In short
- Everyone answers the same question with four options (A to D), then guesses what each other player picked.
- Every correct guess scores +40 points. There are no other points and no penalties.
- Rounds last up to 30 seconds and end early once everyone locks in. Games are 4, 6 or 8 rounds, for 2 to 6 players.
- The best players separate their own answer from their guess, and use earlier reveals as evidence.
Mind Raider is a party game about one skill: knowing what the people around you really think. Everyone answers the same question, then everyone tries to guess everyone else's answer. You don't score for being right about the question. You score for being right about your friends.
This guide covers every rule in the game, how points add up over a match, and the strategy that wins once the novelty wears off.
The short version
- Pick yours. A question appears with four answers, A to D. Secretly choose the one that is most you.
- Read theirs. Next to each other player's name, tap the letter you think they chose.
- Steal the points. Every correct read is worth +40. Highest total after the last round wins.
That's genuinely all you need to start. The rest of this page is for people who want to understand the details or get better at it.
Starting a game
Play with friends
Tap CREATE PARTY and you become the host. You get a 4-letter party code and an invite link. Send either one to your friends: they can tap the link, or open the app, tap JOIN and type the code. When everyone in the lobby is ready, the host starts the game.
Every player uses their own phone. That means you can play around the same table, or with friends in different cities while you talk on a call. (We wrote a separate guide to running a remote game night.)
Party settings
The host chooses these before the game starts:
| Setting | Options | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Raiders | 2 to 6 | 5 is the standard party. Any other size is a custom party. |
| Rounds | 4, 6 or 8 | 6 is the standard game. Every round lasts up to 30 seconds. |
| Questions | Classic, or one of your own packs | Classic draws from all 200 built-in questions. |
| Who can join | Code only, or Anyone | Anyone lets Quick Match players fill empty seats. Parties using a custom pack are code only. |
Quick Match and practice
Quick Match drops you into an open party with other players, so you can play without organising anything. PRACTICE puts you in a game against three bots. Practice is the best way to learn the flow, and it never counts toward the leaderboards. The very first practice game walks you through a round with tips.
How a round works
Every round has one question and four answers. The Classic questions are built to split a room, for example:
Greatest footballer of all time?
- ALionel Messi
- BCristiano Ronaldo
- CPele
- DDiego Maradona
During the round you do two things on the same screen:
- Choose your own answer under YOUR PICK. Nobody else can see it until the reveal.
- Guess every other raider. Each opponent has a row of A, B, C and D. Tap the letter you think they picked.
When you have made all your choices, tap LOCK IN. Changed your mind? In online games you can tap any answer to unlock, change it and lock in again, as long as the round is still running.
The timer is 30 seconds, and the round ends early as soon as everyone has locked in. If time runs out before you lock, whatever you had selected still counts, so it is always worth tapping something.
Scoring
Scoring has exactly one rule: +40 points for every raider whose answer you guessed correctly. There are no points for your own pick and no penalty for a wrong guess.
That makes the maximum score easy to work out. You guess every opponent each round, so:
| Party size | Reads per round | Best possible round | Best possible 6-round game |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 raiders | 1 | 40 | 240 |
| 3 raiders | 2 | 80 | 480 |
| 4 raiders | 3 | 120 | 720 |
| 5 raiders (standard) | 4 | 160 | 960 |
| 6 raiders | 5 | 200 | 1,200 |
After each round the reveal shows what every friend actually picked, which of your reads landed (+40) and which missed, then the standings with arrows for who moved up or down. After the last round, the highest total wins. Ties share the win.
The twist: everyone else is reading you at the same time. You can't lose points, but every time a friend reads you correctly, they gain 40. Being hard to read is a way of keeping your rivals' scores down.
Questions and packs
The Classic set has 200 questions in six categories: Legends (the greatest of all time, settled once and for all), Tech and Future, Money and Work, Ethics and Society, Relationships, and Lifestyle. A Classic game mixes all of them.
You can also write your own. Every player gets one free custom pack of up to 50 questions, each with four answers. Pick your pack under Questions when you host and the whole party plays it. Inside jokes, office legends and family debates work brilliantly here, because only your group knows the backstory. If you want to write good ones, read how to write party questions that start arguments.
Premium is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. It removes ads for you and for every party you host, and raises the limit to 10 custom packs.
Badges, stats and leaderboards
There are 26 badges. A few to aim for early:
- Mind Meld: read 3 raiders correctly in one round.
- Clean Sweep: read every opponent in a round (2 or more).
- Untouchable: nobody reads you for a whole game (3+ players).
- High Roller and Sky High: score 400+ and 800+ points in a single game.
- Hat Trick: win 3 games in a row.
Your profile also tracks stats like your read rate and best game. Leaderboards show your friends, your country and the whole world, for all time or this week. Only finished online games count.
Strategy: how to read people better
Once you know the rules, the game becomes about two habits: reading others accurately and being hard to read yourself.
1. Guess the person, not the "right" answer
The most common beginner mistake is guessing the answer you think is correct, or the one you picked. Your uncle doesn't think Messi is the greatest because the statistics say so. He thinks whatever he argued about in 1994. Ask "what would they say out loud?", not "what's true?".
2. Use the reveals as data
Every reveal tells you something. If a friend picked "Tax them heavily" on billionaires, they will probably lean the same way on inheritance tax and CEO pay later in the game. Patterns carry across questions, especially within one category.
3. Watch out for your own bias
People consistently assume others share their opinions more than they do. Psychologists call it the false consensus effect, and it is the single biggest reason people misread their friends in this game. When your gut says "obviously they'd pick the same as me", treat that as a warning. We dig into the research in why we misread our friends.
4. Decide how readable you want to be
The game asks you to pick the answer that is most you, and that is where the fun is: the reveals are better when they are honest. But because rivals score by reading you, a player who is predictable on every question is handing out free points. Experienced players know which questions they are an open book on, and accept that the honest answer sometimes costs them.
5. Don't leave guesses blank
A wrong guess costs nothing. If the timer is about to run out, tap your best guess for everyone rather than leaving a row empty. A random guess still has a one in four chance.
Quick answers
Do I need an internet connection? Yes for parties and Quick Match, because every player is on their own phone and the game keeps everyone in sync.
What happens if I lose connection? Open the app again and it puts you back into the game you were in, with your answers.
Is it on iPhone? Not yet. Mind Raider is on Android through Google Play.
For accounts, Premium, safety and troubleshooting, see Help and FAQ. Hosting a group for the first time? Read how to host a Mind Raider game night.