The rules, step by step
- One player gives clues; their team shouts guesses. A point per word.
- The card lists five taboo words — say any of them and the other team buzzes.
- A buzzed card is dead, and the point goes to the buzzing team.
- Caught yourself slipping? Tap I said one — it costs the same, but you keep your honour.
- No “rhymes with”, no “sounds like”, no charades. Just talk around it.
- The whole opposing team sees your card, so the buzzer is always watching.
Scoring and the fiddly bits
What a buzz costs
The card is discarded and the buzzing team takes the point. It is not a lost card, it is a point handed over.
Skips go to the bottom
A skipped card rejoins the deck and can come round again this same turn. The host sets how many skips a turn allows, or lifts the cap entirely.
A round is a turn each
Every player gives clues once per round, rounded up so both teams take the same number of turns. Two rounds at six players is twelve turns.
The ladder scores net
On the challenge ladder a slip subtracts from the level tally rather than just killing the card, so five cleared with one slip counts as four.
The weekly run
The Weekly Challenge is the ladder on a fixed deal, one run per player per week. There is no retry: a failed level ends the run where it stands.
Questions about Forbidden Words
Is Forbidden Words 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 Forbidden Words?
Between 2 and 12. 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 Forbidden Words 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.
Play Forbidden Words online
Free, in the browser, with everyone on their own phone.