Survive Your Ideas puts one player in charge of the map at a time. When the roulette picks you, you type a single word and the island obeys it: a word can make everybody invincible, drop a tank, delete the floor, or do nothing at all. The game’s own index lists 537 words across ten categories, and this guide sorts them by what happens after you press Send.
Quick answer: the safest word in the game is peace – the banner reads “Nobody can get hurt”. Star makes you invincible, gojo means nobody can touch you, afk makes you untouchable, and shield puts a force field around you. If you want to win instead of just survive, type kill, hero or titan: they arm only you.
The words that ruin a round – nuke, black_hole, antimatter, snap – do not spare the writer either. You get the same warning everyone else does, so only type those if you already know where to stand.
How writing works
The roulette picks one writer at a time
Each round, the game hands the pen to one player. A banner reads “Your turn to write!” and a text box opens over the island; type one word into it and press Send. The word appears at the top of the screen in large capitals, under a line telling everyone how to survive whatever it just summoned: “A BLACK HOLE in the corner! Stay outside its ring!”
Everyone else sees “[name] is writing” while you type, so there is no surprise. New writers keep getting picked for as long as the match lasts, which means the map is always stacking: a black hole in one corner, a wave, then whatever the next player types.
The five jobs a word can do
Every one of the 537 words falls into one of five jobs. The job matters more than the word’s theme: “monster” and “peace” are both typed in the same box, but one hands the lobby a predator and the other ends the threat for a few seconds.
| Job | What it does | Words that do it |
|---|---|---|
| Protects the lobby | Invincibility, a freeze, a heal or a revive for everyone on the island | peace, star, gojo, afk, shield, time_stop, chillguy, bruh, love, sorry, jesus, doctor, revive, grace words like oasis and capybara |
| Arms you | Gives the writer – and usually everyone – a weapon or a body to fight with | kill, hero, titan, hulk, goku, superman, ironman, sukuna, bankai, rasengan, saitama, spiderman, luffy |
| Drops a weapon for everyone | Neutral: a gun or blade appears and the fastest player to reach it wins the fight | gun, melee, gun:Ballistic entries like gun:AWP and gun:Minigun, melee:Shield, melee:Chainsaw |
| Reshapes the island | Changes the map itself, which is where most deaths come from | nuke, black_hole, antimatter, snap, zone, flood, delete, destruction, tsunami, earthquake, apocalypse, avalanche |
| Does almost nothing | Cosmetic, funny, or literally nothing | nothing, ok, hi, gg, ez, quiet, aura, sigma, me, confetti, fireworks, sky, day, night, rtx, blur, pov |
The best words to type: full protection
These are the words we would type when the roulette picks us and we want to still be alive when it picks the next player. The effect line is the game’s own text, shown to the whole server.
| Word | What the game says | Why it is a top pick |
|---|---|---|
| peace | “Nobody can get hurt” | The strongest defensive word in the game. We were in a match when it landed: “Peace time! Nobody can get hurt for 15 seconds!” |
| star | “A star makes you invincible” | Personal invincibility with no downside. |
| gojo | “Nobody can touch you” | Same idea, and it is also a Mastery word, so typing it builds progress. |
| afk | “You go AFK, untouchable” | You cannot be hit while it runs – and you cannot be blamed for the six players who die around you. |
| shield | “A force field around you” | A bubble you can keep moving inside. |
| time_stop | “Time stops for everyone else” | Everyone else freezes while you walk out of whatever is already on the map. |
| bruh | “Everyone freezes. Bruh.” | Cheapest panic button in the list: one word, whole lobby locked in place. |
| chillguy | “Everyone chills, monsters too” | The only word that also stops creatures that are already hunting. |
| jesus | “Heals all, revives one, feeds” | Three jobs in one word: heal, revive, and food. |
| sorry | “An apology heals everyone” | A heal for the whole lobby, from a word nobody expects to matter. |
| doctor | “A doctor comes to patch you up” | A pocket heal for the injured players around you. |
| revive | “A dead player comes back” | Undoes a death. The most valuable thing a word can do late in a match. |
Notice what these have in common: they act on people, not on the map. Nothing you type can be dodged into, and nothing you type creates a new way to die.
