25 Words or Less (game show)

In the first round, team members are called up to the host's podium, one on one, with the contestants going second in the play order. At the podium, they are shown a list of five words to convey to their teammates in 45 seconds. Starting with a varying number of clue words set by the host as the opening bid, the face-off contestants bid against each other as to how few clue words they can use to complete the round. The bidding continues until one of the contestants concedes to the other contestant's bid. The contestant who wins the bid then plays the game using the number of words they bid. The contestant can pass on a word if it is too difficult, returning back to any passed words if time remains on the clock.

Contestants cannot use the word itself as a clue, nor can they use any derivative form of the word in the clue, as doing so will instantly end the round and award their opponent the points. The round also ends if the clue giver goes over the set clue word limit in each round. Additionally, as it is a word game, contestants giving the clues cannot use their hands and must keep them on their handheld tablet. Contestants score 250 points if they are successful in getting all five words within the 45-second time limit. The other team receives the points if the playing team fails to complete the round.

Contestants and celebrities have an individual tablet and compete in separate studios in Season 2 due social distancing guidelines resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Only the players active in each round see the clues on their tablet.

Round 2 begins with the contestants at the podium while the celebrities are in a soundproof room offstage. In the second season of the show, the celebrities are told to put on a pair of noise-cancelling headphones with music playing in them. Contestants are shown a series of five sets of three words which have been determined by the producers to be of distinct levels of difficulty. Green words are easy to give clues for and are worth 250 points, yellow words are more difficult and are worth 500 points, and red words are the most difficult and are worth 1,000 points. The contestants alternate first choice of the three words to place in their own five-word stack, with the trailing contestant choosing first in the first, third and fifth word sets. The contestant who chooses second picks from the remaining two words in the set. The unchosen third word in each set is discarded. Once both contestants set their boards up, each contestant then plays their five words. The trailing contestant goes first. Both contestants have 45 seconds and a set limitation of 20 words. Contestants score the points for each successful word and gains an additional 1,000 point bonus for successfully getting all five. If the contestant gives an illegal clue in this round, the word the illegal clue was given on is thrown out, and the contestant is disqualified from getting the 1,000 point bonus, but the round continues on as normal. If the contestant goes over the 20 word set limitation, the round automatically ends and the contestant is disqualified from getting the 1,000 point bonus as well. If the team that goes second earns more points than the first team before all five words were guessed, the round is automatically over and no additional chosen words after are revealed to the celebrities. The team who has the most points is the champion and moves on to the Money Round to play for $10,000. The losing contestant from the main game receives either a $200 gift card for a varying online retailer or a consolation prize from a varying online retailer.

In the event of a tie, both civilian contestants face off at the podium with buzzers. The host will begin giving clues to one final word. The first contestant to buzz in with a correct answer is the champion and advances to the Money Round, while an incorrect answer hands the championship to their opponent.

In the Money Round, the champion must convey ten words to their celebrity partners in one minute with the maximum of 25 clue words available to them. If the contestant can get the two celebrity partners to get all ten answers correct, the champion wins the grand prize of $10,000.

If they do not get all ten correct, the champion receives a varying vacation trip as a consolation prize. If the champion gives an illegal clue or goes over the 25 word limit at any time, the Money Round automatically ends, resulting in the champion forfeiting the shot at the $10,000. No words after are revealed to the celebrities, the audience, or the viewers at home if the contestant didn't give an illegal clue for the last word.

For the second season of the show, a new rule was introduced in which the contestants are also playing for a "SuperFan" who registered via the show's website or on social media accounts. The losing contestant in the main game gets a consolation prize, and the losing SuperFan that they played for gets a $100 gift card. If the champion in the Money Round wins the $10,000, the chosen SuperFan receives $1,000 as well. If the champion fails to win the Money Round (via running out of time/going over the 25 word limit/giving an illegal clue), the chosen SuperFan will receive the $100 gift card.