Everyone writes three things about themselves. Two are true. The room argues, then votes, and you find out which of your colleagues has been holding out on you.
The icebreaker everyone has been made to do badly. This one keeps the statements private until you reveal them, tallies the votes, and scores both the fooling and the spotting.
Which one is the lie?
Vote from your phone. Fool the room and you score too.
What a player is looking at, mid-round.
What actually happens
Everyone types three statements into their phone and marks which one is false. You tap a button and the first person's statements appear on the shared screen, whether that is a TV, a screenshare, or just your laptop on the table. The room reads them: "I once shared a lift with a Formula One driver." "I have never owned a passport." "I can ride a unicycle."
Then the debate. Someone says the Formula One one is too specific to be made up. Someone else points out she just got back from Japan, which rather rules out the passport. The unicycle is too odd to lie about. Everyone votes from their phones.
You reveal. Half the room was wrong. The scores move: a point to everyone who spotted it, and a point to her for every person she fooled. Next person up.
The rules
Each player submits three statements about themselves on their device — two true, one false — and marks which is the lie
The host presents each player's statements on the big screen, one player at a time
The group discusses and interrogates — then everyone votes on their device for which statement is the lie
The host reveals the lie, shows vote results, and the leaderboard updates
Move to the next player until everyone has had their turn
You score points for fooling others (+1 per player fooled) and for correctly spotting lies (+1 per correct guess). The leaderboard updates after each player's turn — highest total score wins!
While you host
Once Two Truths & a Lie is running, the scoring, the leaderboard, and the ending are handled. You get to be in the room instead of behind a spreadsheet.
Leaderboard
Round 6 of 10
Final podium
Mark
1,100
Kristina
1,400
Precious
900
Final scores after everyone had a turn
A code goes on your screen. People point a camera at it, type a name, and they are in. No app, no accounts, no one asking what the wifi password is.
Answers are marked as they land and the board updates between rounds. You are not holding a clipboard, and nobody is arguing about who said it first.
Top three on the big screen at the end, and every player gets their own result card on their phone that they can save or send to the group chat.
The same session works with everyone around one table, everyone on a video call, or half and half. Nobody has to be in the right place to join in.
Where Two Truths & a Lie shines
Onboarding
Twelve new joiners dropped into a virtual onboarding session. The People lead runs this for the first twenty minutes. By the end the cohort knows more about each other than three weeks of standups would have told them. One new joiner turns out to have competed in archery at national level. Another claims to own a pet emu. Only one of those is true.
Dinner party
Eight friends who have known each other five years and assume they know everything. Three rounds in, somebody has revealed something nobody knew. The dinner party turns into a warm, nosy interrogation and stays that way until midnight.
Double date
Two couples who have met once before. The host screen goes on the TV. Thirty minutes tells them more about each other than the previous dinner did, and by the end of the night all four are planning the next one.
Make it yours
Add a prompt to steer what people write about, set how long they get, and decide whether you play as individuals or in teams.
Give the cohort a prompt like your first job or the strangest place you have lived. Ten minutes and the room knows each other.
Steer the prompt at work: the project you nearly killed, the meeting you slept through. It gets people honest quickly.
Aim the prompt at the guest of honour and let the room discover which stories were true all along.
This one loses nothing over video. Statements go on the shared screen and the chat does the accusing.
How Two Truths & a Lie plays
Each player gets a turn, the room votes from their phones, you reveal, and the scores move. Nothing for you to tally.
After each player takes their turn, the rest of the room votes on what they believe. You see the tally before the reveal, and the scores stack up as the game runs.
Best for: icebreakers, onboarding, and dinner parties, where you want people learning something true about each other.
Split the room into colour-coded teams. A team huddles, argues, and sends one answer. You can also let every member answer for their team if you would rather nobody sits out.
Best for: in-person offsites, weddings, and family gatherings, where you want people talking to each other instead of into their phones.
Offline · How to play today
People take turns saying their three statements out loud, the way this game has always been played. The room argues, votes by show of hands, and you run the scoring from one device. A dedicated offline format is coming for groups that want it built in.
