Paranoia: Official Rules

Answer questions you can't hear, and pay to find out what was asked about you.

Four or more players sit in a circle. Choose a first player. Have shots poured, or agree what a shot is at this table.

Rule 1. The question

Rule 1.1. The first player whispers a question to the player on their right. It must be a "who" question that can be answered with the name of someone at the table: "Who here would survive longest on a desert island?"

Rule 1.2. The player who heard it says aloud the name of the player who best fits, and nothing else.

Rule 2. Finding out

Rule 2.1. The named player may take a shot to hear the question. The player who asked it repeats it aloud to the table.

Rule 2.2. Or the named player may decline, and never know.

Rule 2.3. Either way, the named player asks the next question, to the player on their right.

Rule 3. Fair questions

Rule 3.1. A question must be one the asker would be willing to have read aloud. Questions about someone's body, or meant to humiliate, are not questions. The Official may disallow them, and the asker drinks.

• The coin flip. Instead of a shot, the named player flips a coin: heads, the question is revealed; tails, it isn't. Approved.
• A drink instead of a shot. Approved.
• The answerer may name themselves. Approved. The Commission finds it brave.

The answerer names the player who asked. Allowed? Yes. The asker is at the table.

The named player takes the shot, and the asker claims to have forgotten the question. What happens? The asker takes a shot, and the answerer repeats it. Somebody remembers.

• Disallowed question. Penalty: one drink. Signal: warning (Provision 7.1).
• The reveal. Signal: the Official cups one hand behind their ear.

Paranoia is the only game in this book in which the penalty is information. The Commission has observed that players who decline to find out live longer, more peaceful lives, and that almost no one declines.

Use the coin flip, or take a non-alcoholic drink to find out. The paranoia is unchanged.