Play SUS With Your Friends: A Private Imposter Case for Your Group

Start a case here, send the link to your group, and let your friends do the lying. It’s free, and nobody needs an account.

How does a friends case work?

1. Start it. Choose how many friends will write the hints (3 to 6) and whether paranoia is on, then press “Start a friends case”.
2. Share the link. Send it to your group with the WhatsApp button, or with “Copy the link” (on a phone, that button opens your share menu).
3. Writers join. The first friends who choose to write become the writers. Each one types a name for the case.
4. Writers pick hints. In secret, the game makes one writer the imposter (with paranoia on, it might make none, or two). Each writer picks one hint from a list. If you start the case early, the game writes the hint for any place still empty, and that place can be the imposter’s.
5. The case starts when every writer has picked, or when you press “Start now”.
6. Everyone else plays. They guess the word, question a suspect if they like, and accuse a friend.

Who becomes a writer?

The first people who choose to. Anyone who opens the link can write one of the hints or wait to play. Writer places are first come, first served, until the number you chose is reached, and everyone after that plays. You can write in your own case, or just play it.

Each writer types a name of up to 16 letters, numbers and spaces. It appears on their placard, so the group knows whose hint is whose. A first name or a nickname works fine.

How is the imposter chosen?

The game decides in secret, as writers join, so that one of the writer places ends up as the imposter’s. Usually that’s a friend; if the place is still empty when the case is started early, the game writes its lying hint itself. Nobody else is told, not even the person who started the case. Writers see only their own role while friends are still playing; everyone’s role shows to a player once they have made their accusation, and to the writers when the case ends.

With paranoia on, there might be no imposter at all, or (with four or more writers) two, and the game never says which. Players can then accuse one suspect or two, or say “No one lied”. With paranoia off, exactly one placard lies, and players accuse exactly one suspect.

What do writers see?

Each writer gets a role card. An honest writer sees the secret word and picks a hint that helps players find it. The imposter sees the secret word and a fake word, and picks a hint that pulls players toward the fake word without getting caught. Hints come from a list, and nobody types one, so a hint can’t give the answer away or say something unkind.

Writers don’t play the case, since they know the word. Once it starts, they see their own hint and, as friends finish, how the group is doing. Who lied, and the fake word, show to a writer only when the case ends (the imposter knows the fake word from the start).

When does the case start?

By itself, as soon as every writer has picked a hint. The page updates on its own, so friends waiting to play don’t need to refresh.

If someone is slow, the person who started the case can press “Start now”, in the same browser they started it in, once at least 3 hints are in (2 in a case for 3 writers). The game then writes a hint for each place still empty, so the case keeps its number of placards and its liars. Those placards say “the game”, and each one can be honest or lying, just like a friend’s. Writers who haven’t picked by then sit the case out: they have seen the word, so they watch instead of playing.

How do players play?

Just like a daily case, with friends in the lineup. Each placard shows a hint and the name of the friend who picked it (or “the game”, for a place it filled after “Start now”). Players get three guesses at the secret word, can buy up to two true hints, can ask one suspect one yes-or-no question, and then accuse. Scoring is the same as a daily case, out of 5. The full rules are in how to play SUS.

When a player finishes, they see the group’s results so far: how many friends have played, how many solved it, each writer’s hint, who the imposter was and how many friends accused each writer.

Is a friends case private?

It’s private to your group. Anyone with the link can open it, so share it only with the people you want. Friends cases are kept out of search engines and out of the site’s sitemaps. Their words come from a separate list, so a friends case never spoils a daily case.

A friends case ends 7 days after it’s made. Everything in it, including the names writers typed, is deleted from our server 30 days after it was made. It doesn’t count toward your streak. There’s more in our privacy policy.

Tips for a good game

• Leave enough players. If everyone in the group writes, there’s nobody left to guess.
• Try paranoia once your group knows the game. It turns every accusation into a gamble.
• Writers, keep roles quiet in the chat until everyone has played.

Updated 29 October 2026