Truth or dare is a party game for two or more people in which each player, on their turn, chooses between answering a question honestly (a truth) or doing a small task on the spot (a dare). There are no boards, points or winners. The fun comes from the answers, the surprises and watching friends and family do something silly. This guide covers the classic rules, how this site runs the game on one phone, house rules for skips and rounds, how to keep the game kind, and a short sample of truths and dares from each deck.
Overview
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Players | 2 or more. On this site: 2 to 12 players on one device |
| Typical time | 10 to 30 minutes; about a minute per turn |
| Ages | Any age with the right cards: Kids (6 to 12), Family (all ages), Friends (teens and adults) |
| Equipment | Nothing, or one shared phone, tablet or laptop |
| Goal | Answer truths, do dares and have fun together. Nobody wins or loses |
Versions of the game have been played at parties, sleepovers and family gatherings for generations, usually with questions and dares made up on the spot. Making them up is half the fun, but it is also where the game can go wrong. A deck of prepared cards keeps the game moving and keeps it friendly.
How to play truth or dare
- Sit together. Everyone sits in a circle, or around a table, so they can see and hear each other.
- Pick who goes first. Go round in order, spin a bottle, or let a phone choose.
- Truth or dare? The player whose turn it is says which one they want.
- The card. Someone reads out a truth question or a dare. On this site, the phone shows the card for everyone to read.
- Answer or do it. A truth is answered honestly. A dare is done right away, in front of the group.
- Next turn. The turn moves on. Keep playing until you have done the rounds you agreed on, or until the group wants to stop.
Truth or dare rules on this site
The game on this site follows those classic rules, with a few choices that keep it fair and quick:
- Players: 2 to 12, each with a name and a color. The phone stays on the table; nothing is secret, so nobody needs to look away.
- Decks: Kids (6 to 12), Family (all ages, the default), Friends (teens and adults: social, silly and creative, still clean) and My prompts, your own truths and dares. Pick at least one; mix as many as you like.
- Turn order: Spin (the default) or In order. Spin picks a fresh random order every round: everyone has one turn before anyone has a second, and with three or more players nobody goes twice in a row, not even across rounds. In order goes round the table, and a rematch starts with the next player.
- Truth, Dare or Random: Random picks truth or dare for you, half and half.
- Skips: 0, 1 (the default), 2 or 3 per player for the whole game. Skip ends your turn and uses one skip. When you have none left, the button is switched off and says why.
- Length: Endless (the default), 3, 5 or 10 rounds. A round is one turn for each player. End stops the game at any time.
- No repeats: within a game, no truth comes up twice until every truth in your chosen decks has been used, and the same for dares. A skipped card counts as used. The site also remembers about 200 cards from your recent games on this device and deals fresh ones first.
- Undo: takes back the last Done or Skip, and a skip comes back with it. You can’t undo a choice to swap a truth for a dare.
- Results: the end screen lists how many truths and dares each player did and how many skips they used. There is no winner and no loser.
Choosing whose turn it is
Fairness matters more than people expect. In a big group the same loud voices tend to get picked, and a quiet person can sit through a whole game without a turn. Two fair ways to choose:
- In order. Go round the circle. Simple and predictable, which suits young children and anyone nervous about being picked.
- Spin. The classic bottle spin adds suspense, but a real bottle can land on the same person twice and skip someone else entirely. The spinner on this site keeps the suspense and removes the luck: within a round everyone goes exactly once, in a random order.
Truths: how to answer
A truth is a question, and the only rule is honesty. Answer in a sentence or tell the story behind it; there is no time limit, but a minute is usually plenty. Good truth or dare questions are open, not loaded. “What is the best trip you have ever been on?” invites a story. A question designed to make someone admit something embarrassing does not belong in a friendly game.
If a truth touches something a player would rather keep private, they can skip it. Nobody has to explain why.
Dares: what makes a good dare
A good dare is quick, safe, silly and done by the person who chose it. Every built-in dare on this site follows the same rule:
- Quick: under a minute, right where you are.
