Hot Seat Questions
One player in the seat, two minutes on the clock, and a quick run of light questions from everyone else.
- Time
- 10–30 min
- Players
- Three or more players
- Best for
- Game nights, team lunches and family gatherings
- Deck
- 150 questions in 6 categories
How to use these hot seat questions
- Pick who sits in the hot seat first, then pick a category from the menu under the card, or keep “All categories”.
- The rest of the group reads the cards to the person in the seat, one after another, for two minutes.
- Swipe the card away, or tap “Next question”, for the next one. The person in the hot seat can pass twice per turn.
- Tap the heart to save a question on this device, or tap “Make a 10-question list” for a list you can copy.
When to play hot seat questions
The hot seat gives one person the whole group’s attention for two minutes, and everyone else gets to be curious. It works best when people know each other a little and would like to know each other better.
A game night with friends
Go around the table so everyone takes the seat once. Confessions and Would you ever bring out the stories, from a fake houseplant nobody noticed to a chili cook-off recipe.
A team lunch or offsite
Warm-up and Opinions keep it light for coworkers: a phone’s lock screen, the right way to load a dishwasher, the best seat in a movie theater.
A family gathering
Cousins, aunts and grandparents can all take a turn in the seat. Favorites and Dreams and plans are easy for every generation, and someone always names a trip nobody knew they wanted to take.
Ways to play the hot seat
Two minutes each, around the circle
Set a two-minute timer and pass the phone around the group, so each person reads the next card to the player in the seat. When the timer ends, the player on their left takes the seat, and the round is over once everyone has sat in it.
Guess first, then answer
Before the player in the seat answers, everyone else calls out what they think the answer will be. Then the seat gives the real one. It works best with Favorites and Would you ever, and it shows a team or a family how well they already know each other.
A video call or a long drive
On a video call, the host reads the cards and the player in the seat keeps their camera on, then names who sits next. In the car, the front passenger reads, and a new player takes the seat at every stop or every new town sign.
Tips for a good turn in the seat
- Start each new player with a card or two from Warm-up, then let them choose the category for the rest of their turn.
- Keep it quick: one sentence is a full answer. Save follow-up questions for after the timer, when the whole group can join in.
- A pass is a pass, with no reason needed. Swipe to the next card and keep the turn moving.
All 150 hot seat questions by category
The complete list, grouped by category. The cards above draw from the same list, so you can read ahead here and play there.
Warm-up
Easy questions about today, your home and your habits to ease someone into the seat.
- What’s on your phone’s lock screen right now, and why that picture?
- What’s the newest thing in your home, and where did it come from?
- What time did your alarm go off this morning, and did you get up right away?
- Which shoes almost made it out the door with you today?
- Which group chat on your phone is the busiest, and what is it mostly about?
- Which song would play as your theme music every time you walked into a room?
- Which T-shirt have you kept the longest, and where did it come from?
- What’s playing in your car or headphones most this month?
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- What’s stuck to your fridge door right now?
- Which game on your phone have you played the most this year?
- What’s your signature dish when it’s your turn to cook for friends?
- How would your neighbors describe you, based only on what they hear through the wall?
- What’s the best thing in your fridge at this very moment?
- When people do an impression of you, which phrase or gesture do they use?
- What’s a small party trick you can show us without getting up?
- Describe the socks you have on right now, honestly.
- Did you ever give a name to a car, a bike or a computer? What was it?
- What’s the last thing you wrote by hand, other than your name?
- Which ringtone or alarm sound do you use, and why that one?
- At a bakery counter, what do you point to first?
- How tidy is your car or your bag right now, on a scale of one to ten?
- Which gadget at home would you keep if all the others had to go?
- What’s the last thing you taught someone else how to do?
- Which local spot have you visited most often this month?
- Who was the first person you talked to today, and what about?
Favorites
Quick picks about food, games, places and little things the person in the seat loves.
- Drawing, acting, guessing or trivia: which kind of party game is your favorite?
- Which video game would you happily replay from the very start?
- Warm evening, grill lit: what are you cooking on it first?
