Party & Social
Understudy
Answer as someone else in the room. They decide who nailed it.
- Category
- Party & Social
- Players
- 4–10 players
- Duration
- ~15 minutes (estimate)
- Best group size
- We recommend 4 to 8 players who know each other well. Everyone takes one turn as the Subject. It needs at least 4.
How to play
Understudy is an impression game for people who know each other. It needs at least four players, and the game continues until everyone present has had a turn as the Subject.
Each round starts by putting one player in the hot seat as the Subject. Everyone else then gets a personal prompt and 60 seconds to answer it as if they were the Subject. Stay in character: the goal is not to be funny in your own voice, but to sound exactly like them.
Then the Subject, and only the Subject, judges. They have 35 seconds to read the answers and pick the one that is most genuinely them, the Uncanny pick. Nobody else votes. The answers are then revealed one at a time on the TV.
The author of the Uncanny pick earns 800 points. The Subject receives a flat 300-point bonus for judging, which keeps them on the scoreboard during their turn. The fun is in the reveal: hearing five versions of yourself from five friends tells you a lot about how people see you, usually in the most flattering and least flattering ways at once.
Tips for hosts
- Save it for groups where everyone knows each other at least a little. With strangers, it becomes guesswork.
- Encourage the Subject to explain their pick after the reveal. It turns a scoreboard into a conversation.
- Remind players that the most accurate answer beats the funniest one.
- Because every player gets a turn, it runs longer with a big group. Budget time for it.
Best for
Best for: Old friends, families and roommates who think they know each other.
Play Understudy
Open Sofa Showdown on a laptop or computer connected to your TV, choose Understudy from the game shelf, and share the four-letter room code with your friends.
Play now Opens hosting on this screen. Nothing starts until you choose a game.