Would you rather…?

What it's for

The classic «would you rather» game: two absurd or impossible choices that spark debate and laughter. Perfect for parties, road trips and dinners with friends.

How to play

Everyone must pick one of the two options and explain why. You can't say «neither»!

Why the game only works if you cannot pass

The rule forbidding «neither» looks like rudeness and is instead the whole game: being forced to choose between two things both bad or both good obliges you to produce a criterion, and it is that criterion, not the choice, that is interesting. Two people picking the same option for opposite reasons have said far more than two who picked different options.

It is the same mechanism as the dilemmas used in philosophy and in interviews: the question has no right answer, it serves to bring out what a person considers important. And it works precisely because it is a game: nobody gets defensive in front of an absurd question.

How to write a good question

The two options have to be balanced: if one is clearly better, everyone picks it and there is no discussion. The good question is the one that splits the group, and you recognise it because somebody starts explaining without being asked.

The second requirement is concreteness: «would you rather be rich or happy» produces nothing, because it is abstract and the answer is socially compulsory. «Would you rather never listen to music again or never watch films again» works, because each person thinks of something specific they would lose.

The questions that ruin the evening

Those involving people present, even as a joke: who would you save, who would you leave behind, who is the least likeable. They do not produce a debate, they produce an embarrassment that lingers, and it is why well-made collections do not contain them.

And those asking you to choose between two things that genuinely touch somebody in the group: an illness, a bereavement, a separation. The game lives on the absurd and the hypothetical; the moment it becomes real, it stops being a game. The practical rule is simple: if a question could hurt somebody in the room, skip it.

Where it works best

In cars and queues, where you need something requiring no materials and no table; with children, who answer with absolute seriousness and produce the best replies; and as an icebreaker in a group that does not know each other, because it is the only format in which talking about yourself does not feel like talking about yourself.

The way to make it last is the why rule: whoever chooses has to explain, and whoever listens may ask one question. Without the why, the game lasts three minutes; with the why, it becomes a conversation and the next question is not even needed.

Nearby tools

For other games to play in company there are Riddles, Jokes and General knowledge quiz. To decide who starts Wheel of fortune and Heads or tails.