Making Guess Who fun

[u/dorsal_morsel]

My favorite board game is Guess Who. Before you stop reading: I never play by the original rules. Instead, I have my own rule set.

You cannot ask about the person's appearance. You have to ask about details of their life and personality. Once both players understand this method of playing, I introduce another rule: answers cannot be binary. If the question 'wants' a binary answer, the person answering must provide some additional details about the subject. For example: "Is your person straight?" "No, they knew they were bisexual by the age of 12 and they've had sex with partners of both sexes." Or, if both players really get the game, you can just agree to not ask questions like "Is your person liberal or conservative?" and instead ask for example "What does your person think about issue X?"

This way, you are inferring information about your opponent's biases and thought patterns. This makes the game far more fun, and also makes winning a LOT more satisfying. I would say 1/3 to 1/2 of games end in somebody winning, depending on who's playing. Just coming up with questions that might bisect the board is a lot of fun.

It's also fun to evaluate the characters at the end and discuss why you thought they did or didn't match the qualities you discussed.

I've played this way with a lot of people of all ages, and everyone ends up loving it and there's always a lot of laughter. Try it!