A guessing game for trivia lovers. It works like Twenty Questions, except you have to earn every real question.
Overview
One player, the chooser, secretly becomes a famous person. Everyone else tries to work out who. You need two or more people and a head full of famous names. No cards needed.
Playing
Set up. The chooser picks a famous person that everyone at the table will know, and says one letter: the first letter of the name the person is best known by. That’s usually the surname (David Bowie is “B”). Someone known by one name uses that (Cher is “C”).
Ask a clue question. Take turns asking about someone with that letter, without saying who. “Have you been in a Bond film?” (you’re thinking of Pierce Brosnan). Have a particular person in mind: if you stump the chooser, you’ll have to say who. Keep it fair: pick someone the table could reasonably know.
The chooser dodges. If they can name someone who fits, other than their own secret person, they do: “No, I’m not Halle Berry.” That question is done, and the next person asks.
Stumped? If the chooser can’t think of anyone, they say so. The asker reveals who they meant, and gets a real yes-or-no question about the secret person, which the chooser must answer truthfully: “Are you alive?” Then it’s back to clue questions.
Guess. When you think you know, aim a clue question straight at them: “Did you sing about a Starman?” If it fits the secret person and the chooser can’t name anyone else, they must own up: “Yes, I am David Bowie.” You can also spend a real question on a straight guess: “Are you David Bowie?” Whoever gets it wins, and chooses next.
One turn at a glance
Unless someone’s won, back to the top
A round, start to finish
The chooser is David Bowie.
Chooser: “B.”
Sam: “Were you ever a Beatle?”
Chooser: “No, I’m not Pete Best.”
Jen: “Did you paint The Birth of Venus?”
Chooser: “No, I’m not Botticelli.”
Alex: “Did you invent the ballpoint pen?”
Chooser: “Hmm. I can’t think who that is.”
Alex: “László Bíró. So, my real question: are you a musician?”
Chooser: “Yes.”
Sam: “Did you sing about a Starman?”
Chooser: “Yes, I am David Bowie.”
Sam wins, and chooses next.
Botticelli house rules
Tables play it a little differently.
- Real questions: a stump earns just one, or you keep asking until you get a no.
- Another letter: a stump earns the next letter of the name, instead of a real question or as well as one.
- Who counts: some tables play only real people, others allow fictional characters too, and some stick to one area, like film stars or historical figures. Whoever it is, use the name everyone knows them by, so the letter is obvious.
Where the name comes from
Its rule of thumb: the secret person has to be at least as famous as Sandro Botticelli, the Renaissance painter of The Birth of Venus.