Relay: the complete guide to the daily word association game

Relay pits you against another person's way of thinking. Each day brings three rounds, and each round has its own grid of sixteen words and its own single-word clue. Somebody who saw that exact grid yesterday was told which words were the targets, and they chose that clue to lead you there. Your job is to read their mind.

Once you have answered, the roles flip. You get tomorrow's grids, one per round, you are shown your own secret targets on each, and you write the clues. Relay is free, runs in the browser at relay.letsdle.com and needs no account.

A Relay day is made of three rounds, and each round is harder than the one before:

• Round 1: the clue points to one word among the sixteen.
• Round 2: the clue points to two words at once.
• Round 3: the clue points to three words at once.

In each round you select exactly as many words as there are targets, then send your answer. Until you send, you can change your mind; after that, it is locked. A wrong pick does not end the round: every target you caught still counts.

After each round you see which words were the targets and how often other receivers chose each word. If a player hasn't written a clue for a grid yet, the Letsdle team supplies one, and it is labelled as a team clue.

The day changes at 1 a.m. Paris time, every day of the year. A round you already started just before that moment can still be answered for a few minutes afterwards.

Each round has its own scale, and the scales are built so that a perfect day is worth exactly 10 points:

• Round 1: the target found = 1 point.
• Round 2: one target = 1 point, both = 3 points.
• Round 3: one target = 1 point, two = 3 points, all three = 6 points.

Round 3 alone is worth more than the first two together. Your day is then filed in one of four bands: 0 to 3 is a miss, 4 to 7 a partial day, 8 or 9 a strong day, and 10 a perfect one. An answer sent within a second and a half of the round appearing is not counted, so there is no point in clicking blindly.

Senders score too. Each of your clues earns the average of the points its receivers scored with it, on the same scale. A clue is rated once at least three players have received it. Players can also like a clue, which never changes a score.

Round 1. The grid includes words like ELEPHANT, TREE, SUITCASE and CAR, and the clue is “Trunk”. Three words fit; you bet the writer meant the animal and pick ELEPHANT. It is the target: 1 point.

Round 2. The clue is “Antarctica” and two words are hidden. You pick PENGUIN, then MIRROR over GLACIER, thinking of reflected ice. The targets were PENGUIN and GLACIER: one out of two, 1 point.

Round 3. The clue is “Kitchen” and three words are wanted. You pick KNIFE, OVEN and SPOON. All three are right: 6 points.

Your day: 1 + 1 + 6 = 8 out of 10, a strong day. Then you write your own three clues.

The writing step opens once you have played the day's three rounds. You get three clues to send, one per round: one target to hint at for round 1, two for round 2 and three for round 3. Each round comes with its own grid of sixteen words, the one tomorrow's players will face in that round.

A clue is a single word from the game's word list: the game suggests words as you type, and a word that isn't in the list is refused. Some listed words are refused too:

• any of the sixteen words on the grid;
• obvious forms of a grid word: its plural, a phrase that contains it, or a compound built on it (with HORSE on the grid, “horses” and “horseshoe” are out).

The page shows the banned words and why each one is banned. Once a clue is sent it is final. The next day, your delivery report shows how many receivers found your targets, your sender points and any likes.

As a receiver:

• Read the whole grid before you touch anything. If a clue fits four words, ask which ones the writer would have tried to steer you away from.
• Remember the writer's constraints. They could not use any grid word or its obvious forms, so the clue is often a sideways move: a place, a use, a famous example.
• In rounds 2 and 3, look for the thread that ties several words together rather than the single best match.
• Lock in your surest word first, then spend your thinking on the doubtful ones, especially in round 3 where the third target doubles your points.

As a sender:

• A clue has two jobs: pull toward your targets and push away from the other words. Scan the grid for every word your idea could also describe.
• For several targets, find what they share and the rest of the grid does not. A broad category that also covers two decoys will cost you.
• Prefer common, concrete words over clever, rare associations.

Relay can be played in English, French and Spanish, using the language switch on the site. Every language gets the same daily boards of sixteen words, shown in your language.

Your stats page counts the days you played, your current and best streak of consecutive days, your average score and your perfect days. Miss a single day and the streak joker can save it: once a calendar month, a joker covers one missed day in all your Letsdle streaks at once. Two missed days in a row always end a streak. Without an account those stats stay on your device; with a free Letsdle account they follow you everywhere.

Leaderboards rank receivers and senders separately, for the day, the month and all time. Only players with a Letsdle account appear, lists appear once their day is over and enough players are ranked, and ties go to more perfect days, then the earlier score. You can leave the leaderboards from your profile at any time.