- Which hat, scarf or pair of gloves do you love most?
- What’s your favorite word in a language you don’t speak?
- Of everything you own that cost almost nothing, what do you love most?
- Which famous painting or sculpture would you hang in your living room?
- Which game show would you most like to be a contestant on?
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- Name a font you love and one you cannot stand.
- Which small town or neighborhood have you most enjoyed wandering through?
- Given a whole free afternoon, which dessert would you bake?
- In a board game, which piece do you always choose to be?
- What’s your favorite sound in a kitchen: sizzling, bubbling or the oven timer?
- How do you like to cool down on a hot afternoon?
- Which fabric do you love the feel of, like corduroy, wool or linen?
- Where’s the nicest road or path you have ever walked on?
- Which tool in a toolbox do you most enjoy using?
- What do you make for breakfast when friends stay over?
- What’s your favorite saying, and who did you first hear it from?
- Which candy did you love most as a kid, and do you still buy it?
- A snowy evening indoors: how would you love to spend it?
- Which notebook, planner or app keeps your life in order?
- Handed a menu at a new place, which section do you read first?
- What kind of hike do you like best: one with a lake, a view or a waterfall at the end?
- Leftovers in the fridge: what’s your favorite thing to turn them into?
Would you ever
Would they sing at an open mic or keep bees? Harmless what-ifs with a yes or no to start.
- Would you ever enter a chili cook-off with a recipe of your own?
- Could you see yourself biking everywhere for a whole summer?
- Would you ever learn to drive a tractor, just for the fun of it?
- How likely are you to try five minutes of stand-up comedy on a small stage?
- Could you eat the same breakfast every day for a year if someone else made it?
- Is there any chance you’d run a little farm stand at the end of your driveway?
- Is a hula hoop contest at a family picnic something you’d enter?
- Would you ever switch your phone off for a whole weekend?
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- Would you sign up for a trivia team that meets every Tuesday night?
- How likely are you to take up birdwatching, notebook and binoculars included?
- Could you spend a whole afternoon speaking only in questions?
- Would a 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle ever get finished on your table?
- If your workplace held a talent show, would you sign up? With what act?
- How do you feel about adopting a very chatty parrot: count you in or count you out?
- Could you spend a week on a small sailboat with three people from this room?
- Would you try learning the accordion if someone lent you one?
- Would you join a community theater group, on stage or building the sets?
- Is getting up at five every morning for a month something you could actually do?
- Could you live without a TV in your home for a whole year?
- Could you get through a whole meal in silence, just to see what it’s like?
- Walking from one end of your city to the other in a day: could you do it?
- Learning to make sushi at home: would you give it a go?
- Would you dance in the street if a marching band went by?
- A lemonade stand for a day, as a grown-up: would you run one, and what would you charge?
- How likely are you to spend a whole Saturday at the library, start to finish?
Confessions
Small, funny admissions, like waving at someone who was waving at somebody else.
- Which household item have you used for a job it was never meant for?
- What’s the longest you have worn a shirt inside out before anyone told you?
- Which simple recipe do you still have to look up every single time?
- What’s a movie almost everyone has seen that you still haven’t?
- Is there a fake plant in your home that guests think is real?
- Which word did you say wrong for years before someone kindly corrected you?
- Which store-bought dessert have you served on a nice plate as if you made it?
- When did you last talk to a printer, a car or a laptop as if it could hear you?
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- How long after a holiday did your decorations finally come down?
- Did you ever practice your signature to make it look fancier? How did it turn out?
- Which game have you quietly let someone win, and did they ever find out?
- How long can you look like you’re listening while you’re really planning lunch?
- Which TV show do you claim to watch for someone else but secretly love?
- What’s the oddest little thing you are quietly proud of?
- Which of your habits would a houseguest find the strangest?
- Have you ever ducked behind a shelf in a store to skip small talk with someone you know?
- Which outfit did you buy for one occasion and never wear again?
- Which chore do you do in a completely different way from everyone else at home?
- What do you still count on your fingers, even now?
- When did you last get lost in a building you have visited a hundred times?
- Which two words do you still mix up, like left and right?
