Classic party game rules: Mafia, charades, Two Truths and a Lie and more
Clear rules for seven classic party games that need no board or app, including Mafia, charades, 20 Questions and Who Am I, with setup, variants and tips.
Every group has someone who half remembers the rules of Mafia from a school trip, and someone else who remembers them completely differently. That argument can take longer than the game.
So here are the rules for seven classic party games, written down properly. None of them need a board, an app or anything you’d have to buy. At most you’ll need paper, a pen and a few sticky notes. For each one there’s the player count, setup, how a round goes, how to win, the common variants and one tip from experience.
Which game for which group
| Game | Players | Time | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mafia / Werewolf | 7–20 | 30–60 min | Big groups who like arguing |
| Two Truths and a Lie | 3–15 | 15–30 min | People who don’t know each other well |
| Charades | 4–20 | 30–60 min | Mixed ages, noisy rooms |
| 20 Questions | 2–10 | 5–10 min a round | Car journeys, small groups |
| Psychiatrist | 6–15 | 10–20 min a round | Groups who’ve played everything else |
| Who Am I? | 3–12 | 20–40 min | Parties, mixed groups |
| Would You Rather | 2–20 | As long as you like | Filling time, warming up |
Mafia (or Werewolf)
The classic hidden-role game. A small group of Mafia members secretly kill townspeople each night, and the town tries to work out who they are during the day. Werewolf is the same game with villagers and wolves instead of townspeople and gangsters.
Players: 7 or more is best; it works up to about 20. One extra person acts as the narrator and doesn’t play.
You need: a slip of paper per player with their role on it, or a deck of playing cards (for example, black aces for Mafia, the red king for the Doctor, the red queen for the Detective, number cards for townspeople).
Setup: Decide how many Mafia there are. About one for every three or four players works: two in a group of eight, three in a group of twelve. Add a Doctor and a Detective if you want. Shuffle the roles and hand them out face down. Everyone looks at their own and keeps it secret.
How a round goes:
- Night. The narrator says “Everyone close your eyes.” Then “Mafia, open your eyes.” The Mafia silently recognise each other and agree by pointing on one person to kill. “Mafia, close your eyes.”
- If you’re playing with a Doctor: “Doctor, open your eyes. Who do you want to save?” The Doctor points at one person (they can choose themselves). Then the Detective, if you have one, points at someone, and the narrator nods or shakes their head to say whether that person is Mafia.
- Day. “Everyone open your eyes.” The narrator announces who was killed in the night, unless the Doctor saved them. The killed player is out, and in most groups they reveal their role.
- The town discusses. Anyone can accuse anyone. Mafia members pretend to be innocent townspeople.
- Vote. Someone makes an accusation, someone seconds it, and everyone votes. If more than half vote to eliminate, that player is out. Then night falls again.
How to win: The town wins when every Mafia member has been eliminated. The Mafia win when there are as many of them as there are townspeople left.
Common variants: In Werewolf the Detective is called the Seer, and there’s often a Witch who has one healing potion and one poison for the whole game. Some groups don’t reveal roles when players are eliminated, which makes the game harder for the town. A Jester who wins by getting voted out is a good addition for experienced groups.
Tip: The narrator makes or breaks this game. A narrator who tells a quick story about each death (“Dave was found in the kitchen, face down in the guacamole”) keeps people laughing even when they’ve been eliminated early. And eliminated players must stay silent. No pulling faces when someone accuses the wrong person.
Two Truths and a Lie
The best game for people who’ve just met. Everyone learns three things about each other, and two of them are true.
Players: 3 to about 15.
You need: nothing. Paper helps if people want to prepare.
Setup: Give everyone a minute or two to think of two true facts about themselves and one believable lie.
How a round goes: One person says their three statements in any order. Everyone else discusses, then votes on which one is the lie. The player reveals it, ideally with the story behind the true ones.
How to win: Usually nobody keeps score. If you want to, give a point to everyone who spots the lie, and a point to the storyteller for each person they fool.
Common variants: “Two Lies and a Truth” swaps the ratio and is harder. In a work setting you can theme the statements: three things about your first job, three things about holidays.
Tip: The best lies are dull and the best truths are odd. “I have a sister” is a great lie. “I once got locked in a museum overnight” is the kind of truth that wins the round.
Charades
Act out a word or title without speaking, while your team guesses. Loud, physical and good for every age.
Players: 4 or more, split into two teams.
You need: slips of paper, pens, two bowls or hats, and a timer (a phone is fine).
Setup: Each team writes film, book, song, TV show or phrase titles on slips, folds them and puts them in a bowl for the other team. Ten to twenty slips per team is plenty.
How a round goes: One player from Team A draws a slip from Team B’s bowl and has two minutes to get their own team to say the title exactly. They can’t speak, mouth words or point at objects in the room. Then it’s Team B’s turn.
The standard signals are worth agreeing on before you start:
- Film: crank an old-fashioned film camera next to your head.
- Book: open your hands like a book.
- Song: pretend to sing.
- TV show: draw a rectangle in the air.
- Number of words: hold up that many fingers, then hold up fingers again to say which word you’re acting.
- Syllables: lay fingers on your forearm.
- Sounds like: tug your ear.
