Games like Pinpoint: name the hidden link

The closest match is Inkling on Puzzle Round, which plays Pinpoint's rule: five clue words share one hidden category, you see them one at a time, and a new clue appears after every three wrong guesses, so naming the link early scores best. Thruline does the same with pictures: four images share one connecting word, only the first is shown at the start, and each wrong guess or skip reveals the next, with one final guess once all four are visible. Omitten cuts one word out of several sentences and shows them one at a time; you start at 100 points and lose 25 for every extra sentence you need, so like Pinpoint it pays to guess on the first clue.

Three more games keep the one-clue-at-a-time loop but ask for a hidden word rather than a category. Clume starts you with a single clue word, and every guess reveals another, up to ten. References gives four clues from different fields, hardest first, and every clue you open or wrong guess costs some of your 10 stars. Guess·5 from doce.games tells you what kind of thing the answer is, then gives up to five clues from vaguest to clearest, with each extra clue adding time to your score. Word Sprint shows all its hint words at once, such as structure, river, walk, engineer and connect, and gives you five guesses at the one word they relate to, each scored with a percentage for how close in meaning it is.

Overlapt on GoComics works with just two clues that seem unrelated but share one answer word, which you name before the game reveals it; it needs a GoComics subscription. Jinx Bee also starts from two cue words, such as pocket and hamster, but the word you type is the link you think other players will give, with a hint and further steps if your first word misses.

Other games hide the link behind small puzzles you solve first. Categordle gives you six trivia clues instead of words: answer them, then name the secret category that ties the answers together. linqed works the same way with four trivia questions, whose answers all connect through one word you then type. WordBridge from Zalize has you sort 16 words into four groups, then take one guess at the fifth theme that runs through all four. Vennections has you sort nine words into the three circles of a Venn diagram, each correct circle showing its category, then name the one word at the centre that connects all three. Mind Loft's Thread describes nine films badly, in one sentence each, and asks for the one thing they all share, such as a director, an actor or a year; an earlier correct call pays more, and three wrong calls lock the thread score at zero. Themery has you solve clued words that each cross a hidden theme word running across the middle, so the answers you find are your clues to the theme. Connexus, an app for iOS and Android, sets 13 small puzzles a day that each earn hints toward one hidden daily theme. The New Yorker's Catalogues gives seven items and a punning title: you work out what links them and then put them in order by it.

Start with Inkling, the nearest to Pinpoint's clue-by-clue rule, then Thruline or Omitten for the same reveal-and-guess loop with pictures or sentences, and Clume, References or Word Sprint if you like the loop but want a word to find instead of a category. Pinpoint itself is free on LinkedIn, in the browser and the app.