A good question is one a spy cannot guess their way through. That rules out
almost every yes/no question: a spy who does not know the word still has a fifty-fifty shot at
"Is it indoors?", and they will take it confidently.
What a spy cannot fake is a specific, unprompted detail. Smells, sounds, what
your hands are doing, what irritates you. Those answers have to come from somewhere real, and
an invented one usually lands slightly wrong in a way the table can feel.
Opening questions
Safe to ask first. They give the table something to work with without narrowing the word so far that a spy can guess it.
How often do you end up here?
Would you bring your family here?
What time of day is best for this?
Is this something you look forward to?
How much would you expect to spend?
Would you come here alone?
How long would you stay?
Did you come here more as a kid or more now?
Would you tell someone you were here?
Is this a weekday thing or a weekend thing?
Sensory questions
The strongest category. A spy can bluff an opinion, but inventing a specific smell or sound on the spot almost always sounds wrong.
What does it smell like here?
How loud is it?
Is it warm or cold?
What is the floor like?
What are you most likely to hear in the background?
Is it brightly lit or dim?
What is the first thing you notice walking in?
Is it crowded?
What colour comes to mind?
Does it feel clean?
Opinion questions
These reveal people who are agreeing with the room rather than answering. Watch who waits to hear someone else first.
What is the worst part of this?
What is the best part?
Would you recommend it to a friend?
What annoys you most about it?
Rate it out of ten.
Would you rather be here or at home?
Is it overrated?
Would you pay double for it?
What would make it better?
Has it got worse over the years?
Behaviour questions
Ask what a person actually does. A spy has to invent an action, and invented actions tend to be generic.
What are you doing with your hands right now?
What are you wearing?
Did you have to plan ahead to be here?
What did you bring with you?
Who did you come with?
What will you do straight afterwards?
Are you sitting or standing?
Did you take a photo?
Would you check your phone here?
How did you get here?
Pressure questions
Late-round questions for when you have a suspect. They are specific enough to trap a spy — and specific enough to give the word away, so save them.
Name one thing you would never see here.
Who works here?
What is the one thing you cannot leave without?
What rule do people break here?
What would a child find boring about this?
Describe it to someone who has never been.
What is on the wall?
What goes wrong here most often?
What would you complain about in a review?
What is the single most obvious thing about it?
Questions not to ask
"Is it indoors?" — a coin flip the spy will win half the time.
"Do you like it?" — everyone can answer this about anything.
"Is it a place or a thing?" — narrows the word for the spy far more than it narrows
the suspect list for you.
"What is it made of?" — often so specific that the answer is effectively the
word.
Anything you already asked someone else. The second person has heard the first
answer and can shape theirs around it.
Frequently asked
What should you ask in the spy game?
Ask questions that need a specific answer rather than a yes or no — smells, sounds, what your hands are doing, what annoys you. A spy can guess a yes/no but cannot invent a convincing detail on demand.
What questions should you avoid?
Anything a spy could answer by guessing: "Is it indoors?", "Do you like it?", "Is it expensive?". Also avoid anything so specific that answering it names the word for the spy.
How do you answer without giving the word away?
Answer with something true but oblique — an opinion, a feeling, a small detail. Prove you know it without describing it. The mistake most citizens make is over-proving.
Should you ask the same person twice?
It is allowed and often effective. A player who was smooth the first time may stumble when asked a follow-up that builds on their own answer.