Which Hand
A whole room guessing left or right. Half of them are wrong every time.
Everyone hides something small in one fist, and the room guesses together which hand it is in. Wrong guessers sit down until one person is left. It needs nothing, works with any number, and the last two guessing against each other gets a room genuinely shouting.
Everyone take something small — a coin, a pen lid, anything. Put your hands behind your back and hide it in one fist. Bring both fists out. Everybody still standing guesses which hand mine is in, by holding up your left or right. Wrong, and you sit.
You need something that scales to any size room and takes two minutes, with no space and no props to bring.
Props: None — people use something they already have
Run this when…
If none of these is your room, pick another.A very large room where nobody can move
Two minutes between two sections
A group who need a winner and a bit of noise
How to run it
Written to be glanced at mid-room, not memorised.
- Ask everyone to find something small they already have — a coin, a ring, a pen lid.
- Hands behind the back, hide it in one fist, bring both fists forward.
- You hide yours too. The room guesses which of your hands it is in by raising that hand.
- Reveal. Everybody who guessed wrong sits down.
- Repeat. It halves the room every round, so it ends fast.
- When two are left, have them face off directly while everyone else watches.
- Name the winner and move straight on.
Running it well
Only the host sees these. Participants never do.
- Vary your own hand genuinely at random. A room works out a pattern within three rounds and then it is not a game.
- Standing rather than sitting is more visible in a big room, so run it as sit-down-when-out rather than hands-up.
- The last two facing off is the whole payoff. Slow right down for it and let the room make noise.
Watch out for
Space, safety and the traps worth knowing before you start.
- Nobody needs to move from where they are, which is what makes it work in a packed room.
- Some people will have nothing in their pockets. Say a closed empty fist counts — nobody has to produce an object.
Already seated
Nobody has to stand for this one.
It is already seated. Being out means folding your arms rather than sitting down, which reads just as clearly.
On a video call
The cards work as they are. This is what changes about how you call it.
Works exactly as written. Fists come up to the camera, which is if anything clearer than across a room. Being out means turning your camera off or holding up a flat palm; use the palm, because a wall of black squares looks like people leaving. The last two facing off is the moment — pin or spotlight them so the room is watching the same thing.
Run it yourself
Free for thirty days, no card. Put it on the projector and step through it — nobody in the room needs a phone.
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- Where
- Remote or in person
- Props
- None — people use something they already have
- Big screen
- Required
- Teams
- Individual only