How to Play Would You Rather

Setting Up the Game

Play with at least two players. Choose at least one other player besides yourself to begin the game. Play with more players for a livelier game, as more players can provide more unique questions and debate each other’s answers. If you have a very large group of people, you can even play with teams, with all the members of a team having to come to a consensus on their answers.

Choose a player to go first. Select the first player, who will choose a question that begins with “Would you rather…?” and provides two scenarios for another player to choose from. Get creative with how you choose the first player if you want to. You can roll a die, go by the youngest player in the group, draw straws, or any other method. The “Would you rather” question can pair any two funny, serious, wacky, or thought-provoking scenarios together, such as “Would your rather have hands for feet or feet for hands?” The first player asks his or her “Would you rather” question to another player of their choice, who then must answer the question.

Choose one answer to any question you are asked. Pick one of the two scenarios you would “rather” do or have from the question asked by the current player. There are a number of different reasons you might have for answering one way or the other, but the choice is up to you! Players might choose an answer just because it is the slightly more tolerable option of two undesirable things, like “be hairy all over” or “be completely bald all over.” Players might also choose something they would genuinely enjoy due to their preferences, or something that strikes a moral or humorous debate with the other players. No player that is asked a “Would you rather” question can answer “both” or “neither.” You must choose one of the two options given.

Continue asking and answering questions. The person that the first player asks a question to becomes the next player, choosing a new person to ask a question to. Alternately, players may ask each question to the person beside them, or to the whole group. The latter may work best for smaller groups playing this game. Play continues until players are out of ideas for questions, someone cannot choose an answer to a question, or for however long you like.

Asking Questions

Create a dilemma of two similar things. Pose a question that compares two scenarios side-by-side, asking the player to choose one that they would hypothetically rather do. For example, a question could be “Would you rather meet an alien visitor or travel to outer space?” or “Would you rather live one life that lasts 1,000 years or ten lives that last 100 years?” The goal is to make questions very difficult to answer, either because a player cannot choose between two things they’d like to do, or because both options are bad or uncomfortable and he or she wouldn’t want to do either.

Try offering two good options. Use a tactic of asking questions that pair together two different scenarios that are generally desirable to people. For example, you could ask a question about super powers or special abilities, like, “Would you rather have the ability to fly or to be invisible?” or “Would you rather be able to speak fluently every language in the world or be the best in the world at something of your choosing?” You can also provide a scenario that questions ethics, such as, “Would you rather end hunger or hatred?” or “Would you rather make headlines for saving somebody’s life or winning a Nobel prize?”

Try offering two bad options. Make questions humorously uncomfortable for people by asking questions that pose two different scenarios that are in some way undesirable. Come up with scenarios that would be physically uncomfortable and absurd, like “Would you rather wear a snow suit in the desert or be naked in Antarctica?” or “Would you rather be without elbows or be without knees?” Try a question that would be embarrassing for the other person, such as “Would you rather get caught singing in the mirror or spying on your crush?” or “Would you rather, on senior prom night, have to take your parent or your 12-year-old sibling?”

Using Variations

Ask a question to the whole group. As a player asking a question, choose to ask it to the whole group instead of just one person. You can also choose a different method of taking turns, such as the player always asking a question to the person to their left to continue play in a circular motion instead of picking new players at random. Ask a question to the whole group if you want to get more opinions, or compare answers amongst everyone. The player asking the question can also answer it themselves!

Set a time limit. Give players a time limit for answering any question to help speed up the game and encourage split-second decisions. Set a timer or flip a gaming hourglass to keep track of the time. The shorter the time period, the more pressure it places on players to give an answer even when they don’t want to. Pick a penalty for any player who doesn’t answer in time, if you’d like. He or she can be considered “out” for the rest of the game, or have to answer three more questions in quick succession.

Try the board game version. Use a board game version of this game, which allows players to read pre-written questions off of cards and move through spaces on a playing board. The goal for a board game would be to reach a finish line with pieces on a game board, or another objective of your choosing. Whether or not you have the board game, try playing with this rule: have the player that asks a question have to guess what the majority answer of all the other players will be before they answer out loud, or have all players guess what one person will choose.

Get ideas for questions online. Come up with new questions by consulting any number of websites with “Would you rather” example questions. These are useful if you’re stuck in thinking of your own or want appropriate questions for a certain playing group. Try checking out a family-friendly list of questions if you’re playing with kids. You might also print out questions for kids for a long car ride or other occasion. Look for questions aimed specifically at adults if you’re playing with a more mature group.