Heads Up Game: How to Play the App, the Party Game and Heads Up Seven Up

What Is the Heads Up Game?

Heads Up! is a charades-style guessing game that started on Ellen DeGeneres’ daytime talk show, where she played it with her guests. DeGeneres created the mobile version, developed by Ellen Digital Ventures with Gasket Games. It debuted in 2013, and by 2022 the app had more than 70 million downloads and more than 40 million users. It had also been Apple’s top paid app in the App Store for five years in a row.

The idea fits in one sentence: one player holds a phone (or a card) to their forehead without seeing the word, and everyone else gives clues until they guess it. The goal is to get through as many words as possible in one minute, but the real point is to have a blast. It needs no special skills beyond being willing to look a little foolish and maybe do a terrible British accent, so it works for your loudest extrovert friend and your shyest coworker alike.

• It’s quick. A round takes one minute, so you can play at lunch, at a party or while you wait for food.
• It breaks the ice. With a new group, everyone is chatting and laughing within seconds.
• It makes memories. Think of your boss acting out a T-Rex or your best friend melodramatically playing Beyoncé.

The same game goes by plenty of names: the Forehead Game, What’s on My Head?, Word Up and Headbands. The boxed game Hedbanz is an analog version of the same idea, and there are two common ways to play: the group gives clues, or the player with the word asks the group questions. Don’t confuse any of these with Heads Up Seven Up, a completely different classroom game covered below.

How to Play Heads Up: Rules for the App

The app uses your phone’s motion sensors to detect head movements, so a tilt of your head controls the game.

1. Pick a deck. Choose a category such as Movies, Celebrities, Animals or Accents.
2. Put the phone on your forehead. The guesser holds the phone against their forehead with the screen facing out, so everyone can see the word except them.
3. Give clues. Everyone else describes the word, acts it out or makes sounds, without saying the actual word. One crucial rule: no rhyming. “Cat, hat, bat” doesn’t help anyone.
4. Tilt down for a correct answer. Got it? Give a clear downward nod and the next word appears.
5. Tilt up to pass. Stumped? Tilt your head up to skip the word. Passing costs nothing and doesn’t affect your score. The app reacts to deliberate tilts, not subtle movements, so make each nod distinct.
6. Beat the clock. You get 60 seconds. Every correct guess earns one point, and your total is counted when time runs out.
7. Pass the phone. The next player takes a turn, and you keep going until everyone has guessed. In team mode, add up each team member’s points for a team total.

Record the round. Before you start, turn on video recording in the app settings. It films your friends’ increasingly frantic clues, and the replays are often the funniest part of the night. Videos are usually saved to your phone’s photo library or camera roll, and on some devices in a separate “Heads Up!” folder.

Adjust the settings. The same menu lets you change the time limit for a faster or more relaxed game, switch recording on or off and control sound effects and volume.

RoomPlay game Play Heads Up without downloading an app

Open it in the browser on one phone, hold it to your forehead and tilt down for correct or back to skip. Play free for all or in teams, with rounds from 30 to 120 seconds.

Play Heads Up

Heads Up Game App: iPhone, iPad, Android and Netflix

The Heads Up! app is available on the App Store for iPhone and iPad and on Google Play for Android. On the US App Store it’s a paid download ($1.99), and a few categories come included, with many more sold as in-app purchases.

• Decks. Themed word lists range from A-List Celebrities and Blockbuster Movies to Adorable Animals and Foreign Accents. Other popular picks include “Sing It!” for music lovers and “Animals Gone Wild,” and new decks are added regularly.
• Your own deck. The paid version lets you buy a customizable deck, choose Create Your Own Deck and type in any words you like. You can add more words whenever you want, and teachers use it for vocabulary practice.
• Built-in tutorial. The app comes with a short instruction video, so nobody needs the rules explained twice.
• iPad play. The game works on a tablet too, but an iPad gets heavy when you hold it on your forehead for a full minute.
• Video calls. Remote groups can play over Zoom: share your screen, pick a deck and take turns.