- No props, or a common item such as a book or a pen and paper.
- Safe: nothing to eat or drink, no climbing, no heights, no fire or water, no holding your breath, no spinning until dizzy and no going outside.
- Kind: nothing that picks on or embarrasses anyone, and no touching other people.
- Private: no calls, messages or posts to anyone outside the room, and no passwords, addresses or other personal details.
When you write your own dares, the same rule makes for a better game.
House rules
Most groups play with a few house rules. Agree on them before the first turn:
- Skips. A set number of free passes per player is the easiest way to keep things relaxed. One is a good default; two or three suit younger children or a new group.
- Rounds. A fixed number of rounds gives everyone the same number of turns and a clear finish. Endless suits a sleepover where people drift in and out.
- Truth streaks. Some groups ask a player who picked truth three times in a row to try a dare. Keep it a suggestion, not a rule, and use Random when someone can’t decide.
- Time limit. A minute for each dare keeps the game moving.
- The host can switch decks. If the cards are too young or too old for the group, start a new game with a different mix. Rematch keeps the names and decks; New setup lets you change them.
Keeping it kind: anyone can pass
Truth or dare works when everyone feels safe to play. A few habits make the difference:
- Anyone can pass, any time. Skips are there to be used, and nobody should be teased for using one. If someone runs out of skips, let them pass anyway.
- Laugh with, not at. Cheer a dare; don’t replay someone’s answer to tease them later.
- What is said in the game stays in the game. Truths are shared with the group, not passed on.
- Mind the mix. With young children in the group, stick to the Kids and Family decks.
Sample truths and dares
A taste of each deck. Every deck has over 60 truths and over 60 dares.
Kids deck (6 to 12)
- Truth: “If you could talk to one kind of animal, which would you choose?”
- Truth: “What would your dream treehouse have inside?”
- Truth: “If animals had jobs, what job would a penguin have?”
- Dare: “Walk like a penguin across the room.”
- Dare: “Pretend to be a snowman melting in the sun.”
- Dare: “Stand like a flamingo and say “flamingo” five times.”
Family deck (all ages)
- Truth: “What is a family tradition you would never want to give up?”
- Truth: “What would you put in a time capsule for the future?”
- Truth: “If you opened a restaurant, what would be on the menu?”
- Dare: “Narrate the next 20 seconds like a nature documentary.”
- Dare: “Pretend you just won an award and give a 20-second thank-you speech.”
- Dare: “Say “She sells seashells by the seashore” three times fast.”
Friends deck (teens and adults)
- Truth: “What is something you pretended to understand but didn’t?”
- Truth: “What song would play every time you walk into a room?”
- Truth: “What is your most controversial food opinion?”
- Dare: “Pitch a ridiculous invention to the group like you are on a business show.”
- Dare: “Do your best impression of a self-checkout machine.”
- Dare: “Give a motivational speech to a houseplant, real or imaginary.”
Truth or dare for kids
Children love truth or dare when the questions are about their world and the dares are about being silly. Choose the Kids deck, add the Family deck for more variety, and play In order with two skips each so nobody feels put on the spot. Keep games short: three rounds is plenty for younger players. An adult reading the cards out loud helps early readers join in.
Family truth or dare
A family game mixes ages, so the cards need to work for a grandparent and a seven-year-old at once. The Family deck is written for exactly that: memories, favorites, what-ifs and gentle performance dares. It is the default deck on this site. Play Endless during a long evening and tap End when dinner is ready.
Your own truths and dares
On the setup screen, tap Add my prompts to write your own. Each card can be 3 to 140 characters, duplicates are refused, and up to 100 are saved in this browser on this device. Pick the My prompts deck to play them, alone or mixed with the built-in decks. If your own cards include only truths, or only dares, the Family deck fills in the other kind so both buttons always work.
For tips on choosing decks, writing good prompts and helping shy players enjoy the game, see the truth or dare hosting tips. Ready to play? Start a game of Truth or Dare, or browse more party games and family games.