Who Am I? Game: Rules, Best Questions and 200 Character Ideas

Who Am I? is the guessing game with a sticky note on your forehead. Everyone can see your character except you, and you have to work out who you are with yes-or-no questions. It's also known as the headband game, the post-it game or "Who's on my head?".

Below are the rules, a list of the best questions to ask and 200 character ideas by category. No sticky notes around? Play Who Am I? online: the phone hides the word from the guesser and shows it to everyone else.

How to play Who Am I?

  1. Everyone writes a character on a sticky note and sticks it on the forehead of the player to their left without showing them.
  2. Players take turns asking one yes-or-no question about their own character: "Am I a real person?"
  3. If the answer is "yes", the player asks another question. If it's "no", the turn passes on.
  4. When you think you know, ask: "Am I Harry Potter?" Guess right and you're out of the round as a winner.
  5. The last person still guessing picks the characters for the next round.

Time limit version: give each player two minutes and see who guesses fastest. Party version: set a theme for the round, for example "only cartoon characters".

The best questions to ask

Start broad, then narrow down. The best first questions cut the options in half:

Then go into detail:

Tip: remember the answers you've already got. Most players lose because they forget that they asked "Am I real?" three turns ago.

Characters for beginners and mixed groups

  1. Harry Potter
  2. Mickey Mouse
  3. Santa Claus
  4. Spider-Man
  5. Cinderella
  6. Albert Einstein
  7. SpongeBob SquarePants
  8. Batman
  9. Pikachu
  10. Shrek
  11. Darth Vader
  12. Elsa
  13. Sherlock Holmes
  14. Mario
  15. Barbie
  16. Superman
  17. Winnie the Pooh
  18. Cleopatra
  19. James Bond
  20. Pinocchio
  21. Homer Simpson
  22. Robin Hood
  23. The Tooth Fairy
  24. Dracula
  25. Tarzan

Movie characters

  1. Forrest Gump
  2. Jack Sparrow
  3. Indiana Jones
  4. Luke Skywalker
  5. Yoda
  6. Gandalf
  7. Frodo Baggins
  8. The Terminator
  9. Rocky Balboa
  10. Hermione Granger
  11. Voldemort
  12. E.T.
  13. King Kong
  14. The Joker
  15. Wonder Woman
  16. Iron Man
  17. Captain America
  18. Thor
  19. Hulk
  20. Black Panther
  21. Katniss Everdeen
  22. Neo from The Matrix
  23. Marty McFly
  24. Willy Wonka
  25. Mary Poppins
  26. Godzilla
  27. Ghostface from Scream
  28. The Grinch
  29. Legolas
  30. Han Solo

Cartoon and animation characters

  1. Bugs Bunny
  2. Scooby-Doo
  3. Tom from Tom and Jerry
  4. Simba
  5. Nemo
  6. Woody from Toy Story
  7. Buzz Lightyear
  8. Olaf
  9. Moana
  10. Aladdin
  11. The Little Mermaid
  12. Peppa Pig
  13. Patrick Star
  14. Bart Simpson
  15. Garfield
  16. Snoopy
  17. Shaggy
  18. Minions
  19. Kung Fu Panda
  20. Stitch
  21. Mulan
  22. Rapunzel
  23. Dory
  24. Sonic the Hedgehog
  25. Donkey from Shrek

TV show characters

  1. Walter White
  2. Jon Snow
  3. Daenerys Targaryen
  4. Eleven from Stranger Things
  5. Sheldon Cooper
  6. Rachel Green
  7. Joey Tribbiani
  8. Michael Scott
  9. Wednesday Addams
  10. Mr. Bean
  11. Doctor Who
  12. Dexter Morgan
  13. Tony Soprano
  14. Phoebe Buffay
  15. Tyrion Lannister

Musicians

  1. Taylor Swift
  2. Michael Jackson
  3. Elvis Presley
  4. Madonna
  5. Beyoncé
  6. Freddie Mercury
  7. Lady Gaga
  8. Ed Sheeran
  9. Rihanna
  10. Eminem
  11. Bob Marley
  12. Adele
  13. Justin Bieber
  14. Billie Eilish
  15. John Lennon
  16. Mozart
  17. Beethoven
  18. Shakira
  19. Elton John
  20. Dolly Parton

Athletes

  1. Lionel Messi
  2. Cristiano Ronaldo
  3. Serena Williams
  4. Usain Bolt
  5. Michael Jordan
  6. Muhammad Ali
  7. Roger Federer
  8. LeBron James
  9. Simone Biles
  10. Tiger Woods
  11. Pelé
  12. Michael Phelps
  13. Mike Tyson
  14. Lewis Hamilton
  15. Rafael Nadal

Historical figures

  1. Napoleon Bonaparte
  2. Julius Caesar
  3. Leonardo da Vinci
  4. Queen Elizabeth II
  5. Abraham Lincoln
  6. Christopher Columbus
  7. Joan of Arc
  8. William Shakespeare
  9. Marie Curie
  10. Isaac Newton
  11. Mahatma Gandhi
  12. Martin Luther King Jr.
  13. Genghis Khan
  14. Alexander the Great
  15. Charles Darwin
  16. Vincent van Gogh
  17. Pablo Picasso
  18. Nikola Tesla
  19. Neil Armstrong
  20. Frida Kahlo
  21. Henry VIII
  22. Marilyn Monroe
  23. Charlie Chaplin
  24. Yuri Gagarin
  25. Amelia Earhart

Famous people of today

  1. Elon Musk
  2. Oprah Winfrey
  3. Kim Kardashian
  4. Bill Gates
  5. Mark Zuckerberg
  6. Leonardo DiCaprio
  7. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
  8. Zendaya
  9. Keanu Reeves
  10. Gordon Ramsay
  11. MrBeast
  12. Jackie Chan
  13. Tom Cruise
  14. Jennifer Aniston
  15. Steve Jobs

Video game characters

  1. Luigi
  2. Princess Peach
  3. Link from Zelda
  4. Lara Croft
  5. Pac-Man
  6. Steve from Minecraft
  7. Kratos
  8. Master Chief
  9. Kirby
  10. Donkey Kong

Book and fairy tale characters

  1. Little Red Riding Hood
  2. Alice in Wonderland
  3. The Mad Hatter
  4. Peter Pan
  5. Captain Hook
  6. Snow White
  7. Frankenstein's monster
  8. Robinson Crusoe
  9. Don Quixote
  10. Romeo

Hard mode: objects, animals and ideas

  1. A penguin
  2. The Eiffel Tower
  3. A smartphone
  4. A unicorn
  5. The Moon
  6. A pizza
  7. The Statue of Liberty
  8. A vampire
  9. A dinosaur
  10. The Internet

Tips for a better game

More word games: Alias game rules and 300 words to explain.

Play Who Am I? online →