Netflix Heads Up! Netflix has its own exclusive edition, included for Netflix members at no extra cost on Android and iOS. It launched with 28 new decks based on series such as Stranger Things, Squid Game, Shadow and Bone, Bridgerton and Selling Sunset, plus entertainment decks like rom-coms and true crime. It’s available in English and 13 other languages, and the rules are the same: tilt down when you get one, tilt up to skip.

Heads Up Tips: How to Give Better Clues

Giving clues is where rounds are won or lost. Clear, quick and creative beats long and careful.

• Paint a picture. Instead of saying “animal,” try “It’s a large African mammal with big ears and a long trunk.”
• Use sounds and impressions. Meow like a cat, bark like a dog or do your best celebrity impression. Sounds work surprisingly well.
• Try synonyms. If the word is “happy,” offer “joyful,” “cheerful” or “content.”
• Act it out. Charades-style acting is encouraged, especially for action verbs. For “Tyrannosaurus Rex,” a ferocious roar with tiny arms does the job.
• Agree on signals. Use a code word like “synonym” or a gesture that means a synonym is coming, and a quick sign that tells the guesser they’re on the right track.
• Keep moving. Sixty seconds go faster than you think. Don’t get stuck on one hard word: a fast pass gives you more chances to score.
• Pick decks the room knows. History buffs want a history deck, pop culture fans want a trending one. A deck everyone knows a little about means more correct guesses and less frustration.
• Laugh at the misses. If “it’s a big, hairy creature” gets you “Bigfoot” instead of “bear,” enjoy it and adjust your clues next time.

Harder clues Explain words with the obvious hints banned

In Taboo your team guesses the word while you avoid a list of forbidden words. Team game on one phone, in the browser.

Play Taboo

Heads Up Party Game Variations

Heads Up is easy to remix for your mood, group size or location. A few formats that work:

• Team Showdown (4+ players). Split into two or more teams of at least two. Teams take turns, one player guesses while teammates give clues, and the highest combined score wins bragging rights. It works especially well for 3 to 6 players; for bigger groups, add more teams or shorten the rounds.
• Speed Round Showdown. Two groups, one timer and 60 seconds each to get as many words as possible. Most points wins, with bonus points for over-the-top team introductions.
• Cooperative mode (2+ players). Good for couples and small groups. Instead of competing, everyone is one big team: one player guesses and all the others give clues.
• Party Chaos (6+ players). One brave guesser, and everyone else shouts clues at the same time. Loud, chaotic and built for big parties.
• Silent Mode Challenge. No talking at all, just miming. It’s harder than it sounds, and funnier.
• Charades Mash-Up. Combine Heads Up with traditional charades rules for an acting-and-guessing hybrid. Ideal for large groups.
• Shorter rounds. Cut the time limit to make every round more intense.
• DIY Heads Up. Skip the phone and write your own cards. It’s perfect for theme parties or a cabin with patchy Wi-Fi. See how to make your own.

Heads Up at Work, on Zoom and at Christmas Parties

A one-minute game that gets people laughing is exactly what a slow office afternoon or a team-building event needs.

• Meeting icebreaker. Start a session with one quick round. A deck of workplace lingo gets extra laughs and wakes up a stiff room.
• Breakroom fun. Leave a spare phone or a whiteboard out for surprise rounds over coffee or lunch, and watch the walls between departments come down.
• Remote teams. On Zoom, share the screen, pick a deck and rotate guessers.
• Theme days. Match the deck to the theme: a ’90s Day calls for the “Decades” deck, and a holiday party calls for the festive decks.
• Prizes and a leaderboard. Hand out ridiculous prizes for the best clue-giver and the funniest guess, or keep an office Heads Up! leaderboard.

For more ideas in the same spirit, see these icebreaker games for work and groups.

Heads Up! Party Game Rules (Board Game Version)

The Heads Up! Party Game from Spin Master (2013, designed by Nick Hayes) swaps the phone for headbands and cards. It’s for ages 8 and up, 2 to 6 players, and a game takes 20 to 30 minutes. The goal is to collect the most chips. The rules below are for the original 2013 edition; newer editions, such as the 4th edition, play differently.