- What fact did you repeat confidently for years before learning it was wrong?
- Which instruction manual have you never opened, even after something broke?
- What silly names do you have for things around the house, like the toaster or the car?
- Which smell do you secretly love that most people find odd?
Opinions
Light takes on naps, leftovers, spoilers and dishwashers, all fine to disagree on.
- Is cereal a soup? Make your case in one sentence.
- Which chore gives the best feeling once it’s done?
- Should you make your bed if you’re getting back in it tonight?
- What’s the perfect number of people for a road trip, driver included?
- Should the person who cooks dinner ever have to wash the dishes?
- Do you think pets belong on the couch or on the floor?
- Where is the best seat in a movie theater, row and all?
- Do you think music sounds better live or recorded?
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- Texting someone who is in the next room: lazy or perfectly sensible?
- One very long book or a stack of short ones: which is better?
- What’s the most useless kitchen gadget you think anyone ever sold?
- Do spoilers ruin a movie, or make it more fun to watch?
- Which board game is the most fun for a big group, and which one causes the most arguments?
- Are afternoon naps smart planning or a wasted afternoon?
- Is there a right way to load a dishwasher, and what is it?
- Which sport is better to watch in person, and which is better from the couch?
- Should every town square have a piano anyone can play?
- Is ketchup on scrambled eggs a good idea or a mistake?
- Should bookshelves be sorted by color, by author or not at all?
- How long should a good movie be, in minutes?
- Is it worth waiting in a long line for a famous restaurant?
- If the year could start in any month, which month should it be?
- How cold does it have to be before you think a coat is a must?
- Is a messy desk the sign of a busy mind, or just a messy desk?
- Are leftovers better the next day, or never as good as the first night?
Dreams and plans
Trips, projects and someday plans, from a camper van to a garden full of vegetables.
- Which bridge, tower or old building would you love to see in person someday?
- If you could work from anywhere for a month, where would you set up your laptop?
- What would your dream kitchen have that your current one doesn’t?
- What would you put in a dream backyard, with no limits on space?
- If you could spend a week on any island, warm or cold, which would it be?
- Which big project at home would you start if you had a few free weekends?
- Which language would you love to order dinner in without pointing at the menu?
- How would you spend a free month in a small seaside town?
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- Which long walking trail would you love to finish one day?
- If you had a big vegetable garden, what would you plant first?
- Which old car, boat or bike would you love to fix up one day?
- Which dish from a trip would you love to learn to cook at home?
- Is there a festival anywhere in the world you’d love to go to?
- With two weeks and a camper van, where would you drive?
- What’s one thing you want to try for the first time this winter?
- Which small habit are you planning to start next month?
- What would you love your street to know you for, like the best garden or the brightest lights?
- Canoe trip, long hike or a lazy beach week: which adventure is next for you?
- What would your dream reading corner look like, down to the lamp?
- On a weekend away, which class would you take: cooking, painting or surfing?
- If you hosted a dinner for ten friends, what would be on the menu?
- Which piece of music would you love to be able to play by heart?
- If you could add one thing to your daily walk, like a creek or a bakery, what would it be?
- What would you do with a whole free week at home and nowhere to be?
- What’s the next thing you want to get better at, just for fun?
Frequently asked questions
How many hot seat questions are there?
There are 150 questions, 25 in each of six categories: warm-up, favorites, would you ever, confessions, opinions, and dreams and plans. The cards and the list on this page use the same set.
How do you play the hot seat game?
One player sits in the hot seat and the rest of the group asks them questions, one after another, for about two minutes. The player in the seat answers quickly and can pass twice per turn. When the time is up, the next player takes the seat, and the game ends once everyone has had a turn.
Is there a hot seat game for couples?
Yes. Hot seat questions for couples are written for two partners, with categories like about us and big picture. The questions on this page are for friends, family and coworkers, with nothing private, so they suit a team lunch as well as a family gathering.
What should we play after the hot seat?
Try rapid fire questions. Every question is answered in a word or two, so after a game where one player had the spotlight, everyone gets to answer fast and at once.