The setup
One player is the interrogator (the guesser). Everyone else is a suspect. Each suspect's phone shows a topic and a statement about it. By default exactly one of those statements is true: that suspect is the truth teller and also gets a dossier of real facts to back it up. (Optionally, the host can seat several truth tellers, or several interrogators as a team; the rules below say what changes.) Every other suspect is a liar holding a plausible fake, and has to bluff.
Nobody but the truth teller knows who is telling the truth. The interrogator's job is to find out.
A round
- Setup. The host (or the game, when fair rotation is on) deals roles and topics. Suspects read their statement; the truth teller studies the facts.
- Questioning. The interrogator questions each suspect about their statement. Suspects answer in character: the truth teller from the facts, the liars from imagination. There is no timer; the interrogator decides when everyone has said enough.
- Accusation. The interrogator accuses one suspect (or, in games with several truth tellers, all of them at once).
- Reveal. The TV shows the verdict. Scores update, and the host starts the next round with fresh roles.
Scoring
- The interrogator scores a point for naming the truth teller(s) exactly. With a team of interrogators, everyone on the team scores.
- Every suspect who gets accused scores a point, whatever their real role. A convincing liar is rewarded; so is a truth teller who was believed.
- Nobody loses points. The game ends when the host says so; the highest total wins.
Playing online
- Someone opens a lobby at whosnotlying.com/new. The site shows a six-letter code and a QR code.
- Put the display on a TV or laptop. Everyone else scans the code with their phone and enters a name. No account is needed.
- The lobby owner has a host controls page that runs the round without spoiling anything, so the host can play too. The full dossier (every secret) is one tap further, behind a warning.
- Make an account if you want your stats, your interests, and a persistent lobby you can come back to, with a leaderboard that remembers every game night.
Packs
The questions come in packs. The default pack is trivia with one truth and one convincing lie per topic. The PhD Mode pack is built from real research papers: every truth cites its source, revealed only after the verdict. Hosts choose packs in the settings.