What’s in the box

• 6 headbands
• 48 chips
• 200 cards, 50 in each of four categories
• A sand timer
• Instructions

Setup

1. Everyone puts on a headband.
2. Separate the four category decks, shuffle each one and place them face down on the table.
3. Put the chips and the sand timer in the center.
4. Choose the first guesser. Everyone else gives clues, and the first guesser picks the category for the first round. Each new round uses a different category.

How a turn works

1. The guesser draws six cards from the round’s category and slides them into their headband facing the other players, without looking.
2. The guesser chooses normal play (easier, one chip per correct answer) or challenge play (an extra rule for the category, two chips per correct answer).
3. The guesser flips the timer and the clue givers start on the top word or phrase of the first card.
4. After a correct guess or a skip, they move on to the second word on the card. An illegal clue forces a skip to the next word.
5. When both words on a card are done, the guesser removes the top card to reveal the next one. This continues until the timer runs out.
6. The guesser collects one chip (normal) or two chips (challenge) for each correct answer.

The four categories

• Act It Out. Clue givers act or make sounds but can’t talk. In challenge play, sound effects are banned too. Example card: ping pong, then tightrope walking.
• Superstars. Describe a celebrity without saying any part of their name and without rhymes. In challenge play you also can’t mention other celebrities. For Neil Patrick Harris you could say “an actor who played Doogie Howser and Barney Stinson,” and for Howie Mandel, “the host of Deal or No Deal.”
• Hey Mr. DJ. Hum or whistle a song; no singing or talking. In normal play the guesser names the song, in challenge play the song and the artist. Example card: “A Hard Day’s Night,” then “We Are Young.”
• Dynamic Duos. Pairs joined by “and,” such as Batman and Robin or Hansel and Gretel. You can’t use the words on the card or rhyme, and in challenge play you must describe the pair in five words or fewer. “A pair of crime fighters who fight the Joker” works for the first one, and “characters from a classic children’s book who encounter a house made of candy” for the second.

Winning and team mode

The game ends when all the chips are taken, and the player with the most chips wins. In team mode, players split into two teams that take turns. Only members of the current team give clues, and teammates rotate between giving clues and guessing. The team with the most chips wins.

Heads Up Game Cards: How to Make Your Own (No App Needed)

You don’t need a phone or a boxed game. Homemade cards let you pick your own topics, such as TV shows, office jargon or inside jokes, which is ideal for theme parties and offline game nights.

What you need

• A timer. A 60-second sand timer is the best length for a round, or use a digital timer. With several groups, give each one its own timer; one shared timer and a shouted “Go!” only causes chaos.
• Cards. Pick one option:
  • Index cards. Simple but time-consuming to write, and once a card is lost it’s gone.
  • Post-it notes. You can print words on them and they already have adhesive, so they stick right to a forehead.
  • Printed cardstock. Type the words, print, cut and laminate them so you can reuse them. If you don’t laminate, heavier cardstock lasts longer: 100# feels much sturdier than the common 65#.
  • Slides. Type one word per slide in Google Slides or PowerPoint and show them on a phone or tablet.
• Something to hold the cards (optional). Players can hold cards by hand, but that gets tedious. Cheap dollar-store headbands work well (skip rubber bands). Paper headband hats are another option: staple the strip at the back, then clip each card to the front with a paper clip so the hat can be reused. Write each player’s name inside their hat.

Make several sets if more than one group is playing.

Rules for the clues version

1. Shuffle the cards. The player with the card is the Guesser, everyone else is a Cluer.
2. The Guesser draws a card without looking and holds it to their forehead, word facing the Cluers.
3. The Guesser flips the timer. Cluers can describe the word, act it out, draw a picture or give an example, but never say the word or any part of it. If they do, the card is passed.
4. When the Guesser gets the word, they put the card down and take the next one. They can also pass by putting a card in a separate pile.
5. When time is up, the player to the Guesser’s left takes over.
6. At the end, count the words guessed and subtract the cards passed. That’s the score.

If a guesser keeps missing, the problem may be the clues rather than the guesser.

