1 point, for each skip is deducted −1 (the score never goes below zero). After the minute the turn passes to the other team, and so on in a circle. The team scores are shown on the scoreboard to the left, and the leader is marked with a crown 👑. The game ends as soon as any team reaches 30 points — and is declared the winner.
Give the most vivid association first — often the team guesses from a single precise hint.
If a word “won’t come” for about ten seconds, it’s better to skip it and catch the rhythm on easy words.
The team’s jokes, films and shared memories are the best hints that the opponents won’t get.
The minute is short. Short, precise phrases yield more guessed words than long stories.
A good clue in Alias isn't a full definition — it's the shortest path to the word inside your team's head. A minute is short: you really have only 4–7 seconds per word, so your team's reaction speed matters more than the precision of your phrasing. Pros almost never give a full description — they toss one exact hook and wait for the team to pull out the answer themselves. Below are the tricks that turn a single word into a point in a couple of phrases instead of half a minute.
Set the frame with one word: "animal…", "food…", "profession…". The team instantly cuts out half the language and starts listening with focus instead of guessing blindly.
An antonym is often faster than a synonym: "the opposite of war" instantly gives "peace", "not hot, but…" — "cold". A sharp pair pulls out the word better than a long description.
A cut-off phrase makes the team finish it out loud: "Santa Claus brings…", "you sweat in a…". They fill in exactly the word you need.
Describe what the object does, not how it looks: "you cut paper with this" leads to "scissors" faster than listing its shape and colour.
Drop a hint, then give a second for a shout. Don't bury the team under three phrases at once: they'll start listening to you instead of thinking.
Showing "tall", "round" or "drink" with your hands is often faster than describing it. Mime and gestures are allowed — save seconds with them.
"Rhymes with 'cat'", "starts with 'be'" is a legal move, as long as the word itself and its cognates aren't spoken. Sometimes a single letter is enough.
Alias isn't won by the walking encyclopedia but by a well-drilled pair. Half the points are born in how the team listens and guesses, not in how the explainer explains. Two teams with the same vocabulary split on the scoreboard precisely through coordination: some talk over each other and drown out the right answer, others catch the hint from half a word. Tune a shared language in advance — and the words will fly even on a tough deck.
Decide in advance: do you guess fast and loud, talking over each other, or one clear answer at a time? A chaos of ten versions at once keeps the explainer from catching the right one.
Inside jokes, names, favourite films — these are clues only your team understands. "You know, like at Pete's cottage" won't be cracked by an opponent, but your own people will get it in a second.
Say even your inexact versions out loud. Hearing "almost", the explainer tweaks the hint — a dialogue is faster than a monologue.
The scoreboard on the left and the crown 👑 show who's ahead. Behind — take risks and don't skip; ahead — play it safe on easy words.
Let the player most "in tune" with the explainer sit across from them. One accurate guesser scores more points than a whole team out of sync.
The basic rules of Alias are easy to tailor to your group: change the game length, add restrictions, or play without rivalry. On muta.pro a game goes to 30 points with 60-second turns, but home variants change the feel beyond recognition — from a harsh competitive mode to a relaxed cooperative game with no losers. Pick a format to match the mood and the number of players.
For a quick warm-up play to 15 points, for a long evening — to 50. The higher the threshold, the more consistency matters over a single lucky move.
Hard mode: you may explain with only one word per hint, no connected phrases. Tougher, but it forces you to find the most precise association.
Drop speech — and you get a hybrid with charades. Or the reverse: ban gestures, and then pure verbal associations decide everything.
One team against the clock: how many words can you all guess together in a fixed number of turns. Works great when there are few players or everyone wants to be "on the same side".
Alternate simple everyday words and abstract concepts ("freedom", "envy"). Abstractions are harder, but that's exactly where the best hints are born.
If one team is clearly stronger, give it a higher winning threshold or a shorter minute. An even contest is more fun than a blowout.
In Alias points are lost more often than they're missed out on. The same slip-ups repeat game after game — and nearly all of them are about greed and tempo, not vocabulary. A player with a rich vocabulary loses to one who simply doesn't get stuck and doesn't give the word away. Drop these four habits and your score will grow on its own, with no new lexicon.
The costliest mistake. Ten seconds on one word means two or three easy ones missed. If it doesn't come after a couple of hints — skip and come back with tempo.
A drawn-out story sounds nice but eats seconds. The team drowns in details. One vivid hint works better than a paragraph of definition.
"Teapot" via "tea" or "tea leaf" — the word burns up. Before you open your mouth, mentally strip the root and look for a way around.
The penalty for a skip is real. Hitting "Skip" on every slightly tricky word is draining your score. A skip is a tempo tool, not a reflex.
Debating "does that count?" mid-minute steals time from the whole team. Agree on the tricky cases before the start.
Reacting to the opponents' turn is a common reflex. Only the active team guesses: shouts from outside don't count the word, they just distract you.