Printable party game

The Outsider

Everyone at the table knows the secret word. Except one of you.

Every round, one player is left in the dark while everybody else gives one-word clues. The trick is proving you know the word without handing it to them.

Bluffing
4-14 players
15-30 minutes

Build my pack All games

A printed page of word grids from the pack

A printed page of game cards from the pack

How to play

Three things happen each round.

Step 1
One player gets the odd card
Deal one card to every player. All but one carry the same code table. Whoever ends up with the card that has no code table is the outsider, and nobody else knows who they are.
Step 2
The dice pick a secret word
A grid of words sits face up in the middle where everyone can read it. Roll two dice, find that roll on your code table, and it points at one word on the grid. Everyone holding a code table is now thinking of the same word. The outsider is staring at the same grid with no way of working out which one it is.
AvaBoxes
PriyaNeighbours
TomPartyToo vague
SamKeys
Step 3
One word each, then everyone points
Go round the table and say a single word that proves you know the secret one. Say something too obvious and the outsider works it out and steals the round. Play it too safe and your own mates decide you are the faker. Then everyone points at once.

Why one word is harder than it sounds

The outsider is not blind, they are stranded

They can see every word on the grid. They just cannot tell which one everyone else is circling, so they have to build it out of whatever clues land before their turn comes.

Prove you know it without giving it away

That squeeze is the entire game. Get clever and you have handed the word over. Play it safe and the table turns on you instead. Everybody feels it every single round.

Getting caught is not the end

Point at the outsider and they still get one shot at naming the word. Half the time they nick it anyway, and nobody at that table ever lets it go.

Personalised

The grid is built out of their life

You tell us about the guest of honour, and their stories come back as words on the grid, sitting next to ordinary ones so nobody can tell which is which.

Ava went to a Robyn gig in Berlin

Robyn tour

Ava's housewarming ran until 4am

Housewarming

Ava hiked to a summit and complained the whole way

Summit

A word grid mixing personal words with ordinary ones — The personal words are the ones that make a clue land, because everyone at the table gets the reference. The ordinary words keep it fair. A grid made entirely of inside jokes would be far too easy for the outsider to guess.

What you print

Word grids, built around the guest of honour6
Code cards and the outsider card
Score sheet

Prints on plain A4 or Letter. Black and white is fine. Cut along the guides and you are ready.

See a real printed pack (PDF)

Before you play: open dice.onl/2-dice on one phone and pass it round. Two dice are the one thing nobody can find when they actually need them.

Is this one for your group?

Perfect for

✓Groups who already have running jokes about each other
✓One table where everyone can hear everyone else
✓Anyone who liked The Traitors and wants that feeling in fifteen minutes
✓Four people at a pinch, and it gets better with every person you add

Maybe not if

×Nobody wants to bluff. The whole game is lying to your mates.
×Your guests are spread across a house. This one needs everybody in one spot.
×You want a game with a right answer. Here the win goes to whoever reads the room.

Questions

Can we play with four?

Yes. With four the outsider has fewer people to hide behind, so rounds get short and sharp. Five or six is the sweet spot and it holds up to fourteen.

Do we need real dice?

No. Open dice.onl/2-dice on one phone and pass it round.

What happens if the outsider guesses the word?

They steal the round. That is meant to happen, and it is the reason nobody gives an obvious clue twice.

Does the guest of honour have an advantage?

They will recognise more of the words than anyone, which helps them not at all. They still have to work out which one the dice picked, same as everybody else.

How do scoring and winning work?

Escape the vote as the outsider: 2 points. Caught but you name the word: 1 point. Catch the outsider: 1 point each to everyone who pointed right. First to 5 points wins.