The words that arm only you
If you care about winning rather than surviving the next ten seconds, these are the strongest entries in the list. The writer gets the same tool everyone else does, but you know it is coming.
- kill – “You get a knife: stab and throw”. A Mastery word, so every use counts towards its quests.
- hero – “Fly, punch and land like a hero”. Movement plus damage in one pick.
- titan – “Become a 20-stud titan”. Size is armour here: most hazards aim at player height.
- saitama – “One punch clears the monsters”. The direct counter to a map full of creatures.
- sukuna – “Slashes, Cleave and a fire arrow”. The best pure offence, and it is not a Mastery word.
- ironman – “Suit up: repulsors and unibeam”. Flight and a ranged attack.
- goku – “Golden hair, cloud and a big beam”. A beam you aim, from the air.
- superman – “Fly, grab and hurl anyone”. The grab is what makes it: you can throw players into the hazard that is already running.
Weapon words are not free wins, because everyone else gets one too. Ten players with the same sword is a coinflip; one player with a titan is not.
The words that will probably kill you too
This is the half of the list that ends matches. The writer is not exempt: you get the same hint as everyone else, minus the seconds everyone else uses to read it.
| Word | The game’s own warning | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| nuke | “A nuke! Run to the bunker” | The whole map, unless you already know where the bunker is. |
| black_hole | “A BLACK HOLE in the corner! Stay outside its ring!” | A corner of the island is deleted and the pull keeps dragging you back in. |
| antimatter | “The island falls up, then its middle is erased” | Gravity reverses first, so nobody can run while it happens. |
| snap | “Half of everything turns to dust” | A coinflip applied to the whole lobby, the writer included. |
| zone | “The zone closes in” | The playable area shrinks around whoever is left, at the moment you type it. |
| delete | “A chunk of the floor vanishes” | It may be the chunk under you. |
| apocalypse | “The end of the world” | The catch-all disaster word; the hint is the only thing that saves anyone. |
| supernova | “The sun explodes, hide in shade” | You have to find shade, and the shade may be where everyone else is running. |
| flood | “The whole island floods” | Low ground is gone; the counter is height, and a Portable Ladder or Ice Wand gives it to you. |
| tsunami | “A giant wave hits the island” | The wave crosses the map, so cover has to be behind you, not beside you. |
Two of these have a real counter that costs nothing: nuke names the bunker in the hint, and supernova names shade. The rest are about standing somewhere you can leave quickly.
You can stack two words in one entry
We watched a player type Tsumanianfblackhole into the box as a single entry, and the game accepted it: the death banner named the whole joined string – “TSUMANIANFBLACKHOLE got you” – and the kill line read “wrote \”Tsumanianfblackhole\””. The screen at the moment of death was a black hole eating the floor, so both names were in play at once. We have only seen the joined form once, but the write box does not reject it, and it is the only way we know to fit two of the worst words in the game into one turn.
The best word is always one you have never typed
Typing a word you have not used before pays cash, and the payment climbs. The first new word in your index pays $7,000, every word after that pays $2,100 more than the last, and the game puts a milestone bonus on every fifth word. The numbers below come from the game’s own reward curve:
- 1st new word: $7,000
- 2nd: $9,100, 3rd: $11,200, 5th: $15,400
- 10th: $25,900, 20th: $46,900
- 537th (the last word in the index): $1,132,600
- All 537 words: about $306 million in total
So the honest answer to “what should I type?” is: something you have never typed, that will not kill you. The index has more than 50 food words that only feed people, a whole weather category that changes the sky, and camera-filter words like rtx and monochrome that just repaint the screen. Those are free money, and they cost the lobby nothing.
Every one of the 537 words is listed, with the game’s own effect line for each, in our full Survive Your Ideas word list.
