MindMatch Group Sync: How to Play with 3–8 Friends

Group Sync is the 3-to-8-player mode of MindMatch on the web. Everyone answers the same prompt at the same time on their own phone, every pair is scored, and the room announces its most in-sync pair. You create a room and send a link, so it works on one couch, on a group call, or with iPhones, Android phones and laptops mixed together.

This is the official guide: how to open a room, how a round flows, what each label on the result screens means, what the host does, what happens when someone drops out, and how to make the reveal land. If you have played before, jump to the round results. To compare other games for your head count, see games for 3 to 8 players.

How to start: create a room and send the link

1. Pick a game on the home screen. Group Sync works with Drawing Sync (3 rounds) and Image Choice (5 rounds). Full Sync Course is for two players only.
2. Under “How will you play?”, choose “Each on your own phone”. The other option, “Play on One Device”, is the pass-the-phone mode for two people.
3. Enter “Your name” and tap “Create a room”. The name is shown to everyone in the room, used only for that room, and there is no account.
4. Invite people from the room screen (the lobby). “Send link” shares it into a chat, “Copy” gives you the URL, and people sitting next to you can scan the QR code with their camera. You can also read out the 6-character “Room code”, which they enter under “Join a room” on the home screen.
5. Invited players open the link, enter a name and tap “Join”. Nothing to install; any browser on iPhone, Android or a computer works.
6. When everyone is listed under “Players”, the person who created the room taps “Start”.

The mode follows the head count: two people in the room get the two-player game, three or more automatically get Group Sync. In the lobby’s “Game” section the room creator can switch between Drawing Sync and Image Choice, each with its round count and an estimate (about 4 minutes for 3 drawing rounds, about 3 minutes for 5 Image Choice rounds). A room holds up to 8 people, and anyone with the link can join, so send it only to the people you are playing with.

How a game flows: everyone, at once, same prompt

When the host taps “Start”, the same prompt appears on every screen at the same moment. Drawing Sync picks 3 prompts from a pool of 39; Image Choice picks 5 questions from 24 questions and 96 pictures. There is no turn order. Everyone answers together.

1. Answer. Drawing Sync gives you 30 seconds and submits your drawing automatically when time is up. In Image Choice you pick one of four pictures and tap “Submit”, also within 30 seconds.
2. Wait. You see “Submitted” and “x / y submitted”. Other players cannot see your answer during the answering phase.
3. Reveal. The round opens when all connected participants have answered, or when the deadline passes: the time limit plus a 15-second grace period. Every pair is compared, and the results are revealed together. Anyone who missed the deadline is marked “No answer”, and the game keeps going.
4. Next. The host (the person who created the room) taps “Next” at the bottom of the screen, and every phone moves to the next prompt together. Everyone else sees “[Host name] moves everyone to the next screen”. On the last round the button reads “See Final Results”.

Scoring is the same engine as the two-player game. Drawings are compared on five dimensions for a score out of 100: shape, placement and size, orientation, strokes and rhythm. Image Choice checks whether two people chose the same picture. The details are in How the Sync Score Works. With 4 players that is 6 pairs scored every round; with 8 players, 28 pairs.

Reading the round result

Drawing Sync round result

• Best pair this round: the two people with the highest sync rate on this prompt, shown as their drawings overlaid in two colors with a sync-rate meter. If you are one of them: “You're in this round's best pair!”.
• Your best match: shown only to people outside the best pair. It is the person you matched most closely this round, with your two drawings overlaid. In a room of 8, six people see this card, so everyone learns who they clicked with every single round.
• Everyone's drawings: a grid of all drawings. Yours has a border and a “You” tag. Tap any drawing to enlarge it, which is handy for passing one phone around the table.
• Pair ranking: the top three pairs by sync rate. With five or more pairs, the lowest pair also appears as “Most unique pair”. Treat it as a reason to ask “what were you thinking?”, not as a scoreboard of shame.

Image Choice round result

Each of the four pictures lists the names of the people who chose it. Choices with multiple players carry majority or minority labels; a single picker is “Only one”, and an unpicked picture says “Nobody”. Your own choice carries a “Your pick” tag. At the top, “Matching pairs x / y pairs” tells you how many pairs chose the same picture. People who missed the deadline are grouped in a “No answer” row.

Reading the final results

After the last round, “See Final Results” opens with a drum roll (“The most in-sync pair is…”), and then the reveal unfolds in the same order on every phone. Here is what each section means, top to bottom.

1. Most in-sync pair: the two people with the highest average sync across all rounds, with their average and a relationship-rank illustration. If you are one of them: “You're in the best pair!”. The line underneath, “x players · y rounds · z pairs”, is the size of this game.
2. Past-life rival candidates: the pair with the lowest average. It is not a verdict; it is the laugh line of the evening. Tap it to see their rounds side by side.
3. Your result: your own average, your rank (“#y of x”), “Most in sync with you” and “Least in sync with you”. Tap either person to open every round for that pair (overlays, or the two picks) plus the pair’s report. If you rank first, it adds “You're the sync royalty!”.
4. Average sync with everyone: a ranking of each player’s average across all their pairs. First place is tagged “Sync royalty”; with three or more players, last place is “One of a kind”.
5. Sync map: an everyone-by-everyone grid. Brighter cells are higher sync rates; tap a cell for the pair’s details. This is the screen that starts the most conversations, because it shows the unexpected matches.
6. AI Sync Report for the best pair: the report title and a one-line summary for the best pair, with “Read the full report” for the whole text. As in the two-player game, the report is selected from 71 pre-written results. Nothing is generated on the fly.
7. All pairs: every pair ranked. Up to six pairs are listed right away; with more, tap “See all pairs (n)”.

At the bottom, the room creator sees “Play again with the same players” (another game with the same people) and “Back to the room” (back to the lobby to change the game or let latecomers in). “Share” is available to everyone and sends a results image with a link. Other players see “Starts when the host chooses “Play again””.

What the host does

The person who created the room is the host and carries a “Host” badge under “Players”. Only the host can choose the “Game” in the lobby, tap “Start”, tap “Next” after each round, and choose “Play again with the same players” or “Back to the room” at the end. The host answers like everyone else and never sees results early.

The game does not stall if the host vanishes. While the host is disconnected, the earliest-joined person still connected sees “The host is away, so you can keep things moving” and can tap “Next”. If the host leaves the room for good, that same person becomes the new host.

One hosting habit worth keeping: say something before tapping “Next”. Every screen switches at once, so wait while people are still studying “Everyone's drawings”. On a call, reading the results out loud keeps the pace going.

When something goes wrong

Making it fun

• Announce the results out loud. The drum roll reads “The most in-sync pair is…” before the names appear; a host who pauses there gets applause.
• In the same room, put one phone on a TV or monitor. Mirror the host’s screen so everyone can point at “Everyone's drawings” and the “Sync map”, while each person’s own phone shows “Your result”.
• Playing remotely, keep the call open. The 30 drawing seconds tend to go silent; a simple “done!” from each person changes the mood.
• First game Drawing Sync, second game Image Choice. If someone hates drawing, Image Choice puts everyone on equal footing.
• Tap “Play again with the same players” two or three times. Prompts may repeat, but answers can change; compare the sync maps between games. Post the share card in the group chat afterwards; it becomes the excuse for the next meet-up.

FAQ