How to play “Who knows him/her better?”
Set up
Master of ceremonies
This game requires a master of ceremonies, a person who will ask the questions and control the game. Usually, it’s the person who planned the event or came up with the game. Or both!
The protagonist
The game revolves around one person — let’s call them the star of the show.
If we propose the game at a celebration – a birthday, an anniversary, a graduation, a retirement… – it is obvious who that person will be.
But the game can also be proposed at any type of meeting or gathering. The protagonist will be the person who has decided, for whatever reason, the person who created the game.
Number of players
Who knows him/her better? is a game suitable for between 2 and 20 players -not counting the main protagonist- although if it is well organized, many more can play.
What you need to play
Paper and pencil for everyone.
Number of questions
You can prepare more or fewer questions depending on how long you want the game to last. We recommend a minimum of 10 questions. 20 questions can be very good.
Goal of the game
Who will win?
Logically, the player who answers the most questions correctly will win.
Game mechanics
Question
The master of ceremonies asks a question related to the protagonist of the game, e.g. —What is his/her favorite color?—.
Write answers
Players have half a minute to write their answer on their paper without being seen by others. The protagonist also writes on his or her paper what will be the correct answer.
Say answers…
The master of ceremonies asks each of the players what their answer is.
And the correct answer is…
The protagonist reveals the correct answer.
Open for debate
Discussions, comments or clarifications on the answer given are likely to follow. That’s a good sign — it means the game is doing its job!
Update scores
The master of ceremonies will score a point on the scoreboard of all players who have answered correctly.
Next questions
The game continues with the same mechanics, with questions and answers, along with comments, clarifications, and laughs — some questions are bound to spark all that!
End of the game. Who wins?
Game over
The game ends when all questions have been asked.
And the winner is…
The player with the most points wins because he/she has answered more questions correctly. The best prize? A big, heartfelt hug between the two!
Possible game variants
For couples
The protagonist can be really two people, for example a couple celebrating their silver wedding anniversary.
In this case the questions should be about the couple, not about them individually, e.g. Where did they meet?
Absent protagonist
It is also possible to organize this game to be about someone who is not at the gathering, such as a celebrity who is admired by most of the participants.
You could create a “Who knows Freddie Mercury best” and ask questions about this musical genius, for example —What is his real name?—
Tips for playing “Who knows him/her better”?
Tip 1 – Keep it a surprise
If we propose the game in a celebration that revolves around a person it can be a nice surprise that someone has prepared a game to make that little tribute. A lovely gift.
Tip 2 – Adapt the questions
Tailor the questions to the person and the vibe you want for the game.
They will not be the same for a 6-year-old child as for a newly retired person.
Nor will they be the same if it is a family reunion with children than if we are with a group of adults and we want to give the game a little more hooligan and spicy tone.
Tip 3 – Mix questions of different types
We suggest mixing typical questions —What food can’t you stand?— with more fun ones —Have you ever cheated on a test?—
There are bound to be easy questions that almost everyone will answer well and more difficult ones that few will know how to answer. We suggest that you alternate them. Don’t stack five tough questions in a row — people might start to zone out.
Ideas for questions
Choose questions that suit the age and personality of the protagonist and the tone you want to give to the game. What we propose here are only ideas. Create your own questions!
About your likes and hobbies
- What is his/her favorite color?
- What is his/her favorite food dish?
- What food can he/she not tolerate?
- What is his/her favorite ice cream flavor?
- What is his/her favorite music group or singer?
- If collect something… what do he/she collect?
- Are he/she a fan of… what team?
- What is his or her favorite hobby?
- If he/she could have a pet, which one would he/she choose?
- In school, what was his/her favorite subject?
- What sport do he/she usually practice?
- What is his/her favorite day of the week, if he/she has one?
About his/her personality
- Are he/she superstitious?
- Is he/she punctual?
- If he or she could choose one superpower…. which one would he or she like to have?
- Does he/she believe in horoscopes?
- What is he/she afraid of?
- Is he or she an early riser or does he or she hit the snooze button for 5 minutes when the alarm goes off, and snooze it three times?
- Have you ever seen someone on the street whom he or she didn’t feel like greeting and pretended not to see?
- Has he or she ever cheated on a test?
- If he/she could change anything about himself/herself, what would he/she change?
- What is it that he/she would like to do but don’t dare?
- Which would he/she prefer? Being rich with many enemies or being poor with many friends?
- If he/she got a million dollars, what is the first thing he/she would do?
About some of his personality traits
These questions require extra work on the part of the Master of Ceremonies, but they can be a lot of fun.
- Do you know what his/her handwriting looks like? We pass the players a piece of paper on which there is the same handwritten phrase six times, by six different people, one of them being our protagonist. They are numbered from 1 to 6. What is the number of our protagonist? Just before starting the game – or that question – the master of ceremonies takes the protagonist and asks him to write the sentence. The others have to be previously written by people not participating in the game.
- Snoring? If they do, here’s something that takes a bit of effort — but it’s hilarious. You record him/her at night while he snores without him/her noticing. You prepare three more snoring audios that you can download from the Internet. The more fun the better. You play the audio of the 4 snores. Which one is our protagonist’s?
- Is he/she allergic to anything?
- How many tattoos does he/she have?
- How many piercings does he/she have?
- What social networks do he/she have?
- How often does he/she exercise?
About his/her skills
- Can’t swim: true or false?
- Can’t ride a bicycle: true or false?
- Sings very well
- Which dish cooks best?
- Dances very well
Photographs
We can show some photographs or video fragments in which our honoree appears or something related to him/her and ask some of these questions:
- What year was this photograph taken?
- Where is this photograph taken?
- How does what you see in the photograph relate to him or her?
- Who is with him or her in that photograph?
About things he/she has done in your life
Things about your personal or professional background
- What was his/her first job?
- Where did he/she study?
- How many jobs has he/she had?
- Every day he/she writes in a diary the most important thing that happened to him/her that day. True or false?
- He took an online cooking course
- Ever been to Las Vegas?
- Where would he/she like to travel to?
- Has he/she ever done anything illegal?
- Someone excitedly tells a joke that he/she doesn’t find funny. What will he/she do?
On how he/she would react to certain situations
We present a hypothetical situation and ask how they think our protagonist would react:
- In a job interview he/she notice that the interviewer has a piece of spinach between two teeth, very big, impossible not to see it…. What will he/she do?
- Rides in an elevator alone. The elevator stops between two floors. How will he/she react?
- A bag with $50,000 is found. No one sees him/her. What will he/she do?
- In the movie theater people in front of him/her are constantly making noise, what will he/she do?
- He/She’s been invited to lunch at someone’s house and the food is…. disgusting. What will he/she do?
These are just some ideas, so that you can understand how the game we propose from LOODENS is, but the questions must be created adapted to the person being honored.
And one last tip: make it fun! If you want, you can add an anecdote, introduce a question explaining something about the protagonist… Imagination to the power!
Have fun!
