SUS gives you one secret word a day and a lineup of suspects, each holding a one-word hint that points at it. One of those hints may be a lie, picked by an imposter who was shown a different word and wants to pull you toward it. Your job has two halves: guess the secret word in three tries or fewer, then point at the suspect you think lied. You score points for both, and everyone who plays on your date gets the same case.

How does a case work?

A case takes a few minutes and always runs in the same order. You read the lineup, guess the word, get help if you want it, and accuse. The practice case below has a lineup to try it on. Press every button you like: nothing is saved, and it doesn’t count toward your streak.

Practice case · nothing is saved

Read the placards: each suspect holds a one-word hint.
Guess the secret word. You get 3 tries.
Stuck? Buy a true hint (−1 point) or question one suspect.
Point at the liar, or say no one lied.

CRATERNo. 1

FROZENNo. 2

SMOKENo. 3

ICELANDNo. 4

The practice case needs JavaScript switched on.

When you finish a real case, the game shows you a report: who lied, the secret word, the fake word (if there was one), your score and how everyone else did that day, plus a card you can share. The sections below go through each step in detail.

What’s in the lineup?

The lineup is your evidence. On a daily case there are four suspects, numbered 1 to 4, and each one holds a placard with a single word: their hint. Every Sunday, the Big Case has six suspects. The game also tells you how many letters the secret word has.

Every hint follows the same rules. It’s one word. It’s never the secret word or the fake word, and it never contains either one. And nobody typed it: writers pick their hints from a list and the rest come from the game, so a hint can’t be rude or spell out the answer.

Each hint was either picked by players who were asked to write for that case or, where not enough players picked, written by the game. While the case is open, the placards don’t say which: fewer writers are imposters, so a count under each placard would point at the liar. The case file says which hints players picked, and how many picked each, once the case has closed. There’s more about writers further down.

Here’s the example this guide uses. The secret word is VOLCANO, and the four placards say CRATER, FROZEN, SMOKE and ICELAND. CRATER and SMOKE point straight at a volcano. ICELAND is trickier, because Iceland is famous for volcanoes and for glaciers, so it fits both. FROZEN is the lie: the imposter was shown the fake word GLACIER and picked FROZEN to pull you toward it.

Notice that FROZEN isn’t absurd for a volcano, since some volcanoes have snow and ice on top. That’s what a good imposter does. They pick a hint that fits the fake word strongly and the real word just loosely enough to look innocent.

How does guessing work?

You get three guesses at the secret word. Each guess must have exactly the number of letters the game shows, and you can’t guess the same word twice.

Every guess ends one of three ways:

Right. You’ve solved it, and the game moves you on to the accusation.
The fake word. If you guess the word the imposter was shown, the game tells you so, with a little devil face. It still uses up the guess.
Anything else. It’s just wrong, and the game tells you how many guesses you have left.

Hitting the fake word costs you a try, but it isn’t wasted. You now know the fake word, and that tells you two things. The real word is a close cousin of it, since the fake word is always the secret word’s natural mix-up. And the imposter is whichever suspect’s hint points at it. A player who guesses GLACIER in the example learns that GLACIER is the trap, which makes FROZEN look very guilty and points the next guess toward VOLCANO.

The fake word always has the same number of letters as the secret word (VOLCANO and GLACIER both have seven), so counting letters never rules it out on its own. On a day with no imposter there is no fake word, so every wrong guess is simply wrong.

If all three guesses miss, the case isn’t over. You still get to accuse, and catching the liar earns points of its own.

What are true hints, and what do they cost?

True hints come from the game itself, so they never lie. You can buy up to two while you’re still guessing, and each one costs a point.

The first true hint is a short sentence that is true of the secret word and false of the fake word. For VOLCANO, it’s “It’s hot inside.” That one sentence quietly rules out GLACIER.
The second true hint gives you the first letter: “It starts with V.”

The first true hint does double duty. Because it’s always false of the fake word, any placard that disagrees with it deserves a hard look. FROZEN doesn’t sit well next to “It’s hot inside.”

You can only buy true hints while you have guesses left. Once you’ve solved the word or used all three tries, they’re gone for that case.

How do you question a suspect?

Once per case, before you accuse, you can question one suspect, and it’s free. Tap “Ask a suspect”, choose who to question, then choose one of 16 yes-or-no questions. The suspect answers YES or NO.

