The 20 Questions game: rules, smart questions and 120 ideas

The 20 Questions game is the one everybody has played in the car, on a school trip or on a slow Sunday afternoon. One person thinks of something, and everyone else can only ask questions that have a yes or no answer. This guide covers the exact rules of 20 Questions, the questions that get you to the answer fastest, and 120 ideas so you never have to sit there wondering what to think of.

How to play the 20 Questions game

1. 1One player thinks of something: an object, an animal, a famous person, a place or an idea. They keep it to themselves.
2. 2Everyone else takes turns asking questions. Only questions that can be answered with yes or no count.
3. 3The thinker can only answer yes, no or “I don’t know”. No explaining, no hints.
4. 4The group has 20 questions in total. Whoever guesses it first becomes the thinker for the next round.
5. 5If nobody gets it within 20 questions, the thinker wins and goes again.

The game is much older than it looks. Victorian families played it as a parlor game, often opening with “Animal, vegetable or mineral?”, and Charles Dickens has the guests play a version called Yes and No in A Christmas Carol (the answer turns out to be Scrooge). In the 1940s it became a hit radio show in both the US and the UK under the name Twenty Questions.

The best 20 Questions to ask

A good question in the 20 Questions game cuts the possibilities roughly in half, whatever the answer. So start broad and save the specific guesses for the end.

1. 1Is it alive, or was it ever alive?
2. 2Is it a person? If yes: A real person? Still alive? American or British? A woman? Famous for sports?
3. 3Is it an animal? If yes: A mammal? A pet? Bigger than a cat?
4. 4Is it an object? If yes: Does it fit in my hand? Does it use electricity? Does everyone have one at home?
5. 5Is it a place? If yes: In this country? A city? Have we been there?
6. 6Is it an idea or a feeling? If yes: Is it positive? Can you see it?
7. 7Only start naming specific things around question fifteen. A rushed “Is it the Eiffel Tower?” burns a valuable question.

When several people are asking, listen to each other. The most common mistake is asking something that was already answered two questions ago.

120 ideas for the 20 Questions game

Stuck for something to think of? Pick one of these. The difficulty is roughly how many questions an average group needs.

Easy, good for kids

• Objects: Toothbrush, Umbrella, Pillow, Pencil, Ball, Spoon, Bicycle, Glasses, Key, Fridge
• Animals: Giraffe, Penguin, Dog, Ladybug, Elephant, Turtle, Dolphin, Owl, Horse, Bee
• Food: Pizza, Pancakes, Apple, Ice cream, Peanut butter, Watermelon, French fries, Cheese, Birthday cake, Banana

Medium

• Places: Disneyland, Eiffel Tower, The Moon, The zoo, The corner store, The Sahara, Venice, An airport, A hospital, The White House
• Characters: Santa Claus, Winnie the Pooh, Harry Potter, Shrek, Cinderella, Batman, Mickey Mouse, SpongeBob SquarePants, Peppa Pig, Paddington Bear
• Jobs: Pilot, Dentist, Magician, Mail carrier, Gardener, Astronaut, Baker, Judge, Paramedic, Firefighter

Hard

• Ideas: Luck, Gravity, Echo, A dream, Monday, Silence, The internet, Nostalgia, A shadow, A rainbow
• Events: A wedding, The Olympics, New Year’s Eve, Graduation, A solar eclipse, Moving day, Thanksgiving, A birthday, An election, The Super Bowl
• Odd objects: Rubik’s Cube, Compass, Hourglass, Telescope, Match, Postage stamp, Metronome, Hot air balloon, Sheet music, Sparkler

Famous people and legends

• History and science: Abraham Lincoln, Queen Elizabeth II, William Shakespeare, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr., Marie Curie, Neil Armstrong, Winston Churchill, Walt Disney, Isaac Newton
• Sports: Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Simone Biles, David Beckham, LeBron James, Usain Bolt, Muhammad Ali, Tom Brady, Lionel Messi, Emma Raducanu
• Music and screen: Taylor Swift, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Beyoncé, Adele, Oprah Winfrey, Harry Styles, Dolly Parton, Mr. Bean, Tom Hanks

Guessing, just faster

The 20 Questions game is quiet and slow, and that is the charm. If you want something faster and louder, charades ideas are the next step up. And if you want the questioning to turn into bluffing, the Impostor party game flips it around: everyone knows the word except one player (see how it works).

Impostor Party Game

Download free

The Who Am I game: 20 Questions in reverse

The Who Am I game is the most popular cousin of 20 Questions, and it is the sticky note on the forehead game you have probably seen at parties. Here the guesser does not pick the answer. The others choose a character for them and stick it on their forehead. Everybody can see who they are, except them.

• Everyone gets a sticky note with a famous person, cartoon character or object on it, and puts it on their forehead.
• Each turn, a player asks one yes or no question about themselves: “Am I a woman?”, “Am I a singer?”
• If the answer is yes, they ask another one. If it is no, the next player goes.
• The first person to work out who they are wins. The rest keep going until everyone has gotten there.

In a bigger group the Who Am I game beats classic 20 Questions, because everyone plays at the same time. It is also a great icebreaker, and you will find more like it in our team building games.

Variations

• Road trip version. The thinker can only pick something visible from the car window. On a long drive with kids, this is the best car game there is.
• Theme round. Agree on the category first, for example movies or soccer players. It helps beginners a lot, and in October Halloween characters make a great theme (more ideas in our Halloween party games).
• Reverse 20 Questions. The thinker asks the questions and the group answers about something they picked together. Rarely played, and very funny.