A
party game that requires no equipment.
The game is really just an elaboration on
Twenty questions that makes
it a lot more conducive to large groups and more fun in general.
How to play
One person is "it" and chooses the name of a famous person, real, or fictional.
Then "it" announces the first letter of the person's name1. So, if the person
chosen is Sandro Botticelli, "it" would announce "B".
The other players think of people that start with this letter. As soon as someone
comes up with one, he or she asks a question that gives a clue. For example, a person
who thought of "Beethoven" could ask "Were you a classical composer?".
If "it" can figure out someone who matches the clue and whose name begins with given letter,
he should respond with it, as in, "I am not J.S. Bach." Even though
"it" didn't get the person that the other player was thinking of, the response still works.
Another player then can ask, "Did you compose nine symponies?"
If "it" can't figure out who the clue refers to, the player says
who she was thinking of (Ludwig Von Beethoven) and
has won the right to ask a direct yes/no question about the mystery
person. The probable first question might be "Are you a fictional character?" "It" must answer this question (in this case, "No").
Another player asks2, "Are you a member of 'N Sync?" If, for some reason, "it" cannot identify
Lance 'Lansten' Bass, then the player will get another chance to
ask a direct question about
the mystery person, possibly "Are you alive or dead?"
Play continues until one of the players can guess who the mystery person is.
The player then presents it as a clue, e.g. "Are you a Renaissance painter?".
If "it" cannot think of another Renaissance painter that begins with "B",
he must say he doesn't know or ask "To whom are you referring?".
If the player had identified the correct answer3 (Sandro Botticelli) the round is over.
The player who guesses the mystery person plays "it" in the next round.
Notes:
1. Ordinarily this is the first letter of the last name, but if the chosen person
is principally known by their first name (e.g. Madonna or Alexander the Great) the
initial should be taken from that (M or A, respectively).
2. Subsequent clues do not need to be limited to what's already known about the
mystery person. For example, even if you know that the mystery person is definitely a real person,
you can still give a clue that refers to a fictional character like Leopold Bloom.
3. If the player had been thinking of someone else, perhaps Hieronymus Bosch, then, as before,
this earns the interrogator a yes/no question; play continues.