Tall Tales
Make up the funniest answer and win the vote.
There's no real answer to find here, which is what makes it work — everyone is making things up, and the only skill that matters is writing a lie funny enough that strangers, or your own family, choose it over the truth nobody actually knows.
Objective
Invent a fake (and funny) answer to the prompt, then vote for the best one — without voting for yourself.
How to play
- A prompt is shown (e.g. 'A terrible name for a pet shop'). Every player secretly writes a made-up answer — the funnier, the better.
- All answers are shuffled and revealed. Everyone votes for the one they liked most. You can't vote for your own answer.
- The votes are tallied and the winner is revealed. Players who got votes earn points based on how many people picked them.
Scoring
You earn 1 point for every other player who voted for your answer. Voting itself never earns you points.
Example round
- The prompt is 'A terrible name for a pet shop.' Ana, Ben, Cleo, and Dan each write a made-up answer in secret.
- Ana writes 'Rest In Pieces Pets'. Ben writes 'Gone Fur Good'. Cleo writes 'The Last Woof'. Dan writes 'Bark to the Future'.
- All four answers are shuffled and shown without names attached, then everyone votes for their favorite — nobody can vote for their own.
- Ana votes Dan, Ben votes Dan, Cleo votes Ana, and Dan votes Ben.
- Dan's line got two votes, so Dan scores 2 points that round; Ana scores 1 for her single vote; Ben and Cleo score 0.
Strategy tips
- Specific and absurd beats generic — a made-up detail lands harder than a vague punchline everyone could have written.
- Read the room before you write: a family group and a group of coworkers laugh at different kinds of wrong.
- Since you can't vote for yourself, don't hold back trying to guess what others wrote — write the line only you would think of.
- A short, punchy answer often reads faster in the reveal than a long one, and speed matters when everyone's scanning the list at once.
Best with
Plays with two players too: the House writes a hidden answer, and each of you picks which of two answers it wrote, so a pair can play a full game. It opens up past five or six players, where the shuffled answers create genuine uncertainty about who wrote what.
Variations
- Agree to a theme night — only prompts about work, only prompts about a shared trip, only prompts about pets.
- Add a house rule where the writer of the top-voted answer has to read it aloud in character.
- Run a lightning round with a shorter timer once the group is warmed up and writing faster.
FAQ
Can I vote for my own fake answer?
No, voting for your own answer isn't allowed — you can only vote for one of the other made-up answers.
How are points awarded?
You earn 1 point for every other player who voted for your answer; voting itself doesn't earn you anything.
Is there a real correct answer to guess?
No — every submitted answer is invented, so the round is decided entirely by which fake answer the group liked best.