Taylor Swift’s game “Mastermind” sends fans into Eras tour frenzy

While Taylor Swift is on her way to world domination with her “2024 Eras Tour,” a mobile game that involves predicting various elements of upcoming shows continues to captivate tens of thousands of Swifties.

The game is called Mastermind, after a Swift song of the same name. And it’s also spreading across social media feeds, where players regularly share their scores, tout their victories, and lament their defeats. Think of #Mastermind posts like the Wordle scores that fill online feeds, only with sequins and emojis.

Mastermind lives on the Swift Alert app, which Swiftie Kyle Mumma launched in August 2023 to notify fans when Era Tours shows around the world start in their time zone so they can tune in to livestreams.

The game requires players to guess, for example, what colors the 1989-era set will be, what shade and length Swift’s dress will be when performing “Fearless,” whether the guitar she plays on “Lover” will be pink, blue or purple, and what hits the Grammy winner will play in her highly anticipated evening acoustic set of surprise songs.

Correct answers mean points – and of course the right to brag about it on social media.

“This is my biggest moment,” wrote one fan on X (formerly Twitter) after nailing some of Swift’s stage outfits. “That was awesome,” boasted another.

Wrong answers mean good-natured self-criticism and funny memes.

On the day the game came out for the Tokyo shows in February, Mumma said 6,000 Swifties played. During the current tour of 18 European cities, the numbers have steadily increased. At Tuesday’s show in Zurich, 288,000 people played, a “new record for us,” Mumma said.

Swift Alert is available for iPhones and Android devices. Most features, including Mastermind, are free, but the full experience can be unlocked for a one-time premium fee of $1.99.

ForbesWhy Taylor Swift fans love the app “Swift Alert”From

Alerts remain the anchor of Swift Alert, says Mumma, who, when he’s not busy covering Swift news, works full-time as a product manager for a sports technology company. But Mastermind has become the app’s most popular feature.

“That’s what’s been really popular here lately,” Mumma said in an interview. “It’s a great way for people to feel involved and engaged in the tour. Even if they can’t be there or even just watch, it gives them that emotional connection.”

On the first day the game came out for the Tokyo shows in February, 6,000 Swifties played, according to Mumma. During the current 18-city European tour, the numbers have steadily increased. On Tuesday, 288,000 people played at the Zurich show – a “new record for us,” Mumma said. Some players are simply guessing, others are using their encyclopedic knowledge of Swift and Era’s tour trends to estimate the likelihood that the singer-songwriter will wear purple instead of blue for “Speak Now.”

Still, “as much as she loves patterns and Easter eggs, it’s often impossible to guess what Taylor will do based on the patterns alone,” Mumma said.

New games go live about 24 hours before a show starts, as do TikTok videos of players sharing their predictions, and the answer boxes close right as Swift takes the stage. Someone on the app’s four-person team – three in the U.S., one in Turkey – watches each show and pushes the lever to reveal the answers as they reveal themselves during a concert.

About 10 minutes after the show, a Mastermind leaderboard is updated. The player in the coveted top spot wins a prize (Swift-specific, of course), such as a signed CD or vinyl record.

“We’ve sent out Mastermind prizes to winners in the US, UK, Germany, Poland, Argentina, Brazil, Singapore, Portugal, Italy, France, Mexico and the Netherlands,” said Mumma. For most players, however, the real prize is a bit of fun on the Eras Tour.