The 12 Mastery words: type these on purpose
Twelve words in the game have a Mastery track. Typing one is what levels it: each has three quests, and finishing all three unlocks what the game calls “Mastered [word]” rewards, which change how that word behaves for you permanently.
| Word | The three quests | Mastered rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Tornado | Kill 6 with your tornadoes; knock down 6 buildings; kill 3 with one tornado | Becomes a Fire Tornado; ride on top for 20s |
| Tsunami | Kill 8 with your waves; kill 3 with one wave; survive 3 waves with no escapes | Dark wave full of lightning; a giant ship crashes in; lightning storm all match |
| Nuke | Blast 12 with your nukes; blast 6 with one nuke; survive 3 outside the bunker | Much bigger mushroom cloud; breaks chunks off the island; 30s of acid rain |
| Black Hole | Kill 10 with black holes; knock down 8 buildings; stay 10s in its pull 4 times | Debris ring and light beams; carry it for 15s |
| Monster | Kill 5 with your monsters; kill 2 at 6 or fewer alive; outlive your monster 3 times | Glowing purple cracks; ride its neck for 25s; roar and claw attacks |
| Dinosaur | Kill 8 with your dinosaurs; hit 6 dinosaurs; lose a limb and win 2 times | Glowing blue spikes; ride it for 30s; blue breath attack |
| Gojo | Win at 20 HP or less with no legs; win without taking any damage; kill 3 while carrying your Black Hole | Lapse Blue pulls everyone in; Reversal Red blasts them away; Hollow Purple and Unlimited Void |
| Hero | Final punch on 3 bosses; kill 6 with punches; write at 6 alive and win | Golden aura and a cape; eye lasers you aim; grab and throw players |
| Earthquake | Knock down 26 buildings; survive 4 falling buildings; survive 4 quakes at 6 alive | Draw the crack’s path; glowing lava in the crack; island chunks fall away |
| Kill | Land 3 long shots; kill 3 in the air; kill 2 at 6 or fewer alive | Glowing red knife; bounces between 3 players; comes back to your hand |
| Car | Run over 40 players; run-over kill 3 in a match; win the 1v1 in your car | Cybertruck that flies for 25s; 8 missiles and a jet horn; landing slam shockwave |
| Lava | Kill 6 with your lava; stand 30s in lava and survive; beat 5 lava waves without the tower | Dive and swim underground; leave a river of lava behind; melt everything you pass |
Two of these are worth typing even before you care about the rewards: gojo protects you while it progresses, and kill arms you. The other ten all make the island more dangerous for everyone, so pick them when the round is already going badly for your rivals.
What NOT to type
nothing is the one word in the index whose own text is “Nothing happens. At all.” It is not a mistake, it is a way to burn your turn safely. If you have used it before, you get no cash for it and nothing happens – the least useful outcome in the game, and sometimes exactly what you want.
Avoid typing verity as a joke. The index describes it as “Your helper friend. Don’t type.” That is the game telling you not to.
Slash words are a separate list
Words that start with a slash are not in the 537. They are bought, they are limited to 3 per match, and they change the rules instead of the map: /admin (R$789), /reset (R$499), /chaos (R$399) and /god (R$199), or all four in a R$1,320 bundle. The cash versions run from /secret at $250,000 to /jackpot at $750,000. We cover them in the meta words guide – they belong in their own post because you never type them by accident.
Survive Your Ideas best words FAQ
What is the best word to type? Peace. It is the only word whose effect is that nobody on the island can be hurt, and it gives you the same 15 seconds of peace time it gives everyone else.
Can you die from your own word? Yes. The writer gets no protection and the hint is the only warning; the words that reshape the map kill the person who typed them as readily as anyone else.
Can you type more than one word? We saw a single entry reading “Tsumanianfblackhole” land as one event, so a joined word does work. Typing a sentence has not been tested and is not what the box is for.
Does typing pay? Yes, once per word: $7,000 for the first new word and $2,100 more for each one after it, with a milestone every fifth. Repeats pay nothing.
What happens if I type a word that is not in the index? The game’s description says you can type any word. We have not seen an unknown word do anything, and we are not going to claim it does.
Which words are worth repeating? The twelve Mastery words, because repeating them is the only way to finish their quests and unlock the mastered version. Everything else is worth typing once, for the cash.
If you want the per-word event list instead – what SAVANNA, DRAGON or DEATHNOTE each put on the map – we keep that in a separate guide to the command words. And if the word that caught you was a nuclear one, the items tier list covers the Force Field, Pocket Watch and Shield picks that answer it.