Truth or Dare for friends

With a group, Truth or Dare lives or dies on pace. Long questions kill it, mean questions kill it faster, and anything needing props means someone has to go and find something. These are written to keep a room moving.

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Playing with a group

Enter everyone as a player and pass the phone in a circle. The app shows whose turn it is, because with more than four people everyone forgets immediately.

Every ten cards the turn order reverses. It sounds trivial, but it stops the person to your left from mentally preparing while you are still answering.

Keeping it fun rather than pointed

Nothing here is about anyone’s appearance, money, or family. Those are the three things that reliably turn a party game into an atmosphere, and no amount of "it is just a game" walks it back.

If a group is new to each other, start on the icebreaker category. If they have known each other ten years, go straight to funny and turn the intensity up.

Reading the room

A group game has a temperature, and whoever holds the phone controls it. If two people have gone quiet, drop the intensity for a few cards rather than pushing through. If everyone is laughing and leaning in, turn it up, because that is when the bolder cards land instead of clanging.

Groups who have known each other for years can start higher. Groups where two people met an hour ago cannot, however confident the room seems. The person who does not know anyone is the one who decides whether a card was funny or awkward.

Variations worth trying

Every tenth card, make it a group dare that everyone does at once. It breaks the rotation, and doing something silly is far easier when five other people are doing it too.

Give everyone one veto for the whole round. Not a skip, a veto: one card they can throw out entirely for anyone. It sounds like it would slow things down and it does the opposite, because people take bigger swings when they know there is a brake.

For a longer session, let whoever answers pick the next category. It stops the game settling into one register, and it gives quieter players a way to steer without having to say anything.

20 truth questions

1.What's the worst haircut you've ever had, and how long did it last?
2.What's the pettiest reason you've ever stopped talking to someone?
3.What's a skill you've claimed to have that you absolutely do not have?
4.What's the last thing you searched for that you'd rather nobody saw?
5.Which fictional character do you get compared to, and is it fair?
6.What's the most-used app on your phone, and are you proud of that?
7.What's your comfort food at 2am?
8.What's something everyone seems to enjoy that you quietly don't?
9.What song do you play when you need to feel better?
10.What's the best thing you've bought for under the price of a coffee?
11.What did you want to be at ten, and what happened to that plan?
12.What are you good at that never comes up?
13.What's a place close to us you've never been and keep meaning to go?
14.What's a household rule you'd refuse to bend on, however small?
15.Do you recharge by seeing people or by getting away from them?
16.Which of your habits do you think would be hardest to live with?
17.What's a rule you grew up with that you've quietly stopped following?
18.Morning person or night person, and how much do you defend it?
19.What's your honest limit for how long you'd want guests staying over?
20.What's the most-used app on your phone that isn't a messaging one?

15 dares

21.Do your best impression of the person to your left. They get to rate it.
22.Show everyone your lock screen and explain it.
23.Talk for one minute about something you know nothing about. No stopping.
24.Let the group pick your next drink order. No vetoes.
25.Describe the last film you watched so badly that nobody can guess it.
26.Read out the last message you sent, in the voice of a news anchor.
27.Swap one item of clothing with the person on your right for three rounds.
28.Recommend something to everyone here and make it sound irresistible.
29.Show the last photo you took and explain what was happening.
30.Teach everyone something useful in under thirty seconds.
31.Guess the age of everyone here out loud. Commit to your answers.
32.Give a thirty-second pitch for the worst date idea you can invent.
33.Guess my answer to the last question before I say it. Commit out loud.
34.Name the one chore you'd take forever if you never had to do another.
35.Show everyone the oldest photo still on your phone.

Play with the full set

These are a sample. The game has the rest — no signup needed.

Play Truth or Dare

Common questions

How many people can play?

Up to twelve. Beyond that the turn rotation gets slow enough that people lose interest between goes.

Do we need anything besides a phone?

No. Every dare is designed to be done in the room you are in, with nothing but the phone you are already holding.

Is there anything inappropriate for a mixed group?

Not at the lower intensities. The slider controls how bold the cards get, and nothing is explicit at any setting. For a mixed or work group, keep it at gentle or playful.