Fake It — spot the faker in a one-word clue game
Fake It is a fast social deduction party game for a shared TV and phones. Most players secretly receive the same word, while one Faker receives a plausible decoy and tries to blend in with a single, carefully chosen clue.
Has the social-deduction tension people look for in Spyfall, Fakin' It, and Chameleon, but every player gets a word on their own phone, gives one typed clue, and votes after the whole room has spoken.
Ideal player count
6–10 players gives the room enough clues, suspects, and bluffing without slowing the vote.
Session length
8–15 minutes for a typical game; choose 3, 5, or 8 rounds.
Phone experience
Your phone privately shows your word. If you are the Faker, it tells you plainly and gives you the decoy word, so you can bluff on purpose. On your turn, type one clue word that helps your side without giving everything away; later, tap one person to vote for, or pass.
TV / shared-screen experience
The TV starts with a quick phones-up beat, then builds a visible board of clues as each player submits. During voting, it shows only how many players have voted, not their targets. The reveal unmasks the most-voted player and then the Faker, with a final save-guess moment if the Faker was caught.
Scoring
Every point comes from a vote: each innocent who votes for the Faker earns one point, while the Faker earns one point for each innocent who votes for somebody else. If a caught Faker correctly guesses the real word in their one save attempt, they add one more point. Passes and the Faker’s own vote earn no points.
Languages / content packs
English, नेपाली (Nepali), हिंदी (Hindi), Español (Spanish)
What players need
- • A phone with a browser for every player — no app to install
- • One shared screen (TV, laptop, or monitor) for clues, votes, and reveals
- • A GameBash room code to join
Best occasions
House parties · Family game night · Icebreakers with a new group · A quick social-deduction round between longer games
How Fake It works
At the start of each round, almost everyone receives the same secret word on their phone. One player is the Faker: they receive a related decoy instead, and the game tells them they are the Faker so the bluff is intentional rather than accidental.
Players take turns giving exactly one word of clue. The clues appear on the shared screen as they land, which means every answer becomes evidence: useful enough to show you belong, but not so obvious that it hands the Faker the real word.
Once the clue circuit is complete, everyone privately votes for one suspect or passes. A tie for the most votes lets the Faker escape, so a confident-looking vote is not always the same as a successful one.
Caught Faker? One save guess
Finding the Faker is not quite the end of the round. If the group catches them, they get one short private guess at the real word before it is revealed on the shared screen.
That save guess gives the Faker a reason to listen closely to every clue, while the other players have to balance clear communication against revealing too much. It keeps the final reveal tense even when the vote went the room’s way.
A social deduction game that stays easy to teach
Each phase has one job: check your phone, give one clue, vote, then watch the reveal. There are no teams to manage and no app to download, so a first-time group can join a room, scan the code, and start playing quickly.
The default word pairs are written as close-but-not-identical ideas, making a Faker’s clue sound plausible but slightly off. That is where the best table talk comes from: not proving a clue is wrong, but deciding whether it is wrong enough.
Keep exploring
Who Said That?
Another social guessing game built around reading the people in the room.
Guilty Party
A secret-answer accusation game for a group that wants another round of suspicion.
What's That?!
A lighter clue-decoding race when your group wants answers over accusations.
Family party games
Find more easy-to-teach games for a mixed-age group.
Party games for 6 people
See more games that fit a small-to-medium room.
Frequently asked questions
- How many players can play Fake It?
- Fake It is built for 4 to 12 players. Six to ten is a particularly good range because the clue board has enough evidence without making a round drag.
- Does the Faker know they are the Faker?
- Yes. The Faker sees a decoy word and a clear private message that they are the Faker, so they can deliberately bluff instead of trying to work it out mid-round.
- What kind of clue do players give?
- One typed word per player, per round. The clue board appears on the shared screen as each clue arrives, so the room can compare them before voting.
- What happens if the group catches the Faker?
- The Faker gets one save guess at the real word. If the guess is right, they earn an extra point before the round finishes.
- How does scoring work?
- Each innocent who votes for the Faker earns one point. The Faker earns one point for each innocent who votes for someone else, and a caught Faker can earn one extra point by correctly guessing the real word. Passes do not score.
- Do players need to install an app?
- No. Each player joins with a phone browser and the room code; the shared screen shows the game for everyone.
- Can we play Fake It in another language?
- Yes. Fake It has content packs in English, Nepali, Hindi, and Spanish, written for those audiences rather than translated word-for-word.
Free to start — pick Fake It once your room is created.