Rules for the question version

Here the player with the card (the Asker) asks questions that can only be answered “yes” or “no.” The others can’t say the word or part of it, act it out or give any other hints. Passing, rotation and scoring work the same as in the clues version.

Ways to score and finish

• Choose who goes first with rock-paper-scissors.
• Stop when the time runs out, when a team reaches a set number of points, when one player collects a set number of cards or when every card has been played.
• Race for as many words as possible in the time, or drop the timer and play until every word is guessed.
• Play in pairs, with each duo trying to get as many words as possible together.
• Give harder words more points.

Words for Heads Up: Card Ideas by Category

Need a starting list for homemade cards? These examples come from real Heads Up! board game cards and classic clue examples.

• Act it out: ping pong, tightrope walking, Tyrannosaurus Rex.
• Animals: elephant, cat, dog, bear.
• Celebrities: Neil Patrick Harris, Howie Mandel, Beyoncé.
• Songs to hum: “A Hard Day’s Night,” “We Are Young.”
• Dynamic duos: Batman and Robin, Hansel and Gretel.
• Deck themes to build your own: movies, celebrities, animals, accents, decades, TV shows, office jargon, inside jokes.

For famous people, characters and historical figures, use the name lists in the Guess Who I Am section below.

Heads Up Vocabulary Game for the Classroom

Heads Up works beautifully as a vocabulary review. Instead of random words, students wear target vocabulary and ask questions (or get clues) until they guess it. It adapts to most subjects and grade levels.

In small groups

1. Divide students into groups of three to five and give each group a face-down stack of cards.
2. The youngest student goes first, draws a card and, without looking, shows it to the group.
3. The card goes into a headband on the student’s forehead.
4. The student asks the group yes-or-no questions. No gestures or noises allowed.
5. If they guess before time runs out, the team gets a point. Keep going, then tally the cards at the end.

With the whole class

Every student wears a word. Everyone walks around asking each other questions to figure out their own word. Students who guess turn their word around or take it off but keep giving clues to others, and play continues until everyone has their word. If a student is stuck, the teacher can start giving clues or let them pass and swap words.

Choosing the words

• Use words students already know. The game is for reviewing and reinforcing, not for introducing new vocabulary.
• Include words students struggle with; those are the most important to review.
• It handles a large set of words, so it fits the end of a grading period, and it also works with tiny sets: in groups of three, three words give everyone a turn.
• Bring back older words students should still know.
• For a challenge, make a deck of harder words. For extra support, print the definition on the card for the clue-giver.

Question cards for students who get stuck

Some students have trouble thinking of questions. Give them a card with ideas:

• Am I alive? Am I a place? Am I an animal? Am I a person?
• Do I move? Do I make noise? Can I swim? Can I fly?
• Do I get eaten? Do I belong in a house? Can you buy me in a store?
• Am I bigger than a gallon of milk? Am I heavier than a baseball? A box of books?
• Can you hold me in your hand?

Match the questions to the subject. For math: Am I a number? An integer? A theorem, rule or law? Am I related to lines, shapes, triangles, variables or circles? Am I represented by a symbol? Would a fourth-grader know me? A seventh-grader? Can I be measured? Do you use a protractor with me? For English language arts: Am I a literary element? Am I related to conflict, characterization, plot or poetry?

More ways to use it

• Stolen moments. The whole-class version takes just a few minutes and even works while kids wait in line.
• Stations and small groups. Small-group play fits learning stations, guided groups, reteaching and extra practice. It’s also easy to send home for practice with parents.
• Distance learning. Message the word to everyone except the guesser, use breakout rooms with one student sharing words, or let the teacher know the word while all students guess.
• Preassessment in pairs. Students play through a whole deck in pairs and set aside every passed word, then replay only those words with a new partner, so a weak clue-giver isn’t the reason a word was missed. The words passed again are the ones to review.
• Whole-class preassessment. The teacher gives all the clues while students take turns holding up a full sheet with the word, and everyone writes their guess on a numbered list.
• With the app. A custom deck in the paid app turns your word list into a learning station, though every device needs the paid version. Wipe the phone between players.

