Who Am I? Strategy: How to Ask Better Questions

In Who Am I?, everyone can see your card except you. You have to find out what it is by asking yes or no questions. Good players rarely ask clever questions. They ask the right questions in the right order. Here is how.

Start broad, then narrow

Think of each question as a way to cut the possibilities in half. Early questions should be about categories: is it alive, is it real, is it a person, can you hold it, is it bigger than a car. Each answer removes a large part of the deck.

Only ask specific questions when you have a short list to choose from. Asking is it a giraffe on your first turn is almost always a waste, because a no tells you almost nothing.

Read the room as well as the answers

Everyone answers with thumbs up, thumbs down or maybe, and they can add emoji reactions. A split between yes and no usually means the question was unclear, so it is worth rewording it. A lot of maybes often means your card is abstract, such as a meme, a concept or a made-up character.

Watch the other players' cards and answers as well. Cards are dealt from the same deck, so if the person before you worked out an animal, it is likely that yours is also an animal.

Use the notepad

Every question you ask is written down with its thumbs-up, thumbs-down and maybe counts, and there is a space for your own notes. Only you can see it, and it starts fresh with each new card. Use it to avoid asking something you already know, and to spot a pattern, such as three no answers in a row about colour.

When to guess and when to peek

You can guess at any time, and faster correct guesses score more, with a bonus for the first solver. A wrong guess costs 20 points, so do not guess on a hunch with half the deck still possible. Once you are down to two or three options, guess.

The peek card, once per round, reveals your card's first letter, its length and its category. It costs 150 points when you solve, even if that makes the solve worth less than nothing, so it is for rescue, not for routine use.

Decks and modes

The host chooses a deck: Mixed, Animals, Food, Movies and Shows, Memes, Jobs, Myths and Monsters, Everyday Stuff, Sports, Places, or a custom list. Narrow decks are easier, because the first question can be skipped. Chain mode is the most fun with friends, because each player secretly writes the card for the next player, so the cards are about your own in-jokes. If you are in a voice call, ask out loud and use Skip, which moves on without typing or waiting for answers.