Why the first answer scores low
Thin Air rewards the answer other people are least likely to say first. Ask a hundred people to name a fruit and most reach for apple or banana, so those answers score in the low single digits. Your brain offers the same obvious items to everyone, which is why the first thing you think of is almost never the best thing to type.
The aim is not to be strange. Typing a nonsense word scores nothing, because it is not on the chart. The skill is finding something real, correct and one step away from obvious, and finding it before the clock runs out.
Seven habits that help
- Let the first answer go. Notice it, discard it, and ask what sits next to it. For “Name a fruit”, apple is the doorway; pear, plum and lychee are the room next door; pomelo and persimmon are the next room.
- Change the angle, not just the item. If the prompt is a category, think of the smallest, oldest, most regional or most specialised member. A cheese you would only meet in one country, a dog bred for one job, a river in a country you have never visited.
- Use your own life. The prompts are broad on purpose. Your commute, your kitchen, your childhood, your job and your family’s food are all full of real answers most players would never think of. Someone who cooks Indian food will find answers a Londoner cannot, and the other way round.
- Go through the alphabet quietly. If you freeze, run through letters in your head until one triggers a word. It is faster than waiting for inspiration and tends to surface less obvious answers.
- Think about the shape of the list. Common answers come first and rarer ones sit behind them. If you can name three obvious answers in your head, the fourth to tenth are where points live.
- Type fast, correct later. Small slips such as a swapped or missing letter are corrected for you, so do not stop to fix them. When it is unclear what you meant you will be asked to confirm, which costs a second.
- Keep one safe answer in your pocket. A rare answer you are not sure is accepted costs time if it is rejected. When the clock is under ten seconds, a real answer that is mildly unusual beats a clever one that might bounce.
What the clock changes
Twenty-five seconds is enough to type two or three answers, but only one scores. Many players spend the first twelve seconds hunting for something unique and the last thirteen panicking. A better rhythm is to get one decent answer ready by the halfway point, then use the remaining time to improve it if something better appears. If nothing does, you have still scored.
If you need more time, switch on More time in Settings. It gives 60 seconds per prompt and your shared result is marked as assisted, so it is never confused with a standard run.
Reading your results
After each prompt you get a verdict, from Tarmac (what everyone says) up to Vacuum (almost nobody says). Treat your verdicts as feedback on how you think. If most of your answers land on Tarmac and Updraft, move one step further from the obvious. If you often land on Vacuum but lose points to rejections, tighten up and pick answers you are sure are real. Our scoring page explains exactly how a score is worked out.