Asking questions or giving spoken clues usually takes deeper thinking than acting the word out. Students enjoy it, it works as a content-based icebreaker, it builds rapport in groups and it encourages risk-taking. Play a few whole-class rounds first with the teacher holding the card, so students new to the game learn it without stress.

Guess Who I Am Game: The Sticky Note Version

Who Am I (also called Guess Who I Am or Celebrity Head) is the question version of Heads Up: everyone wears a name on their forehead and asks yes-or-no questions to figure it out. It’s good for ages 8 and up (younger kids can play with familiar names or pictures), needs at least 3 or 4 players and takes 15 to 30 minutes. There’s no upper limit on players, and along the way kids practice deductive reasoning, memory, confidence and social skills.

How to play Who Am I

1. Gather supplies. Sticky notes work best, plus something to write with.
2. Write a name. Each player secretly writes the name of a real or fictional person, character or figure that most of the group will recognize.
3. Stick it on someone else. Without letting them see it, put the note on another player’s forehead (or back). Now everyone knows each identity except their own.
4. Sit in a circle. Turns rotate clockwise, starting with a random player.
5. Ask one yes-or-no question per turn. For example, “Am I a real person?” or “Am I alive today?” The group answers together.
6. Guess instead of asking. On your turn you can name who you think you are. A wrong guess ends your turn.
7. Finish the round. The first correct guesser wins, but keep playing until everyone has figured out who they are.

Strategies

• Start broad: real or fictional, alive or dead, male or female.
• Then narrow down: actor or athlete, cartoon or movie character.
• Listen to everyone: other players’ questions and answers can hint at your own identity.
• Be bold: once you’ve narrowed it down, take the guess. Early risks sometimes pay off.

Variations

• Mingle version. Best for big groups. Walk around the room. When two players meet, each asks one question about their own identity, then they split up and find new partners. It keeps the energy high and speeds up large groups.
• Team play. Teammates share one identity and take turns asking questions together.

Guess Who I Am ideas

Anything works: real people (alive or historical), fictional characters, even animals and objects, as long as most of the group knows them.

• Famous people: Taylor Swift, LeBron James, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey.
• Historical figures: Albert Einstein, Cleopatra, Martin Luther King Jr., Amelia Earhart.
• Fictional characters: Harry Potter, Spider-Man, Shrek, Wonder Woman, SpongeBob SquarePants.
• Kids and family: Mickey Mouse, Moana, Scooby-Doo, Winnie the Pooh, Sonic the Hedgehog.
• Trickier picks: the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, Bigfoot, Barbie, Robin Hood.

No sticky notes Guess famous characters with a phone on your forehead

The Characters pack in RoomPlay Heads Up is full of heroes, movie icons and historical figures. Your friends explain, you guess.

Play the Characters pack

Heads Up Seven Up Game Rules

Heads Up Seven Up has nothing to do with the phone game. It’s a classic elementary school game in which players with their heads down try to guess who pressed their thumb or tapped their head. It has been played in American classrooms since at least the 1950s, and teachers love it as a fairly quiet game for indoor recess on rainy days or the last minutes before kids go home. It started as an indoor classroom game for children and has become a party game and icebreaker for any age. It’s also called Thumbs Up Seven Up, Heads Up Thumbs Up, Heads Down or Heads Down Thumbs Up.

How to play Heads Up Seven Up

1. Pick seven. The teacher chooses seven players (or another number) to come to the front of the room. They are “it.”
2. Heads down. A leader calls “Heads down, thumbs up!” or “Heads down all around!” Everyone else puts their head on the desk with eyes closed and one thumb up.
3. Press a thumb. The seven walk around the room and each one secretly presses down one person’s thumb (or taps their head), then returns to the front. This part takes about a minute.
4. Heads up. The leader calls “Heads up, seven up!” or “Heads up, stand up!” Everyone raises their heads, and the players whose thumbs were pressed stand up.
5. Guess. One at a time, each standing player names who they think picked them.
6. Swap or sit. A correct guess means the guesser trades places with the person who picked them, who goes back to their seat. A wrong guess means the guesser sits down.
7. Repeat. Start the next round with the new group at the front. And no peeking!

