How to play Who Am I?
3 or more playersOne phone per player
Also called Heads Up · Celebrity Head · Hedbanz · Name on forehead game · Indian Poker (numbers version)
The game
Who Am I? is the game where you become someone — or something — and everyone in the room knows who except you. Your job is to work it out by asking questions. Their job is to answer honestly and enjoy watching you struggle.
It traditionally needs paper slips and sticky tape. It doesn't. Every player opens this on their own phone, generates a name, and holds the screen against their forehead facing outward. No writing, no tape, no arguments about handwriting.
The rules
- 1
Everyone opens the same category
Agree on one category out loud — celebrity, movie, place, animal, object or number — and everyone opens it on their own phone. Nothing syncs between phones, and nothing needs to: each player draws independently.
- 2
Generate, then get it up fast
Tap Generate and you get a three-second countdown. That is your window to raise the phone to your forehead, screen facing out, before the word appears. No peeking is on the honour system — this is a party, not an exam.
- 3
Go around the circle asking questions
Take turns asking questions the room can answer with yes or no. Am I alive? Am I Indian? Would my mother know me? A common house rule: keep asking as long as you get a yes, and pass on a no.
- 4
Guess, then go again
When you have it, say it out loud. The word stays on screen until somebody taps Generate, so there is no timer breathing down your neck and no round to reset. Tap Generate for the next one.
Ways to play it
Numbers — the Indian Poker version
Everyone draws a number from 1 to 100 instead of a name. Now the questions are mathematical: am I even? Am I bigger than yours? It plays completely differently and it's the fastest version to teach.
Mixed-nationality rooms
Turn on more than one country in the settings drawer. A room of Indian and American friends should have both India and USA lit up, or half the room will be guessing names they've never heard.
One-industry rounds
In the settings drawer, switch on only Tamil, or only Malayalam. A Bollywood-only round and a Kollywood-only round are genuinely different games with different experts in the room.
Kids mode — cartoons only
In the settings drawer, tap Cartoon on its own. You get Doraemon, Shinchan, Chhota Bheem, Tom and Jerry, Mickey Mouse and the rest — nothing a seven-year-old won't know. Anime and Superhero are separate chips, so you can build a round for teenagers instead.
Internet round
Tap Internet for a deck of YouTubers and influencers — MrBeast, CarryMinati, Bhuvan Bam, PewDiePie. Ruthless on anyone over thirty, which is the point.
Classic vs modern
The era toggle is separate from who-counts, so Music + Classic gives you Kishore Kumar and Elvis, while Music + Modern gives you Arijit Singh and Drake. Names that never went away — Batman, Sachin, Mickey Mouse — answer to both.
Team play
Split into pairs. One partner holds the phone, the other may only answer yes or no. Fastest pair to five correct wins — track it on the Scoreboard.
Pick a category
Questions people ask
- How many people do you need?
- Three is the practical minimum — you need at least two people who can see your screen and argue about the answer. It gets better at five or six.
- What if nobody in the room knows the name?
- It shouldn't happen: every name is hand-checked to be someone widely recognised, and nothing repeats until the deck runs out. If it does, tap Generate and move on. A dead name is worse than a repeat.
- Does it work without internet?
- Yes. Add the site to your home screen once and every word list is stored on the device. It plays in a basement, on a train, or on aeroplane mode.
- Is this the same as Heads Up?
- It's the same family. Heads Up is an app where you hold the phone up and race a timer; Who Am I? and Celebrity Head are the older, slower, question-based version. This is the question-based one, with no timer.
Office Paglu
Unprofessional office wear for corporate mazdoors. Wear the joke to the party you just won.