Questions (game)

Questions is a game which is played by asking questions. Play begins when the first player serves by asking a question (often "Would you like to play questions?"). The second player must respond to the question with another question (e.g. "How do you play that?"). Each player must quickly continue the conversation by using only questions -- no hesitation, statements, or non sequiturs. The game is usually played with two players, although multiplayer variants exist.

Rules

Scoring is done by foul. Fouls can be called for:

* "statement": player fails to reply with an actual question
* "hesitation": player takes too long to reply or grunts or makes a false start
* "repetition": player asks a questions identical to or synonymous with one already asked this game (not match)
* "rhetoric": player asks a rhetorical question
* "non-sequitur": player responds with an unrelated question

When a foul is called on a player, his opponent is awarded one point. First player to get three points wins a game. Matches are played to best out of three games.

In one multiplayer variant, the game is played with two lines facing each other. The two opponents at the heads of the lines play each other and go to the back of the line (or the "other" line) when they foul. Scoring can be however you like.

In another multiplayer variant, players are simply removed from the round for a foul.

In popular culture

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

The game of Questions is featured prominently in the Tom Stoppard play, "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" and in an abridged form in the 1990 film adaptation of the same. The following is an excerpt from the play:

quote
R: We could play at questions.
G: What good would that do?
R: Practice!
G: Statement! One - love.
R: Cheating!
G: How?
R: I hadn't started yet.
G: Statement. Two - love.
R: Are you counting that?
G: What?
R: Are you counting that?
G: Foul! No repetitions. Three - love. First game to...

"Whose Line is it Anyway?

A variation is also played on the show "Whose Line is it Anyway?", where a specific setting is established and players are replaced when they foul. The rules for determining a foul are not so strict in this version of the game, since the point is to entertain the audience rather than determine who is best player. It is left to the judgment of the host, who "buzzes out" a player who fouls, with the purpose of keeping the game fast-paced and funny. (The host typically buzzes out a player for statement, hesitation, or "cracking up" with laughter.) As with the show's other games, it is played for an unspecified length of time; at the end of the game, the host arbitrarily chooses a "winner," who receives an arbitrary amount of meaningless "points."

References