How to Play 20 Questions
One player is the keeper.
The keeper secretly thinks of a person, place, or object; this is the target.
Every other player is a guesser.
Guessers attempt to figure out the target by asking a series of yes or no questions.
The keeper must answer truthfully to the best of their ability.
The guesser wins if they correctly guess the target within 20 questions.
1. Clarity
If a question cannot be answered with a clear yes or no, the keeper responds with a quizzical shrug.
If the keeper quizzically shrugs three times, the guessers lose.
2. Pain
The guesser sticks out their hands, palms down.
Instead of answering questions verbally, the keeper strokes the back of the guesser’s hands if the answer is yes and slaps the back of the guesser’s hands if the answer is no.
3. Ghost
The keeper is dead.
Guessers use a spirit board to receive answers.
4. Frustration
The keeper can only answer no.
The keeper does not tell the guessers that they are playing this variant.
The keeper wins if they get through all 20 questions without raising suspicion.
5. Genie
Guessers are not limited to yes or no questions.
The keeper must always respond truthfully and in the positive, but may be as misleading as language allows.
6. Specificity
Guessers ask 100 questions.
They may not guess what the target is until the final question.
7. Granularity
Guessers are not limited to yes or no questions.
The keeper must answer questions with a number between 1 and 100.
8. Entanglement
The keeper chooses two targets instead of one.
Every time a question is asked, the keeper gives answers for both targets in a random order, without disclosing which answer relates to which target.
9. Generator
The keeper is a coin.
After asking it a question, flip it.
If heads, the answer is yes. If tails, the answer is no.
10. Truth
The keeper can only answer yes.
They are hooked up to a polygraph.
11. Mindreading
The keeper carefully chooses a target that will help the guesser win.
The guesser wins if they correctly guess the target within one question.
12. Subjectivism
Guessers cannot ask questions with objective answers.
13. Performance
The guesser and keeper secretly agree on a target before playing in front of an audience.
14. Intimacy
The guesser’s questions must all relate to the keeper.
15. Duration
The keeper deeply ponders the answer to the first question before answering.
For each subsequent question, the keeper ponders for twice as long as the previous.
16. Apophenia
The guesser can only ask questions in the form of “is it like [guess]?”
The keeper answers in the form of “yes, in that [explanation].”
17. Logic
There are two keepers. One always tells the truth and the other always lies.
The keepers secretly assign ja and da to replace yes and no, without telling the guessers which means which.
18. Reversal
The guesser announces the target. They win.
The keeper gives a yes or no answer. The guesser asks a question.
Repeat up to 20 times. Questions should start specific and become broader.
To end the game, the keeper announces: “OK, I’ve got something in mind.”
The guesser responds with: “Do you want to play 20 Questions?”
19. Strip
Every time the answer is no, the guesser removes an article of clothing.
20. ∞
Play all 20 Variants in a row.