Big Bluff — rules and how to play the fake definitions game
Big Bluff is a bluffing party game for 3–12 players in which everyone secretly writes a fake answer to an obscure prompt, all the fakes are shuffled in with the real answer, and you score by finding the truth or by fooling other people into picking your lie.
- Players
- 3–12 players
- Length
- ~25 minutes
- Type
- Social deduction
- Type
- Creative
Runs in your browser · no download · no account
Somebody hands you the word "snollygoster" and asks what it means. You have no idea. Neither does anyone else, which is the point: you type the most plausible definition you can invent, the phone shuffles it in with everyone else's inventions and the real one, and then the room has to work out which of you is telling the truth. Finding the real answer is worth two. Watching someone confidently pick your fabrication is worth more than that, emotionally.
The 517 prompts here are split across five decks, and each one fails differently. Words are the classic: petrichor, defenestration, gongoozler. Facts hand you the first half of something true and let you finish it. Laws are real statutes from real countries, and they are always more absurd than anything you would dare write. Acronyms look easy until you try to make five plausible words out of RADAR. Titles give you a book or film and ask what it is about, which is where the person who has actually seen it starts sweating.
What makes it work is that a good lie is not a wild one. Write something too funny and everyone knows it came from a person. Write something dry, specific and slightly boring and you will take the whole table with you. The best players in a group are usually the ones who sound like a dictionary having a slow day.
Big Bluff is part of
What you need
- One phone, passed around the circle
- 3 to 12 players
- A group willing to type in secret and not peek
- About 25 minutes for eight prompts
How to play Big Bluff
A prompt appears and everyone reads it together — an obscure word, a real law, a film nobody has seen. Only the phone knows the real answer.
The phone goes round. In private, each player types a fake answer convincing enough that the others will believe it. Type the real answer by accident and you get a psychic point, then you have to invent something else.
All the fakes are shuffled in with the truth and lettered A, B, C. The phone goes round again and everyone secretly picks the one they think is real — you cannot pick your own.
Find the truth: +2. Fool somebody with your fake: +1 for every player who picked it. Identical fakes merge into one option and both authors get paid.
The reveal flips every answer to show who wrote it and who fell for it. Mis-tapped a vote? Tap the name in the recap and fix it — the score follows.
In Host mode nobody passes the phone: everyone calls their vote out loud and whoever is holding it taps them in.
Most points after all the prompts wins. A tie goes to sudden death — one more prompt, winner takes it.
Scoring and winning
- Picking the real answer is +2.
- Every player who picks your fake is +1 to you. Fool three people and that is three points from one lie.
- Typing the real answer by accident is +1 for being psychic — then you have to go back and invent something after all.
- Identical fakes merge into one option and both authors get paid for everyone they fooled.
- You cannot vote for your own bluff, and the app greys it out so you cannot try.
- Most points after all the prompts wins. A tie goes to sudden death: one more prompt, winner takes it.
Big Bluff strategy and tips
- Match the register of the real answer. A dictionary definition starts with "a" or "the" and never tries to be funny; a weird-law answer is oddly specific about the animal involved.
- Length is a tell. If everyone else writes eight words and you write twenty-five, the room will find you without thinking about it.
- When you genuinely know the answer, write a lie that is close to it. The near-misses catch people who half-remember the truth.
- Read every option out loud in the same flat voice before anyone votes. Most bluffs are given away by the reader smirking at their own.
- Playing with people who know each other well? Write out of character. Your friends are voting on your prose style as much as on the content.
- Host mode is faster with six or more players. Everyone calls their letter out at once and one person taps it in, which cuts a full lap of passing per round.
Variants and house rules
Sudden death
Built in for ties — one extra prompt until somebody is ahead.
Single deck night
Pick one kind in setup and stay there. Laws-only is the most reliably funny; words-only is the hardest and the most satisfying.
Host mode
Nobody passes the phone to vote. The holder reads the lettered options aloud, everyone shouts a letter, and the holder taps it in. Faster, louder, slightly more accusatory.
Committee bluffing
With ten or more players, write in pairs. Two people arguing about how to phrase a lie is its own entertainment, and it halves the passing.
Spice levels
Prompts follow the global spice setting. Family is safe for a ten-year-old; Party unlocks the cheekier laws and titles.
Big Bluff FAQ
What are the rules of Big Bluff?
Everyone secretly writes a fake answer to the prompt. The fakes are shuffled in with the real answer and lettered. Everyone then votes for the one they think is real, without being allowed to pick their own. Finding the truth is +2, and every player fooled by your fake is +1 to you.
How many players do you need?
Three minimum, so there are at least two fakes competing with the truth. It works best between five and eight, and supports up to twelve.
What happens if I accidentally type the real answer?
The app spots it, gives you a psychic point, and asks you to write something else. You keep the point and still get a lie in the mix.
What if two people write the same bluff?
The two answers merge into a single option so it does not look suspicious, and both authors score for everyone who falls for it.
Can we fix a vote that got tapped wrong?
Yes. The reveal screen lists every player and what they voted for. Tap any name to reassign the vote and the scores update immediately.
Is this the same as Balderdash or Fibbage?
It is the same family of bluffing game — write a fake definition, hunt the real one. This version adds four decks beyond obscure words, merges duplicate bluffs, and needs only one phone rather than a device each.