Playing Twenty Questions Indoors

(A good indoor game.)

(We played it like they played it on the TV show: “Is it bigger than a breadbox?”)

The game needs two or more players. One of the players thinks of an object, secretly writes it on a piece of paper, and turns the paper over and uses the other side to keep count. The player then announces the object’s composition as animal, vegetable, or mineral. The other players then asks a cumulative total of 20 questions—not each—to try to guess the object. As each question is put to the player, he must reply either “yes,” or “no,” or “possibly,” as appropriate. If a player gets a “no” answer, the play proceeds to the next player and the count to 20 continues. Players ask questions of a general nature, to narrow down the possibilities in as few questions as possible rather than make random guesses, until they feel confident that they are near to knowing the object. The first player to guess the object correctly is the winner and gets to choose an object for the next round of play. If no one has guessed the object by the time 20 questions have been asked the person answering the questions wins and discloses his/her object, the players are told what it was. The same person then gets to choose an object for the next round.