Just One (2025 edition)

Why it's in our library

Everyone at the table plays on the same side, so the whole group is pulling for each guess together. The tricky part is choosing a clue that helps but that nobody else will think of, because matching clues disappear before the guesser ever sees them.

How to play

The team works through a deck of thirteen cards, trying to get as many hidden words guessed as it can.

Each round, one player is the guesser. Without peeking, they take the top card and stand it on their easel so it faces everyone else. Then they call out a number from one to five, which picks the secret word on that card.

Everyone else quietly writes a one-word clue on their own easel and keeps it hidden. Before the guesser looks, the clue-givers compare what they wrote. Any clue that matches someone else's is hidden away, and so is any clue that breaks the rules, such as a form of the secret word itself.

The guesser sees only the clues that are left and gets one guess. A right answer sends the card to the team's pile of wins. A wrong answer throws out that card and the next one from the deck as well. If the guesser would rather not guess, only the current card is thrown out.

Wipe the easels clean, pass the guesser role to the next player, and carry on. When the deck runs out, count the cards in the wins pile. The closer you get to thirteen, the better the team did.

One thing to say before you start: clues that are too obvious tend to cancel each other out. Aim for a clue that is helpful but different from everyone else's.

Good for