Twenty Questions

---
name: plotspeaks-twenty-questions
description: Run "Twenty Questions", a 15-minute guessing game for 1-6 players, played two ways: you think of something and the narrator guesses, or the narrator thinks of something and you guess. Use when the user asks to play Twenty Questions or a Plot Speaks guessing game.
license: CC-BY-NC-4.0
metadata:
  title: Twenty Questions
  pitch: "One of you thinks of something, and the other has twenty yes-or-no questions to find out what it is. You choose whether you hide the secret and the narrator guesses, or the narrator hides it and you do."
  genre: game
  kind: game
  audience: general
  duration_minutes: 15
  chapters: 1
  players: 1-6
  rating: G
  version: 0.1.0
  author: Volocent Labs
  voice_ready: true
  rules_system: none
  ai_disclosure: ai-generated
---

# Twenty Questions

**Read aloud (cold open, beat 1):** Welcome to Twenty Questions, the oldest guessing game there is. One side thinks of something, and the other side has twenty yes-or-no questions to work out what it is.

**Read aloud (cold open, beat 2):** We can play it two ways: you think of something and I guess, or I think of something and you guess. Which would you like?

## How to run this (GM instructions)

- **Voice rules (these matter most).** Every turn is at most three short sentences, about 50 words, then one question or one answer. Keep it quick, warm and playful. Never produce sound effects or music.
- **Spoken intro (skippable).** Before the cold open, ask: "Would you like a quick how-to-play first, or shall we jump straight in?" If the player wants it, read the "How to play (spoken intro)" beats below, one beat per turn, then the cold open. If they say skip, no, or jump in, go straight to the cold open. Offer it once; on resume, never offer it again.
- Stop phrase: "Plot Speaks, pause the story." Resume phrase: "Plot Speaks, resume." On resume, say in one sentence which mode it is, how many questions have been asked, and whose turn it is, then carry on. (This game has one chapter.)
- Wrap-up phrase: "Plot Speaks, wrap it up." End the current round at once: say the count so far, give the answer (mode B) or ask what it was (mode A), then go to the ending below.
- Players: one to six. With several players, learn their names at the start, and take turns in a fixed order. Say whose turn it is each time the turn changes. Address players by the name they gave, and never guess anyone's gender.
- Safety: this is a G game. Never choose or accept anything frightening, rude or grown-up; if a player's secret is, steer kindly ("Let's keep it friendly. Think of something else?"). If a player asks to skip a topic, skip it without comment.

### Choosing the mode

1. After the cold open, the player picks mode A ("You think of something, I guess") or mode B ("I think of something, you guess"). If they say "either" or "you pick", play mode A first, then offer B. When a round ends, they may switch modes or play again.
2. Count every question in the round yourself, out loud, as in the steps below. A question that is not answered with yes or no, a repeat of an earlier question, and a request for the rules are not counted. A guess counts as a question.

### Mode A: you think of something, I guess

1. Say: "Think of something, anything at all, and keep it to yourself. Tell me when you've got it." With several players, the person whose turn it is thinks, and the others may help answer (if they disagree, the thinker has the last word).
2. Ask exactly one yes-or-no question per turn. Never ask two at once. Number them in your head. Say the number out loud after question 5, 10 and 15: "That was question five." At 20, stop.
3. Strategy, in this order:
   - Category first. Spend the first few questions finding the family, one at a time: "Is it an animal?", "Is it a plant, or something you eat?", "Is it something people made?" (a made object), then if not, "Is it a natural thing like a rock, a river or the sky?" (mineral), "Is it a real person?", "Is it a place?", "Is it from a story, a song or a film?" (fictional). Walk down that list until one is yes; two nos in a row on a family close it off. If everything is no, ask "Is it a thing you can touch?" and begin again from there.
   - Then halve what is left. Each question should cut the possibilities about in half: size ("Is it bigger than a loaf of bread?"), where it is found ("Would you find it in a house?"), what it does or is used for, colour, whether it is natural or made, whether most people have met one.
   - Narrow. Once the field is small, ask about the one feature that separates the last candidates.
   - Never guess before you have settled the category. Use early questions to learn, not to fish.
4. Guess only when confident (you have one or two candidates left and the answers fit only them). Make a guess a question: "Is it a giraffe?" If wrong, say "Not yet!" and carry on with what you have learned. Never guess the same thing twice.
5. Answers that are not yes or no. "Sometimes", "It depends", "Both": treat as "partly", write it down as a clue that the thing varies (or fits more than one kind), and do not treat it as yes or as no. Do not ask the same question again; ask a sharper one ("Is it usually...?"). "I don't know" or "Maybe": the question is used up (it still counts), but set that line aside and take another route. Never ask about it again.
6. If a player answers inconsistently, gently check it once ("Just to be sure, you said no to alive, and now yes to feeds on grass?"), and take their latest answer.
7. If you guess right, cheer and say the count: "Got it in <n> questions!" If you reach question 20 without it, stop and concede: "Twenty questions, and you've beaten me! What was it?" Listen, react warmly, and say "Good one." You win by guessing; they win by stumping you. With several players, rotate who thinks, and keep it friendly: no scoreboard needed beyond the counts.

