The reply game: say it professionally at work

Ten times in a round, you answer a colleague over the partition. Your reply plays out in your speech bubble one word at a time, and one word in it is rude.

Press Bleep, Space or the picture while the rude word is out. It turns into corporate speak, so “Your plan is stupid.” reaches them as “Your plan is certainly bold.”

After the first two lines, watch for the twists:

• Two rude words. Some lines have two. Bleep both.
• Traps. Some lines only sound rude. “You crushed that demo.” is a compliment, so leave it alone.

Strikes

• A rude word you don’t bleep in time is a strike.
• Bleeping when no rude word is out is a strike too, traps included.
• The third strike ends the round.

Good to know

• A rude word looks like every other word. Read the line as it comes.
• You talk faster as the round goes on.
• Take your time slows the words to half speed.

Rude words bleeped in a row pay more.

A round has 10 rude words: two lines are traps and two have two rude words. The best possible score is 170, for all 10 bleeped in a row.

Daily and solo rounds

On any one day, every player gets the same ten replies. Play solo deals ten new ones.

The game has 109 replies: 71 with one rude word, 15 with two, and 23 traps. Each rude word comes with the corporate speak that takes its place.

The how to professionally say phrasebook prints 200 whole lines as a cheat sheet. Each turns a blunt thought into a line you can send at work.