- Short word (“a”, “the”, “of”): hold your thumb and finger close together.
- Correct: point at your nose and at the person who said it.
How to win: One point per title guessed in time. The team with the most points after everyone has had a go wins.
Common variants: For younger players, use simple objects or animals instead of titles. Fishbowl (also called Salad Bowl) plays three rounds with the same slips: first you describe the title in words, then you can say only one word, then you act it out, by which point everyone half knows the titles and it’s all about speed. Some groups play with no categories at all.
Tip: Keep titles reasonable. A slip with “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” on it is funny for exactly one team.
20 Questions
One person thinks of something, everyone else has twenty yes-or-no questions to work out what it is. You can play it anywhere, which is why it’s survived on car journeys for over a century.
Players: 2 or more.
You need: nothing.
Setup: The answerer thinks of a person, place, animal or object and keeps it to themselves. In the traditional version they say whether it’s “animal, vegetable or mineral” to start.
How a round goes: The others take turns asking yes-or-no questions. “Is it alive?” “Is it bigger than a microwave?” “Would you find it in a kitchen?” The answerer can only say yes, no or “sometimes” (if the honest answer is complicated). Someone counts the questions out loud. Any player can use a question to make a direct guess.
How to win: If someone guesses correctly within twenty questions, the guessers win and that person thinks of the next thing. If nobody gets it, the answerer wins and goes again.
Common variants: Limit it to one category, such as famous people or films. Play it in teams, with each team having twenty questions and a time limit. With young children, allow thirty questions.
Tip: Start broad and halve the options each time. “Is it a person?” then “Are they alive?” then “Are they British?” beats “Is it Elvis?” every time.
Psychiatrist
A strange, clever game in which one player tries to diagnose what’s “wrong” with everyone else. Hardly anyone knows it, which is part of the fun.
Players: 6 to 15.
You need: nothing.
Setup: One person is the psychiatrist and leaves the room. The others agree on a “condition”: a rule they’ll all follow when answering questions. Some good ones:
- Everyone answers as if they’re the person sitting to their left.
- Every answer must start with the last letter of the question.
- Everyone lies if they’re wearing something blue.
- Answers must mention a type of food.
How a round goes: The psychiatrist comes back and asks anyone any question. “Where did you grow up?” “What’s your favourite drink?” The patients answer following the rule. If someone answers wrongly (breaks the rule), anyone can shout “Psychiatrist!”, and the whole group has to stand up and change seats. That’s chaos, and it’s also a big clue.
How to win: The psychiatrist wins by guessing the condition. Give them three guesses, or a time limit of ten minutes. If they run out, the patients win and reveal it.
Common variants: Two psychiatrists who can confer. Harder rules for groups who’ve played before, such as answering with the number of words in the question.
Tip: Start with the “person to your left” rule for first-timers. It’s easy to follow, fun to watch, and the giveaway is usually someone confidently naming a hometown or a job that everyone knows belongs to their neighbour.
Who Am I? (the sticky note game)
Everyone has a famous name stuck to their forehead and has to work out who they are. In the UK it’s also known as the Rizla game, after the cigarette papers people used to lick and stick on.
Players: 3 to about 12.
You need: sticky notes and pens.
Setup: Everyone writes the name of a famous person, real or fictional, on a sticky note without showing anyone. Then they stick it on the forehead of the person to their left. Everyone can see the other names but not their own.
How a round goes: Players take turns asking a yes-or-no question about themselves. “Am I a woman?” “Am I alive?” “Have I been in a film?” If the answer is yes, they ask another question. If it’s no, the turn passes to the next player.
How to win: The first player to guess their own name wins. Most groups keep playing until everyone has got there, or until the last person gives up and is told.
Common variants: Use a theme (cartoon characters, footballers, people everyone in the room knows). Play with a timer, where each player has one minute per turn. For a calmer version, players don’t take turns and just ask the group whenever they like.
Tip: Pick names that everyone in the group will know. The fun is in the questions, and a name only one person has heard of turns it into a punishment.
Would You Rather
Not so much a game as a conversation with rules. Someone asks a question with two options, and everyone has to choose one.
Players: 2 or more.
You need: nothing.
Setup: None. Optionally, each person writes a few questions in advance.
How a round goes: One person asks, “Would you rather…” with two options. Everyone picks one, either by going round or all at once on the count of three (point left or right). No “neither”. Then you argue about it.
Some to start with:
- Would you rather be able to talk to animals or speak every human language?
- Would you rather always be ten minutes late or always be twenty minutes early?
- Would you rather give up music or give up films?
- Would you rather have a rewind button or a pause button for your life?
- Would you rather know when you’ll die or how you’ll die?
- Would you rather live in a world without winter or without summer?
How to win: You don’t, really. To make it competitive, have everyone guess what the majority will choose and score a point for being right.
Common variants: Make every question about the people in the room (“Would you rather go on holiday with Tom or have Tom plan your wedding?”). Use it as a drinking game, where the minority drinks. Theme it for the occasion: food, work, travel.
Tip: The best questions have two options that are both good or both terrible. If one option is obviously better, everyone picks it, and there’s nothing to argue about.
If your group likes the bluffing in Mafia but you’re only four people, Faker is a word game we made on the same idea that works with three or more.
