Imposter Hunt

Everyone crowds around one phone. Everyone reads the same secret word — everyone except the imposter.

Then you go round the table, one clue each. Say a word that proves you know it. Say too much and you have handed the word to the imposter. Say too little and the table turns on you.

HOW A ROUND GOES

1. Pass the phone around. Each player holds their card to see the word, then hands the phone on. Letting go hides it again, so nobody catches a glimpse over a shoulder.

2. Give one clue each. The app names who starts. One word about your word — that is the whole turn.

3. Argue, then vote. Talk it out and accuse someone out loud. The app keeps time and stays out of the vote.

4. Reveal. If the imposter survived, they win. If you caught them, they get one guess at the word to steal it back.

THREE WAYS TO PLAY THE IMPOSTER'S CARD

With hint — the imposter is told, and gets something to bluff with: a characteristic of the real word, or a word close to it.

No hint — the imposter is told, and gets nothing at all. Pure improvisation.

Undercover — the imposter is not told. They just get a slightly different word, and they defend it honestly, because they believe it is the real one. Nobody at the table knows they are lying, including them. You are not hunting a liar any more, you are listening for whose word is a little bit off.

WHAT IS IN IT

• 706 words in 13 categories — Places, Food & Drink, Animals, Jobs, Sports & Games, Objects, Transport, Music, Screen & Stage, Nature, Clothing, Technology and Colours. Play with all of them or pick the ones your group likes.

• 3 to 50 players. Type everyone's names in, or leave them as Player 1, Player 2.

• More than one imposter once the group is big enough — up to five in a group of twelve. • A discussion timer: one, two, three or five minutes, or off entirely.

• Choose who sees the category. Everyone, only the imposter, or nobody at all.

• Decoy words are drawn from the same tight group as the real one, so a hint is never an obvious tell.

NO WIFI, NO ADS, NO ACCOUNTS

One phone, passed around a table. Imposter Hunt asks for no permissions, needs no internet connection, and has no ads, no sign-in and no in-app purchases. Nothing about your game leaves the phone, because nothing is collected.

GOOD FOR

Dinner tables, road trips, hostels, classrooms, and that lull after a meal when nobody wants to leave yet. Works with three people. Gets much louder with ten.