Hidden roles & bluffing
The Tell
Everyone runs a small con — or tells the truth. Catch the tell, land yours, and end on the one question nobody can fake.
- ~20 min
- 3–10 people
- One device, or phones
- Free
- Teens and up
What it feels like
Everyone at this table is running a con tonight. Or telling the truth. You'll never be quite sure which. Watch their hands. Watch their eyes. And when it's your turn... give them nothing.
How to play
- On your turn you get a prompt in private, and decide: tell the truth, or run a con.
- Perform it to the room and sell it. The one rule: you can lie about anything except how you feel about someone here.
- Everyone else calls it — truth or con — on phones or by thumbs. Name the tell that gave you away, for a bonus.
- The last round has no cons and no points: who here would you come down into the cold for?
Scoring: 1 point for calling it right, 1 more for naming a con's real tell. The runner scores 1 for everyone who got it wrong.
You'll get prompts like
- “Two things you did this week — one of them is a lie. Sell both.”
- “A skill you have that nobody here knows about — real or invented.”
What you need
3 to 10 people and one phone, tablet or laptop to pass around — or everyone on their own phone in a room. Nothing to download, no accounts. The best lines can be sealed into your group's Almanac and come back in later games.
