No, not that Celebrity game. We just played this shelter-in-place style over Zoom and it was loads of fun.
What is it?
Celebrities is a party game introduced to me by friends, Jean Cheng and Eric Chou. It’s super fun and we realized with a little effort, it can be adapted to be played over Zoom. These instructions are written by Jean, with an assist by me (Eugene).
Celebrities is a guessing game where players secretly submit a celebrity name. After hearing the full list of names, players take turns guessing who submitted which name until all celebrity names are revealed.
Why play?
- It’s a memory and guessing game. Not only are you guessing who submitted what name, but you have to try and remember all the names.
- It’s competitive and collaborative at the same time. You’ll see in a second.
- Other than Zoom, no special gameplay tools or knowledge are needed.
What do you need?
- You’ll need 8-10 people to play—and the more people, the more fun it is. It works best when each person has a cellphone that can text or message other people in the game.
- A paid Zoom account so you don’t run into the 40 minute limit.
- A Google form (created by the host) with one question “Submit your celebrity name:” with a short text answer field.
How to play?
Think of a famous name that other people in the room would know. It can be real or fictitious, person, animal, cartoon character…anything goes, as long as it’s a recognizable name.
When you’ve got your name, submit it via the Google Form to the host and then, in the participants tab, “raise your hand” to signal you’re done.
Once everyone has submitted, the host will read all of the celebrity names out loud exactly TWICE, without revealing who submitted which famous name. Players should listen carefully but are not allowed to write anything down. This is the only time players will hear the list of celebrities.
Starting with the person whose name is at the top of the participants tab, have them guess who submitted a celebrity name.
Let’s say it’s Angela’s turn, and she says, “Eugene, are you the person who put in Mr. T?”
If Angela guesses wrong, her turn is over. If she guesses correctly, Eugene joins Angela to form a team. Each player gets one guess per turn.
Because he was identified, Eugene is no longer an active guesser in the game and doesn’t get a turn. Eugene is now part of Team Angela.
He should “lower his hand” in the Zoom participants list to show he is now on another player’s team. That signals to the host that Eugene doesn’t take a turn to guess.
Play resumes. The next person on the participant gets to guess.
If the next turn falls to someone who has a team, they can text or message among themselves who the team guess is.
The teams are a key advantage to this game. Teams caucus to share information and collectively strategize on the next guess.
Ultimately, the team captain makes the guess.
Every time a player is guessed correctly, they are added to the guesser’s team. If they have a team, all of their players move to the new team forming an even larger one.
Pretty soon teams multiply in number and in size. The teams grow larger in membership as they consolidate through correct guesses.
Eventually, it’s down to two teams with half of the players on each.
Whoever is the last person/team standing wins!