Party & Social
Mind Meld
One psychic picks a spot on a spectrum. Everyone else reads their mind.
- Category
- Party & Social
- Players
- 3–10 players
- Duration
- ~10 minutes (estimate)
- Best group size
- We recommend 4 to 6 players. Every player takes one turn as the Psychic, so larger groups simply make for a longer game. The game supports 3 to 10.
How to play
Mind Meld is a reading-your-friends game. Before it starts, the host picks a pack of spectrums, pairs of opposites with a scale between them. Each round, one player is the Psychic and everyone takes exactly one turn in that seat, so the game lasts as many rounds as there are players.
The Psychic sees the spectrum and secretly picks a number from 1 to 10 on it, with 20 seconds to decide. If they run out of time, the game drops their pick in the middle at 5. Everyone else then has 30 seconds to guess where the Psychic landed, entering their own number on their phone.
Then comes the reveal. First the guesses land on the bar on the TV, and only after that does the Psychic’s secret number appear. Points depend on how close you were: an exact match is worth 1,000 points, one away earns 700, two away earns 400, and three away earns 200. Anything further scores nothing.
What makes it fun is that there are no right answers, only the Psychic’s answer. You are not judging how hot a food really is; you are judging how your friend thinks about it. The best rounds end in an argument about why on earth someone put pineapple at a 3.
Tips for hosts
- Ask each Psychic to commit to their gut reaction instead of overthinking. The 20-second window is short on purpose.
- Play it early in the night when people are still learning about each other. It is a great icebreaker.
- After each reveal, give the Psychic ten seconds to defend their number. It is often the funniest part.
- Mixed groups of old friends and new faces work especially well, because the guesses expose how well people really know each other.
Best for
Best for: Groups who enjoy debating opinions more than racing the clock.
Play Mind Meld
Open Sofa Showdown on a laptop or computer connected to your TV, choose Mind Meld from the game shelf, and share the four-letter room code with your friends.
Play now Opens hosting on this screen. Nothing starts until you choose a game.