What Clover is
Write four words, each linking two neighbours on your card square. Then it all gets shuffled — and the table rebuilds your clover from your clues alone.
Every card carries a word on all four of its edges and only ever shows two of them. Turn a card and one word slides round to the next leaf while a new one takes its place, so a single turn changes two leaves at once. Writing the thing is a puzzle before anyone else has seen it.
All four cards in the right place on the first attempt is 6 points. Anything less drops to a point a card — and between attempts the table is told only how many it got, never which, which is precisely enough information to argue with.
Everyone but the writer can move cards on the same live board, so there is no designated driver and no waiting your turn. The writer sits there saying nothing, which is the hardest seat in the game.
How to play Clover
- You get four cards. Each card has a word on each of its four edges.
- Lay them in a square. Only the two words facing OUT of each card count. Turn a card and one of them slides round to the next leaf while a new one takes its place — so one turn changes two leaves at once.
- Write one word on each of the clover’s four outer edges, joining the two words that meet there.
- Your four cards then get shuffled with a fifth nobody needs, and the table rebuilds your clover from the clues.
- Everyone but you solves it together, out loud, on the same live board.
- All four cards in the right place first time is 6 points. Otherwise you are told only HOW MANY cards are right — not which — and get one more go for a point a card.
- One score, for the table. You are all on the same side.
How to win at Clover
Write for the pair
A clue that leans hard on one of its two words is fine; a clue that fits only one of them is a leaf you have already lost.
Check both leaves after a turn
Rotating a card moves two leaves, which is how a nearly-solved clover falls apart on the last move.
Don’t lock in at three
Only four right first time pays six, and every attempt after that caps at four.
The spare card proves nothing
With five cards for four slots, one you cannot place tells you nothing at all — that is the point of it.
The inner edges are dead
Only the two words facing out of the clover count, so a perfect pairing on the wrong edges is worth nothing.
Questions about Clover
How does the second attempt work?
You are told how many cards are in the right place and nothing else, then you rearrange and lock in again. That attempt scores a point a card — only a perfect first go is worth six, and the host can switch the retry off.
What is the spare card for?
It belongs to no leaf: with four cards for four slots a card you cannot place is information, and with five it is noise. The host can leave it out for a gentler puzzle.
Do we have to arrange the cards exactly as the writer did?
No. A leaf is graded on the two words showing either side of the clue, in either order, so a different arrangement that puts the same pair there is right.
Does Clover work with two players?
Yes, and it becomes a different evening: two clovers, one each, and every clue written for one particular person. What a pair loses is the argument; what it gains is finding out whether you know each other.
Is Clover free?
Yes. Every game on Table Party is free, with no accounts, no adverts and nothing to buy.
How many people do you need for Clover?
Between 2 and 6. Below 2 there are not enough of you for the game to work.
Do we need to download anything?
No. One person opens the site and starts a room; everybody else joins by typing the room code on their own phone. Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.
Can we play Clover over a video call?
Yes. Share the room code in the chat and play with the call running — everything private stays on each player’s own phone.
