How To Play The Game Things: Complete Rules, Strategy Guide, And Setup Instructions

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The game Things is a fast-paced, highly social party game where players must guess who wrote humorous or revealing responses to various open-ended prompts. Success requires a blend of creative bluffing, psychological profiling of your friends, and sharp deduction across multiple scoring rounds.

Setting Up the Table and Organizing Game Components

Before diving into the laughter and surprising revelations, establishing the correct physical layout and ensuring all materials are accounted for will keep the session running smoothly. Things is designed for groups of four or more players and scales exceptionally well for large parties up to ten or more participants.

Essential components checklist: One copy of the Things game box, a stack of scorecards or individual slips of paper for every participant, a dedicated collection pen or pencil for each player, and the official topic card deck.
Prerequisite knowledge: Players should establish a comfortable seating arrangement in a circle or around a table where everyone can pass their answers secretly without compromising anonymity.
Session scope benchmarks: An average game session lasts between 30 to 45 minutes, accommodating anywhere from four to eight complete rounds depending on the group's preferred length.

Step-by-Step Gameplay Execution

Step 1: Distributing Supplies and Establishing the First Dealer

Every participant receives one scorecard and a writing utensil. Designate one person to act as the primary reader for the opening round, an operational role that rotates clockwise with each subsequent round. The designated reader draws the top card from the topic deck, reads the prompt aloud to the entire group, and ensures everyone understands the parameters of the question before writing begins.

Pro-Tip: If playing with a mixed group of close friends and acquaintances, agree beforehand on whether responses should lean strictly into PG-rated humor or can explore edgier territory.

Step 2: Drafting Creative and Deceptive Responses

Every player secretly writes down a response to the prompt on their scorecard. The prompt always begins with the phrase "Things you shouldn't..." or a similar thematic variation, requiring a short phrase, sentence, or specific noun phrase as an answer. Players should aim to write answers that reflect their own genuine thoughts or cleverly mimic the style, humor, or specific vocabulary of another player at the table to throw off potential guessers.

Warning: Do not include your name, initials, or obvious personal signatures on your scorecard. Anonymity is the core mechanic that drives the deduction phase of the game.

Step 3: Collecting, Shuffling, and Reading the Anonymized Slips

Once all players have finished writing, fold your scorecards and pass them to the reader. The reader collects all the slips, thoroughly shuffles them to obscure the handwriting and order of submission, and then reads each submitted answer aloud one by one. The reader repeats each answer twice so everyone at the table has time to process the humor and analyze the linguistic style.

Step 4: The Guessing Phase and Score Accumulation

Starting to the left of the reader, each player takes a turn attempting to guess which person at the table wrote a specific answer. A player earns one point for correctly identifying the author of a response. Furthermore, the author of the statement earns one point for every person they successfully fool into guessing someone else. The reader tracks all points meticulously on a separate tracking sheet or the back of a scorecard.

Step 5: Rotating the Reader and Winning the Game

After every submitted answer has been attributed and scored, the role of the reader passes to the left. A new topic card is drawn, and the cycle of writing, shuffling, reading, and guessing repeats. The game concludes after a predetermined number of rounds or when a player crosses a specific point threshold, typically set at 20 points for a standard match.

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Comparative Breakdown of Party Game Mechanics

Game Attribute	Things	Cards Against Humanity	Telestrations
Primary Mechanic	Deduction and writing	Matching and black humor	Sketching and telephone
Player Interaction	High psychological profiling	Moderate vote-based selection	High creative misinterpretation
Ideal Group Size	4 to 10+ players	4 to 20+ players	4 to 8 players
Average Duration	30 to 45 minutes	45 to 90 minutes	30 minutes

Common Game Failures and Field Fixes

Failure: Players instantly recognizing each other's handwriting on the submitted slips.
- Root Cause: Using distinct marker styles or writing surfaces that reveal individual pressure marks and letter forms.
- Actionable Fix: Require all players to use a neutral writing implement provided by the host, or mandate that everyone writes in block capital letters rather than cursive or standard script.
Failure: The game stalling due to overly long or complex written responses.
- Root Cause: Participants attempting to write paragraphs instead of punchy, concise phrases.
- Actionable Fix: Enforce a strict limit of five words maximum per response to keep the pacing brisk and the reading phase engaging.
Failure: Arguments over whether a guess was specific enough to count.
- Root Cause: Vague pointing or ambiguous nicknames used during the guessing phase.
- Actionable Fix: Require the guessing player to state the full first name of their target clearly before the reader reveals the correct author.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many players do you need to play Things?

The game is optimized for four to eight players, though you can comfortably play with up to ten or more participants if you manage the card deck and scoring sheets effectively. Playing with fewer than four people removes the anonymity required for the guessing phase to function properly.

Can you make up your own topics if you run through the official deck?

Yes, players can easily invent their own custom prompts by using the classic "Things you shouldn't..." or "Things you wish you could..." sentence starters on blank slips of paper. Custom prompts work exceptionally well when tailored to inside jokes and shared experiences within your specific friend group.

What happens if a player guesses correctly on the first try?

The guessing player immediately scores one point for a correct deduction, and the author of that specific slip receives zero points for that particular round. Play then proceeds to the next person in clockwise order to guess on the remaining unassigned answers.

Is there a penalty for writing offensive or inappropriate answers?

While the game leans heavily into adult humor and edgy social commentary, the group should establish house rules regarding content boundaries before opening the deck. Players hold the collective right to discard any answer that crosses established comfort lines without awarding points for that slip.