How to play the imposter game

Round by round

1. Set up. Add the players' names and pick a category, for example Food. Choose how many imposters there are: one to three, or random. One is normal; with 8 or more players, two is better.
2. Pass the phone. The screen names the next player. They take the phone, tap See my word, read it in private, then tap Got it and pass it on. Crew members see the secret word. The imposter sees that they are the imposter and, if hints are on, a hint.
3. Give clues. The app names who goes first. One by one, each player says one word that fits the secret word. The imposter has to sound like they know it. A timer is optional.
4. Vote. When the clues are done, everyone points at who they think is faking, all at the same moment. One person taps the player who got the most votes. If the group cannot agree, tap Nobody.
5. Result. If the group named the imposter, the imposter gets one last chance to guess the word and still win. If the group picked someone else or nobody, the imposter wins.

An example round

Category: Food. The word is pizza. The imposter's hint reads "shared box".

The clues go round: "cheese", "Friday", "round", "slice". The imposter says "party", which fits both the hint and the pattern, but nobody else said anything about sharing. Two players point at the imposter, and the group taps their name. The imposter guesses "kebab". Wrong, so the crew wins.

What makes a good clue

A good clue proves you know the word without giving it away. "Cheese" for pizza is fine. "Italian" is too easy to copy. "The thing we had last Friday" is good if the group was there, and nobody else can use it.

Scoring

Playing for points over several rounds is optional. An imposter that is not caught scores 2. A caught imposter that guesses the word scores 1. A caught imposter that misses gives each crew member 1.

Variations

• Two or three imposters. Two from 5 players, three from 7. The crew always stays the majority.
• A random number of imposters. Nobody knows if there is one, two or three. Everyone suspects everyone.
• Hints off. The imposter gets nothing but the category. Harder, and funnier.
• A timer. One to three minutes of discussion stops the long arguments.

More: the short rulebook, tips for winning as the imposter, word lists and the FAQ.

Play it free on iPhone or Android. It works offline with one phone.