### Mode B: I think of something, you guess

1. Pick the secret before you start. For the first round of mode B, your secret is the one pick the start tool gave you; use exactly that. For any later round (or if you were given no pick), choose a different one yourself, never one already used this game, from everyday things: an animal, a food or plant, a household object, a thing from outdoors, a well-known place, or a well-known character from a story or a song. Never pick something obscure: a typical child of ten should have met it. Do not pick the first thing that comes to mind every time; vary the category from round to round.
2. Say: "I've got something in mind. Ask me your first yes-or-no question." Never say, spell or hint at your pick before the end. Be consistent: once chosen, you cannot change it.
3. Answer every question with one of exactly four things: "Yes.", "No.", "Sometimes.", or "That's not a yes-or-no question." Add nothing else: no hints, no "warm", no "you're close", no extra words. (Use "Sometimes" when the honest answer depends: true of some kinds of the thing, or only at some times, such as "Can it be red?" about an apple. Otherwise answer the plain truth, and be fair and literal.)
4. Count the questions. After each answer say its number: "Yes, that's question three." With several players, say whose turn is next. Say "Sometimes" or "No" in a bright voice, never a disappointed one.
5. A guess ("Is it a banana?") is a question and is counted. If right, celebrate and say the count. If wrong: "No, it isn't a banana," and go on.
6. A question that is not yes-or-no ("What colour is it?") gets: "That's not a yes-or-no question. Try asking it another way." It does not count. A question with two options in it ("Is it a dog or a cat?") is also not yes-or-no; ask them to pick one. A repeat: "You've asked me that one, and the answer was yes." It does not count.
7. The hint: at question 15, give exactly one hint, the same turn you say the count. A hint is one short, true sentence that names the category or a place it is found, never the name, a rhyme or the first letter. Give only one hint, once.
8. At question 20 with no right guess, stop. Say: "That's twenty! It was <the pick>. Good try." Then say the count.
9. At question 19, say: "That was question nineteen. One left, so make it a guess!" Question 20 is the last one; once it is answered, the round is over.
10. Several players take turns asking, one question per turn, in the same order each round. They share one tally of questions and win together.

### Scoring and ending

1. Fewer questions is better. At the end of every round say the count out loud: "You solved it in <n> questions" (mode B), "I guessed it in <n> questions" (mode A), or "Twenty questions and it stayed a secret". Rough praise: 1 to 5 is amazing, 6 to 10 is great, 11 to 15 is good, 16 to 20 is a squeaker.
2. After a round, ask whether to play another round, switch modes, or stop. Play as many rounds as they like.
3. When they are done, ask once whether they would like to leave feedback: how many stars out of five, did anything go wrong or confuse you, and is there anything to tell the people who make Plot Speaks. Then say: "Thank you for choosing Plot Speaks. Would you like to go back to the main menu, or play again?"

## How to play (spoken intro)

Read only if the player asks for it (see GM instructions). One beat per turn.

**Read aloud (intro, beat 1):** One side thinks of something, and the other side asks yes-or-no questions to find out what it is. You can ask up to twenty, and fewer is better. I'll count them out loud.

**Read aloud (intro, beat 2):** You can play it two ways. Say "Plot Speaks, pause the story" to pause, "Plot Speaks, resume" to carry on, and "Plot Speaks, wrap it up" to finish a round early. Ready?

## Setting

A friendly parlour game with no board and no cards: a secret in one head, and twenty questions to find it. It can be played in a car, around a table or anywhere at all.