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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.

Free · no signupPlay Truth or Dare2–12 players · 15–25 min · one phonePlay now — free

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

The intensity slider is the whole trick. At the bottom it is harmless fun; at the top the cards go where friends actually go at 1am — exes, jealousy, money, the worst thing you have done drunk. What none of them do is pick on someone for sport: bold is the point, cruel is not.

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. 1.What did you get told off for most as a kid?
  2. 2.What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten — and would you eat it again?
  3. 3.Which fictional character do you get compared to, and is it fair?
  4. 4.What would your entrance music be, and why that song?
  5. 5.What’s the worst advice you’ve ever been given with total confidence?
  6. 6.What’s the most rebellious thing you did at school?
  7. 7.What’s the longest you’ve gone without showering, and what’s your excuse?
  8. 8.What’s the worst job you’ve ever had, and what finally made you leave?
  9. 9.What’s a hill you will die on that nobody else cares about?
  10. 10.Who’s the most famous person you’ve met, and how badly did you handle it?
  11. 11.What was your most embarrassing phase, and is there photographic evidence?
  12. 12.What’s something everyone seems to love that you quietly can’t stand?
  13. 13.What do people always get wrong about you when they first meet you?
  14. 14.What’s your most controversial food opinion? Defend it.
  15. 15.Which song lyrics do you know word for word that you’re slightly ashamed of?
  16. 16.What was the silliest thing you were scared of as a kid — and are you completely over it?
  17. 17.What’s the most you’ve ever spent on something you used exactly once?
  18. 18.What’s the worst haircut you’ve ever had, and who do you blame?
  19. 19.Which word do you always mispronounce, and have you given up correcting it?
  20. 20.What’s the most ridiculous argument you’ve ever won?

15 dares

  1. 21.Show everyone the oldest photo still on your phone.
  2. 22.Say one true thing and one convincing lie. The group votes.
  3. 23.Do an impression of someone famous until somebody guesses who.
  4. 24.Describe your week using only the names of foods.
  5. 25.Tell everyone your most useless talent, then demonstrate it.
  6. 26.Do an impression of whoever used to tell you off as a kid.
  7. 27.Talk about yourself for thirty seconds without once saying “I”. Every slip starts the clock again.
  8. 28.Give a thirty-second sales pitch for the town you grew up in.
  9. 29.Show everyone the last thing you bought online and defend the purchase.
  10. 30.Show everyone the most recent screenshot on your phone and explain it.
  11. 31.Introduce the person on your left as if they were about to give a speech.
  12. 32.Give a one-minute talk on something you’re weirdly passionate about. No notes, full conviction.
  13. 33.Explain your job to the room as if they were all five years old.
  14. 34.Pick anyone here and guess three things about their morning. They confirm or deny.
  15. 35.Show everyone your most-used emojis and let them decide what they say about you.

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.

All Truth or Dare questions

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