45 Put a Finger Down Questions, in Four Rounds
2026-10-02
Put a finger down is a group game that works unusually well with two, for a reason that has nothing to do with the rules: with ten fingers up and one other person watching, you cannot hide in the crowd when a round goes badly for you.
The rules, in case somebody has only ever seen it on a phone screen: you both hold up ten fingers, one of you reads a statement, and anybody it is true of puts a finger down. First to zero loses, which in practice means first to zero has had the more interesting life.
Four rounds here, getting less comfortable as they go. The last one is the ten but round, which is the other half of this game and the half that starts arguments.
Round one: the warm-up
Put a finger down if it is true of you. Nothing in this round costs anybody anything.
You have pretended to already know a film you have never seen.
You have gone back inside to check the door was locked more than twice.
You have fallen asleep during a film you chose yourself.
You have eaten something off your own kitchen floor this month.
You have recorded a voice note and listened to it back before sending it.
You have taken a photo of a menu to remember what you ordered.
You have cancelled plans and felt better immediately.
You have eaten the same meal three days running and not minded.
You have walked past somebody you know and pretended not to see them.
You have bought a plant and killed it inside a month.
You have searched your own name in the last year.
You have rewatched a comfort series instead of starting anything new.
Round two: couples edition
Same rules. This is where it stops being a party game.
You have let the other one think they won an argument you believe you won.
You have hidden a purchase, not a big one, just an unnecessary one.
You have agreed to a plan you already knew you were going to cancel.
You have taken the last of something and said nothing about it.
You have pretended to be asleep to avoid having to get up.
You have agreed to a film because arguing about it was worse than watching it.
You have told the story wrong on purpose because it is better that way.
You have screenshotted something they sent you to send on to somebody else.
You have put something of theirs away and then been unable to find it.
You have let them take the blame for being late when it was you.
You have said you were fine within an hour of definitely not being fine.
Round three: the ones that cost you something
Only play this round if you are both in a good mood. It is not a round for the end of a bad week.
You have reread an old message thread between the two of you more than once.
You have looked somebody up from your past in the last six months.
You have rehearsed a conversation with them in the shower.
You have kept something from a relationship that ended years ago.
You have checked whether they were telling the truth about something small.
You have imagined in detail what their family actually thinks of you.
You have planned a whole future you have never mentioned out loud.
You have noticed something about them that annoys you and never said it.
You have cried at something and told them it was nothing.
You have decided how an argument would go before it started.
You have thought about what you would do if this ended.
Round four: they are a ten, but
Put a finger down if that one would genuinely stop you. Nobody puts a finger down honestly in this round, which is the point of it.
They are a ten, but they answer every voice note with a longer voice note.
They are a ten, but they take calls on speaker in public.
They are a ten, but they say we should do this again and never book it.
They are a ten, but they leave one centimetre of milk in the carton.
They are a ten, but they describe entire episodes to you out loud.
They are a ten, but they are permanently fifteen minutes late to everything.
They are a ten, but they will not say where they want to eat.
They are a ten, but they correct your story while you are telling it.
They are a ten, but they keep every receipt and lose every ticket.
They are a ten, but they read the ending of a book first.
They are a ten, but they text you from the next room.
How to play it with two people without it getting weird
Read the statement before you decide whether you want to answer it. With a group you can let a round wash over you, and with two there is nowhere to go once it has been read out, so the person holding the list is also deciding what the evening is about.
Agree beforehand that anybody can skip a statement without saying why. The whole appeal of this game is that it gets an admission out of somebody faster than a conversation would, and that is also exactly how it goes wrong.
And stop at zero. The temptation is to keep going with a second hand, which turns a ten-minute game into an hour of inventory, and by then nobody is laughing at the answers.