The driver never looks at the phone.

The games

• Countdown Engine

  Nine letters, longest word. Six numbers, hit the target.

  The bar: The best word in the rack and the best way to the target, both found first.

  Driver: Calls out words and arithmetic. Nothing to read.

• Voice Mastermind

  Crack a hidden code of digits from the exacts and nears it reports back.

  The bar: The most guesses its own solver would ever need on a code that shape.

  Driver: Guesses out loud and works back from the feedback.

• Order of Magnitude

  How heavy is the Eiffel Tower? Estimates, scored on how many times off you are.

  The bar: How many times off you may be on average. Tightens every level.

  Driver: Thinks out loud. Nothing to memorize.

• Optimal Twenty Questions

  Yes or no questions to an oracle that grades how much each one narrowed it down.

  The bar: The questions its own best-split strategy would need on the things in play.

  Driver: Asks the questions. The phone answers, so nobody argues.

• Chronology

  Drop events into a timeline that keeps getting more crowded.

  The bar: A streak long enough that luck cannot account for it.

  Driver: Argues about dates.

• Nim Arcade

  Nim, Kayles and a subtraction game, played out loud against an opponent that never slips.

  The bar: Perfect play. Every board starts won, so clear them all without a losing move.

  Driver: Speaks every move. The phone is only the board.

• Logic Grid

  Small constraint puzzles read aloud and solved in your head.

  The bar: One reading per clue. Every clue matters, so there are no spare ones.

  Driver: Solves it in their head. Asking for a clue again is what costs.

• The Contradiction

  An account of a day out with exactly one line in it that cannot be true.

  The bar: One reading aloud, plus a re-read of the stretch holding the fault.

  Driver: Listens, then names the line that does not add up.

• Bid and Deliver

  Say how many you can name before you start naming them.

  The bar: A bid worth making, from the list's length and how hard it is.

  Driver: Sets the bid, then has to deliver it.

• Border Chain

  Chain place names by last letter. The obscure ones are worth more.

  The bar: A score set by how obscure the places are, read off real populations.

  Driver: Supplies the places from memory.

• Same Page

  Say the same thing at the same moment. Matching on the obvious is worth almost nothing.

  The bar: A total no run of obvious matches can reach, read off real populations.

  Driver: Says one thing on the count of three, and tries to be read.

• Auction

  Bid each other up on how many of a category you can name, then deliver it.

  The bar: The bid worth making, from the list's own length and difficulty.

  Driver: Bids out loud, then delivers or pays the other one.

• Challenge

  Place an event on the timeline, and watch the other one try to take it off you.

  The bar: A streak long enough that luck cannot account for it.

  Driver: Places events, and challenges the placements they think are wrong.

• Race

  Question the same secret in turn. First to name it takes the round.

  The bar: The questions our own best-split strategy needs, spent between the two of you.

  Driver: Asks, listens, and names it. A wrong name costs a turn.

• Last Standing

  Take turns naming things from a category. Stall or repeat and you are out.

  The bar: How deep the table should get on this list, from its length and difficulty.

  Driver: Keeps naming until somebody runs dry.

• Split Decision

  Both estimate the same quantity. The closer answer takes it, and the table still has a number to hit.

  The bar: The log-error threshold, tightened for having more than one go at it.

  Driver: Reasons out loud to a number, then hears how close it was.