One of you is the Imposter.

The Imposter game is a party word game for 3 or more players. Everyone gets the same secret word except one player, the Imposter, who gets only a hint or nothing. Players take turns giving clues, then vote on who they think the Imposter is. Imposter Elite is a free app for iPhone and Android that runs the whole game for you: it deals the roles, picks the words, times the round, counts the votes and keeps score.

Each player secretly looks at their card: Civilians see the secret word, the Imposter sees a hint or nothing. Going around the group, each player gives a short clue about the word without saying it. In Word mode you go around three times. Then everyone votes for the player they suspect. If more than half vote for the Imposter, the Civilians win the round; if not, the Imposter wins. Play several rounds, and the player with the most points wins.

You need at least 3 players, and up to 16 can play in one game. Two is not enough: with only one other player, the Imposter would be found at once. Three to six players gives a tense, focused game; bigger groups get louder and harder to read.

In Word and Drawing mode, yes: the Imposter's card says so and shows a hint or nothing instead of the word. In Question mode, not at first. The Imposter simply gets a different question and answers it like everyone else. Only when the real question is shown can they see that theirs was different.

The host decides with the Hint for Imposter switch. With the hint on, the Imposter sees one vague clue, for example “Device” when the word is “Compass”. With it off, the Imposter sees nothing and has to bluff from the other players' clues. No hint is harder and suits experienced groups.

Civilians win a round when more than half of the players vote for the Imposter; each Civilian then gets 1 point. The Imposter wins the round by escaping the vote and gets 2 points. Points add up over all rounds, and the player with the most points at the end wins the game.

A round takes about 3 to 5 minutes. The host picks 3 to 20 rounds; the default is 5, so a typical game lasts 15 to 25 minutes. In Pass the Phone, each round has a 3-minute timer for clues.

Good words are things everyone knows that can be described in many ways, like Compass, Volcano, Submarine or Pizza. Imposter Elite has 2,000+ ready words in 11 packs: Warm-Up, Celebrities, Brands, Movie Night, Office, Hogwarts, Kid-Friendly, Halloween, Christmas, Dark Humor and Spicy. Every word comes with a hint for the Imposter, so you never have to write a list yourself.

Yes. The Kid-Friendly pack has cartoons, animals and game heroes, and Warm-Up has everyday words for all ages. Spicy and Dark Humor are for adult groups only. The host chooses the packs, so you control what everyone sees.

Both spellings are correct English, and both mean someone who pretends to be someone else. “Impostor” is the older spelling; “imposter” is just as common today, especially for this game. The app is called Imposter Elite, and you can find it by searching for “imposter game” or “impostor game”.

It is the same family of hidden-role games. Like Spyfall and Undercover, one player does not know the secret and has to bluff. Unlike Mafia and Werewolf, you need no narrator, and nobody is knocked out and left watching. Unlike Among Us, it is a talking game for any party, not a video game with a map. The app deals the roles, runs the timer, counts the votes and keeps score.

Yes. Choose Pass the Phone on the home screen and type in the players' names. The phone goes around the group, and each player looks at their own card in secret. Then you put the phone in the middle while you give clues, and pass it around again to vote in secret. Only one person needs to install the app.

Choose Party Room. One player creates a room and shares the 6-character invite code, and friends join from their own phones, wherever they are. The built-in chat lets you give clues, argue and accuse without a video call. You can also make the room public and play with people online.

Yes, Drawing mode. Everyone draws the secret word together on one phone, one line per turn, for three laps. The Imposter does not know the word and has to add lines that look like they belong. Then everyone votes. It works like the board game A Fake Artist Goes to New York, without paper or a game master. Drawing mode is part of Pass the Phone with Word mode.

In Question mode there is no secret word. Everyone answers the same question, but the Imposter secretly gets a different, similar one. For example, Civilians get “What phrase would you scream on a roller coaster?” and the Imposter gets “What would be your last words before jumping out of a plane?”. After the answers, the real question is shown, and the group looks for the answer that does not fit. It is a great ice-breaker.

Give clues that prove you know the word but would not help someone who does not. Watch for players who wait to speak last, repeat other people's ideas, or give clues that are too general. In Question mode, ask players to explain their answer: the Imposter's story often falls apart.

Listen to the clues before your turn and work out what the word could be. Give a clue that is general but sounds sure, and do not hesitate. Act the same as you do when you are a Civilian. If you get a hint, use it carefully: a clue too close to the hint can give you away.

Yes. The app is free to download and play, with ads. Several packs are free, including Warm-Up, Celebrities, Just Numbers, Halloween and Christmas. Premium, with a free trial, unlocks every pack and removes ads. A Party Pass unlocks everything for 24 hours, and single packs can be bought once and kept. Any purchase removes ads.

No. You can play as a guest. Signing in with Google or Apple is optional and keeps your stats and achievements if you change phones.

No. Imposter Elite needs an internet connection in both Pass the Phone and Party Room. The words and questions load from the internet, and in a Party Room every phone stays in sync in real time.

42 languages: English, Spanish (Spain and Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), French, German, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Hungarian, Greek, Albanian, Turkish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Georgian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Malay. The host picks the language of the words for each game.

Not right now. Imposter Elite is a mobile app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Pass the Phone needs only one phone, so a group with a single phone can still play.