Tips for a fair game

• Change the guessing order. Players who guess later have an advantage, especially once some pickers are out. Call on them in a different pattern each round: front to back, left to right and so on.
• Get enough players. You need at least 14 players, and more is better. With a smaller group, have only two or three players do the tapping.
• Stop the peeking. Have players cross their arms and rest their heads on them.
• Thumbs or heads. The players who are “it” can press thumbs or tap heads, whichever your class prefers.

Variations

• Find “It.” One player is “It” and touches the thumbs of six people, who go to the front of the room. “It” joins them and yells “Seven up!” Everyone raises their heads and tries to guess which of the seven is “It.” Those who guess right change places with the person who touched their thumb.
• Leader starts. The teacher or a selected player touches seven thumbs and calls “Heads up, seven up!” The seven stand, everyone else puts their heads back down, and the seven go around touching thumbs. On the next call, the players who were touched stand and guess who touched them, taking that player’s place if they’re right.

The game even made it to TV: Squid Game: The Challenge played its own version in episode 9, “Circle of Trust.”

Other games called Seven Up

The name also belongs to an outdoor ball game many parents and grandparents remember. You need a bouncy ball, such as a tennis ball, and a smooth wall, floor, hard ground or garage door. It works solo or with a group:

• Onesies: throw the ball against the wall, spin all the way around and catch it before it lands.
• Twosies: toss the ball under your leg, bounce it off the wall or ground and catch it. Do it twice.
• Threesies: bounce the ball on the ground, bat it against the wall with your palm and catch it before it hits the ground. Repeat it twice.
• Foursies: bounce the ball from the ground to the wall and back to you, four times.
• Fivesies: bounce the ball on the ground five times.
• Sixsies: bounce the ball off the wall and let it bounce once on the ground before you catch it, six times.
• Sevensies: bounce the ball seven times and catch it after the last bounce.

Then start the series again, adding a clap between throws in round two and one more clap each round after that. Seven Up is also the name of a two-player trick-taking card game, also known as All Fours, where the first player to seven points wins.

Games Like Heads Up

If you enjoy the fast-paced word guessing of Heads Up, these games share the same mix of deduction, creativity and social fun:

• Hedbanz, the boxed analog version with headbands and cards.
• Who Am I, the sticky note version.
• Charades, the classic that Heads Up reinvents for phones.
• Pictionary and Codenames.
• 20 Questions, Scattergories and Catch Phrase.
• Two Truths and a Lie and Would You Rather.

For more games that run on a single device, see one phone party games.

Heads Up Game FAQ

1. How do you play the Heads Up game?

   Pick a deck, hold the phone to your forehead with the screen facing out and guess the word from your friends’ clues. Tilt down when you get it, tilt up to pass, and score one point per word in 60 seconds.

2. Which way do you tilt the phone in Heads Up?

   Tilt down for a correct guess and tilt up to skip. Passing doesn’t cost points. Make each tilt clear, because the app ignores small movements.

3. Is the Heads Up app free?

   On iPhone and iPad it’s a paid download ($1.99 on the US App Store), with extra decks sold in the app. Netflix members get Netflix Heads Up! at no extra cost, and homemade cards or RoomPlay’s browser version cost nothing.

4. How many people can play Heads Up?

   Two players can play cooperatively, team play works from four, and big parties of six or more can all shout clues at once. The board game is for 2 to 6 players.

5. What’s the difference between Heads Up and Heads Up Seven Up?

   Heads Up is a word-guessing game with a phone or card on your forehead. Heads Up Seven Up is a classroom game where seven players secretly press classmates’ thumbs and those players guess who picked them.

6. Can you play Heads Up on Zoom?

   Yes. Share your screen, pick a deck and take turns guessing. Teachers can also message the word to everyone except the guesser.

7. How long does a game take?

   An app round lasts one minute. The board game takes 20 to 30 minutes, and Who Am I takes 15 to 30.