How to Play Guess Who (Board Game)

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: August 30, 2022

Guess Who is a fun two-player board game that is perfect for ages six (6) and up. This game is easy to learn and has very basic rules. The aim of the game is to guess your opponent's mystery character before they guess yours. Each game only takes a few minutes to set up and about 5-10 minutes to play. To extend the fun, play multiple games and keep a tally of who wins each time. Have fun!^{[1]
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Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Setting up the Game

1
Give each player a Guess Who board and flip up all the characters. Sit opposite each other and then choose a board. Place your board in front of you and lift up each of the 24 characters tiles on the board.^{[2]
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- Even though there are multiple boards, this game can only be played with two people.
- If you are playing multiple games in a row, consider using different boards each time to add variation.
- If the game is new, you will need to insert the miniature character cards into the slots on the game board. The placement of the cards doesn’t matter and doesn’t need to be the same on both boards.
2
Shuffle the character cards and place them face down on the ground. Take the deck of character cards and shuffle them thoroughly. Then, spread them out between your boards so that each card can be seen.^{[3]
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- If you aren’t a confident shuffler, place the cards on the floor and use your hands to muddle them up instead. This will achieve a similar result.
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3
Pick a card each and stand it up in the card holder in the Guess Who board - card front facing you. You must reference answers to this card only as you proceed through this game.This makes it easy for you to see your character throughout the game.^{[4]
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- Make sure that the other person doesn’t see your character! If your opponent accidentally sees your card, shuffle all the cards and draw a new one.
4
Nominate and agree on which player will start. This could be the youngest person, the person with the next birthday, or you could flip a coin to make it random.^{[5]
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- If you are playing multiple games, alternate who gets to start each game to make it even.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Playing and Winning the Game

1
Ask your opponent a closed-ended question about their character. In order to narrow down who your opponent's mystery character is, ask them a yes or no question. For example, “Do they have blue eyes?” “Are they a girl?” or “Does your character have brown hair?”^{[6]
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- You can’t ask open-ended questions, such as “What colour hair does your character have?” or “What colour are their eyes?” Your opponent can only respond to your question with a yes or no answer.
- ”Do they have glasses?” “Are they smiling?” and “Are they wearing are hat?” are more good questions to ask your opponent.
2
Flip down any characters that the answer rules out. Use your opponent's answer to your question to help you narrow down which character they have. For example, if you asked “Do they have brown hair?” and they say yes, flip down all the characters that don’t have brown hair. Alternatively, if your opponent says that they don’t have brown hair, flip down all the characters on your board that have brown hair.^{[7]
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- Make sure to only flip down characters that relate to the question that you ask. Otherwise, you risk making an incorrect guess at the end of the game.
3
Answer your opponent's question. Once the starting player has asked a question and flipped down the relevant tiles, it is the other person's turn. Note that you only flip down tiles when you are asking questions. When it is the other person's turn to ask a question, you simply respond with an answer that pertains to your mystery character.^{[8]
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4
Continue to alternate turns until somebody makes a character guess. Keep asking yes or no questions to narrow down the pool of possibilities. Allow your opponent to do the same when it is their turn.^{[9]
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5
Guess the correct hidden character to win the game. If you only have one character left on your board, use your turn to ask if their mystery character is the person that you have left standing on your board. For example, you might ask, “Do you have Anita?”^{[10]
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- A character guess ends the game. If you are correct, you win!
- If you win, move the peg on the front of your board along one point to keep score of who has won the most games.
- You can only guess one character at a time. For example, you can’t say “Is it Steve or Mike?"
6
Forfeit the game if you guess the wrong hidden character. If your guess is incorrect, the other person wins the game! For this reason, it is best to wait until you are completely sure who the mystery person is. The only exception to this is if you can see that your opponent has only one tile left and it is your last turn to make a guess. In this situation, it would be best to take a random guess.^{[11]
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- Once the game is over, put your character cards back into the pile of cards and shuffle them again.

Community Q&A

Question

What do we do with the pegs?

Community Answer

The pegs are for recording how many points you and your opponent have. The one with the most points/pegs wins.
Question

Is Jess a man or a woman?

Community Answer

Jess is a woman.
Question

I know my opponents person but it's not my turn and I've put down all but theirs. Can I just guess it or do I have to wait until it's my turn?

Stephz16

Community Answer

You have to wait until your turn, but maybe let them know you're going to guess in case they want to take a quick guess before you.