Contact is a popular and poorly-documented verbal game. I have taught it to people and found it hard to teach. Recently I found a simplified game with the same core mechanics. We should be able to play this version and leave the details for later.
Three or more players pick one among them as Leader, trying to prolong the game; the rest are Crowd, trying to finish the game. Leader picks the Secret Word. The game ends when the Secret Word is spoken.
The game begins in round 1. For each round n, a Matching Word is one that has the same first n letters as the Secret Word. Leader spells those n letters at the start of each round. Advance to the next round when and only when two or more of Crowd simultaneously say the same Matching Word that hasn't been spoken before in the game.
Speech for the game should be audible to all players.
For Crowd players to say words simultaneously, they must synchronise. Commonly, one player prompts the rest with a clue. If Leader recognises the Matching Word so hinted, they say that word; as it is then spoken in the game, that particular word cannot be used to end a round. If a Crowd member recognises the clue, they say so, such as with the keyword "contact", and the two members say it at once; if they speak mismatched words, the attempt fails, and both words are invalid for later use.
The Secret Word, Matching Words, and speech in the game should all be "words". What this means (whether to allow proper nouns, loanwords, other languages) is up to the players. The Secret Word should be a word at least as strictly as game conversation, which should consist of words at least as strictly as Matching Words.
"When the Secret Word is spoken" and "the same Matching Word" assume a rule to consider words the same or different. Words are the same if they're inflected from the same root, so "admire" and "admiring" are the same word, but "admiral" is different.
In round n for which the Secret Word has n letters, Leader will have spelled the entire Secret Word. Thus any player can trivially say the Secret Word and end the game. This is recommended. If Crowd members keep saying Matching Words in sync, undefined behaviour ensues.
Sam, Leslie, Alex, and Pat play Contact. Leslie is Leader. Thus Sam, Alex, and Pat are Crowd. The Secret Word is "adverse", thinks Leslie.
"It starts with A," says Leslie, to start round 1.
"Severe pain," says Alex.
"Agony," notes Leslie, to Crowd's disappointment. They all know the word, but Leslie grasped it faster.
"February," hints Pat. Pat and Sam looked into birthstones a while back. Leslie knows nothing of this.
"Contact," says Sam. "Amethyst," they say together with Pat.
"A-D," spells Leslie.
"'We do not sell data to' —" hints Sam.
Alex was also online in 2018. "Got it," they say, then, together with Sam, "Advertisers!"
"A-D-V," spells Leslie.
"Advanced?" guesses Pat. "Adversity? Advantage?"
"You got it," admits Leslie, recognising the noun inflection as equivalent. "Adverse."