Setup
Players
- Ideally 2 players, however you may play in teams, too, if you wish.
- Ages 6 and up.
Materials
- The Game Box.
- Two boards with 24 characters each, one for each player.
- Character cards.
- Rulebook for the game setup and gameplay instructions. You can also refer to this Guess Who? rulebook PDF.
Additional Setup Notes
- Shuffle the Character cards well and pick one each without showing it to the opponent.
- Optionally, you can get a timer if you’d like to play a timed round for an extra challenge.
- Optionally, you can also use the Score Keeper for multiple rounds if you are playing a Guess Who? championship game where the first one to win five matches wins the tournament.
Gameplay
Guess Who? is a social guessing game where players try to guess the mystery person on the opponent’s character card by asking questions that help them eliminate options as well as get closer to the right character. There are a total of 24 unique characters on the board and on the card deck. The game begins once both players have picked their character cards at random and placed them at the top of their boards facing them.
The younger player will always go first. In each turn, the player asks a question around different traits of the characters, for example:
- Gender
- Hairstyle
- Glasses
- Facial hair
- Profession
- Age, and so on.
Note however, that the answer to the question must be a Yes or a No, so you can’t ask the opponent to describe their hair, for example.
Based on the answer, the player can then eliminate characters that don’t fit the bill by pushing them down to the scoreboard to start narrowing down the possible options.
If you don’t ask a question, you must guess who the character is by saying “The mystery person is X!”. Only guess if you are sure of the answer, as guessing incorrectly will have you lose the round.
Endgame
A game of Guess Who? comes to an end if either a person guesses the person correctly and wins, or if they don’t get it right, the opponent wins the game.
Gameplay Example
Let’s run through an example of a round of Guess Who? In this scenario, there are two players.
- Player One: “Does your character have glasses?”
- Player Two: “No, great vision!” Player One eliminates everyone with glasses.
- Player Two asks: “Is yours a female?”
- Player One: “She is!” Player Two takes down the male characters.
- Player One: “Are they wearing a hat?”
- Player Two: “They are not!” Player One eliminates anyone wearing a hat.
- Player One: “Are they smiling?”
- Player Two: “Yes!” Player One takes down anyone frowning or serious.
- Player Two: “Are they wearing any jewelry?”
- Player One: “No, but I think I’ve got your person, is it the Soccer Player?”
- Player Two: “That would be correct!”
Tips and Strategy
Don’t guess the character too early in the game as that might hinder your chances of winning if you’re mistaken. Take your time to craft fun and insightful, even unexpected questions to keep the game fun and entertaining. Make sure to ask questions that help you eliminate larger amounts of characters in a single go.
FAQs
Are there special editions of Guess Who?
In addition to the classic Guess Who? board game, there are editions with the Office characters, Disney, Star Wars, and more.
Can you play Guess Who? online?
Yes, there are both browser versions and mobile apps that allow for gameplay against friends or even random opponents.
What are the best questions to ask in Guess Who?
Start with broad questions and then move on to more specific ones around unique physical traits.
