Imposter

Word categories

The secret word is drawn from the categories the host picks, shuffled so no word repeats within a game.

There are 17 categories and they do not overlap: every word belongs to exactly one. Turn them all on and you get the full deck of 1383 words — the same list the game shipped with before it was sorted. Turn most of them off and the round gets sharper, because everyone already knows roughly what kind of thing the word is.

Which categories should we play?

With a new group, leave all of them on for the first few rounds — it teaches the rhythm of the game without asking anyone to know a category. After that, narrowing to two or three makes a much harder game: the bluffing starts from a known subject rather than from nothing, so a vague clue stands out immediately. Animals and Food are the friendliest to start with; Ideas & Concepts is the cruellest, because there is nothing concrete to describe.

Every category

Each category shows a sample rather than the full list — the rest stay hidden so the deck is not spoiled for anyone who reads this page.

Playing in another language

The word language is chosen in the lobby and is independent of the language you are reading this in. Fifteen are available: English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish and Romanian. Each is a native word list rather than a translation, so nothing reads like it came out of a dictionary, and each is split into the same categories.

Frequently asked questions

Can I combine categories?

Yes — the host picks any combination in the lobby and the game shuffles them into one deck. No word repeats within a single game.

Does a smaller selection make the game harder or easier?

Harder, and more interesting. When everyone knows the word is an animal, a clue like “large” stops being useful and the imposter has much less room to hide behind a vague answer.

Why can I not see every word?

Because you would be reading the deck you are about to play against. Each category shows a sample instead, which is enough to tell whether it suits your group.

Can I add my own words?

Not yet. The categories are fixed lists, chosen so that every word is easy to hint at and hard to prove.

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How to play Imposter