Most Likely To questions that get a laugh, not a sulk

How Most Likely To goes wrong

The game is simple: a prompt is read out — "who is most likely to miss their own flight?" — and everyone points at, or votes for, the person it describes. It is one of the best games for a group that knows each other, because the answer is never right or wrong. The fun is in the gap between how you see yourself and how the room sees you.

It goes wrong in one specific way. A prompt about a trait instead of an action ("most likely to be single forever", "most likely to fail") lands on the same person three times in a row, and the room stops laughing before they do. The vote is anonymous; being the answer is not.

The rule that fixes it: a good prompt is something the winner is secretly a bit pleased to win. "Most likely to cry at an advert" is affectionate. "Most likely to survive a zombie film" is a compliment wearing a joke. Write about what people do, not what they are, and keep the ridiculous ones well away from anything anyone is sensitive about.

For friends

Who is most likely to miss their own flight? To cry at an advert for insurance? To become famous for something completely ridiculous? To survive longest in a zombie film? To be fifteen minutes late to their own wedding? To befriend the waiter by the end of the meal? To have a full conversation with a stranger's dog?

Most likely to plan the trip and then not come? To still be awake at 4 a.m. "just finishing one episode"? To accidentally join a cult because the snacks were good? To know where every single person in this room is right now? To send a voice note longer than five minutes? To become a meme? To win a reality show by doing nothing at all? To laugh at their own joke before finishing it?

For a family get-together

Who is most likely to forward a message without reading it? To fall asleep during the film they chose? To ask "have you eaten?" within a minute of arriving? To bring the biggest box of sweets? To get lost using the map on their phone? To start dancing first at a wedding? To win an argument with a shopkeeper?

Most likely to keep every plastic bag forever? To call to say they are leaving, and arrive two hours later? To still have their school report card? To know every relative's birthday without checking? To take over somebody else's kitchen? These are affectionate on purpose: a family room includes people who have been the subject of jokes for forty years, and the game should not add to them.

For the office

Who is most likely to reply-all by mistake? To have forty browser tabs open right now? To say "you're on mute" first? To bring cake for no reason? To schedule a meeting that could have been a message? To know the office gossip before it happens? To still be on the call after everyone has left?

Most likely to have a perfectly organised desktop? To survive a week with no coffee? To win the office quiz without trying? To turn a five-minute update into a presentation? Keep work prompts about work habits and nothing about anyone's performance, pay or personal life — the same line the Never Have I Ever with colleagues guide draws.

For a wedding, a bachelor party or a trip

Who is most likely to cry first at the wedding? To lose a shoe at the baraat? To have a dance routine ready that nobody asked for? To be the last one on the dance floor? To hide the groom's shoes and then forget where? To make friends with the band?

On a trip: who is most likely to miss the train home? To overpack for a two-day holiday? To find the best food in town within an hour of arriving? To take three hundred photos and post none? To get sunburnt on the first morning? To make the whole group wait while they buy one last souvenir?

Running it so the votes stay fun

Two small things make the game work. First, votes should be secret until everyone has voted, so nobody follows the crowd or watches who voted for them. Second, you should be allowed to vote for yourself — it is often the funniest answer, and it lets a good sport claim a prompt before anyone else can.

Most Likely To on PartyDen does both: everyone votes on their own phone, the votes are revealed together, and you may pick yourself. The host can skip a prompt that lands badly before any votes count, and you can type your own prompts in before the game starts, one per line — the place for the trip in-jokes no pack could know. There is a House Party pack and an Office Icebreakers pack.

Paranoia looks similar and is the opposite game: one person reads a question in private and answers with a name, and the room does not know what was asked unless a coin says so. Hot Seat puts one person in the middle while everyone asks them anonymous questions, and Who Knows Best? turns it round — one person answers about themselves and the room guesses.