Note: Guess Who? has changed the characters present in the game over the years. The gameplay has not changed though so this guide applies to all versions of Guess Who?.
The objective of Guess Who? is to ask questions to your opponent to try and guess their mystery character before they guess your character.
On your turn you will look at the pictures on the doors that are still up on your gameboard. You need to think of a question to ask the other player about their mystery character that will eliminate some of the face up doors on your gameboard.
When trying to come up with a question, there aren’t many restrictions on what you can ask. The question needs to be answered with yes or no. Otherwise you can pretty much ask any question. Some example questions you could ask are as follows:
On your turn you could ask any of the above questions or come up with your own.
After you ask your question, your opponent looks at their mystery card. They will determine whether the answer to your question is yes or no. You need to tell the truth when answering another player’s question.
After receiving a response to your question, you will flip down some of the doors depending on what response you received.
If the other player answers no, you will flip down any door that matches what you asked in your question. For example you asked if their mystery character has brown hair. If they answer no, you will flip down any doors with characters that have brown hair.
If the other player responded with a yes, you will flip down any doors that don’t match what you asked in your question. For example you ask the other player if their mystery character has glasses. If they answer yes, you will flip down any characters that aren’t wearing glasses.
After you receive your response and you flip down the corresponding doors, play passes to the other player.
When you think you know what your opponent’s mystery character is, you can choose to use your turn to guess their identity. You must do this at the beginning of your turn before you ask a question.
You only have one chance to guess the other player’s mystery character. If you guess wrong, the other player wins the game. Therefore you should only guess their identity when you are pretty sure of what it is.
When one of the players make a guess of the other player’s mystery character’s identity, the game ends. The outcome depends on whether the player guessed correctly.
If the player guessed the correct mystery character, they win the game.
If they guess incorrectly, the other player wins the game.
The Guess Who? Challenge Game variant is only printed in the rules for some versions of the game. You could choose to use the variant in any version of the game though. This variant makes the game more challenging.
If you choose to play this variant, you will draw two mystery cards at the beginning of the game. The objective of the game is to try and guess both mystery cards that your opponent drew.
The gameplay is mostly the same as normal Guess Who?. Since you are trying to figure out two identities at the same time though, you need to be thoughtful when you ask questions. Every question you ask must include “both” or “either”.
When eliminating suspects you need to carefully analyze what response you received. One of your opponent’s characters may have the characteristic while the other might not have it. Only eliminate a suspect when you know for sure that they can’t be either of the other player’s characters.
When you think you have solved both identities, you can guess like in the normal game. To win the game you need to correctly guess both identities. If you are wrong on both or either of the characters, you lose the game.
If you want to play several games, you can choose to use the Championship Series variant rules.
This variant is played mostly the same as the normal game. Each time you win the game, you will slide your scoring peg forward one space to increase your score. Some older versions of the game have you place a peg on your gameboard. The first player to win five games, wins Guess Who?.
If you have any questions about how to play Guess Who?, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.
If you would like to see how to improve your chances of winning, check out our post about Guess Who? strategy.
Year: 1979 | Publisher: Hasbro, Milton Bradley | Designer: Theo Coster, Ora Coster, Theora Design | Artist: Theora Design
Genres: Children’s, Deduction, Family
Ages: 6+ | Number of Players: 2 | Length of Game: 10 minutes
Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light-Moderate | Luck: Moderate
Where to Purchase: Amazon, eBay Any purchases made through these links (including other products) help keep Geeky Hobbies running. Thank you for your support.
For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.
Eric Mortensen is an owner and head writer on Geeky Hobbies since 2014. He is an avid board game player and collector with over 3,000 board and card games in his collection. Since 2014 he has written more than 1,100 board game how to play guides.