Here’s what makes it useful: honest suspects answer about the secret word, and the imposter answers about the fake word. So the imposter’s answer is a lie whenever the two words would get different answers.

Is it alive?
Can you eat it?
Is it bigger than a person?
Can you hold it in one hand?
Is it made by people?
Is it mostly found outdoors?
Is it hot?
Does it make a sound?
Is it round?
Do people wear it?
Does it use electricity?
Is it found in or on water?
Does it move by itself?
Is it sweet?
Can it hurt you?
Do most people use it every day?

The 16 questions you can put to one suspect, once per case.

That means the question matters as much as the suspect. Pick one that the two words you’re torn between would answer differently.

In the example, “Is it hot?” is a great question. A volcano is hot and a glacier isn’t. Ask FROZEN, and if it says NO, it’s answering for something cold. It’s lying.
“Is it bigger than a person?” is a wasted question. A volcano and a glacier are both huge, so every suspect says YES, honest or not.

You can ask while you’re still guessing, too, and a good question can help with both jobs at once. If the lineup points at something hot and your suspect says NO to “Is it hot?”, that suspect is answering for a different word, and now you have a clue about the fake word as well as the liar.

Who answers for a hint that a player picked? The game does, based on the suspect’s role: an honest suspect answers for the secret word, and an imposter for the fake word, whoever picked the hint. Writers never answer questions themselves.

How do you accuse the liar?

When your guessing is over, solved or not, you point at the liar. Tap the suspect you think lied, or two of them, and press Accuse. If you haven’t used your question yet, you can still ask it first.

What you can say depends on the kind of case:

Daily case (Monday through Saturday): accuse one suspect, two suspects, or press “No one lied”.
Sunday Big Case: accuse exactly two suspects.
Friends case: the same choices as a daily case when the group turned paranoia on, and exactly one suspect when it’s off.

Why would anyone say “No one lied”?

Because some days, no one does. On paranoia days, the daily case has no imposter at all, or it has two. The game never announces them, so on a daily case a second suspect and “No one lied” are always on the table.

Most days still have exactly one imposter, so don’t overthink it. Accuse two suspects, or no one, when the lineup really looks that way: two placards leaning toward the same fake word, or four placards that all point cleanly at one word.

What’s different about the Sunday Big Case?

Every Sunday the case gets bigger. There are six suspects and always exactly two imposters, both shown the same fake word, and the game says so up front. The words are as hard as Friday’s and Saturday’s, the hardest of the week. You still get three guesses, two true hints and one question.

How is a case scored?

Your score is your guess points plus your accusation points, minus one point for each true hint you bought. It never goes below zero, and questioning a suspect is free.

Guess points depend on when you solve it: 3 on the first guess, 2 on the second, 1 on the third, and 0 if you don’t.

On a daily or friends case, the accusation is worth 2 if you’re exactly right (the imposter, both imposters, or “No one lied” on a day with none) and 1 if you’re half right (one of two imposters on its own, or the imposter plus an innocent suspect). On a Big Case, each imposter among the two suspects you name is worth 2. The most you can score is 5 on a daily case and 7 on a Big Case.

What you do	Points
Solve it on the first guess	+3
Solve it on the second guess	+2
Solve it on the third guess	+1
Accusation exactly right (the imposter, both imposters, or "No one lied" when no one did)	+2
Accusation half right (one of two imposters, or the imposter plus an innocent)	+1
Big Case: each imposter you name	+2
Each true hint you buy	−1
Questioning a suspect	free

The most you can score: 5 on a daily case, 7 on a Big Case. Your score never goes below 0.

Some examples from the VOLCANO case:

Guess VOLCANO first, buy no true hints and accuse FROZEN: 3 + 2 = 5, a perfect case.
Guess GLACIER, then VOLCANO, with one true hint along the way, and accuse FROZEN: 2 + 2 − 1 = 3.
Miss all three guesses but accuse FROZEN: 0 + 2 = 2. Catching the liar still counts.
Solve it on the second guess and accuse FROZEN and ICELAND together: 2 + 1 = 3. Naming an innocent suspect along with the imposter earns half the accusation points.

The share card is a few lines of text you can post in a group chat without spoiling anything. The report gives you one when you finish a case, and it looks like this:

SUS #42 🔎
🟥🟩⬜
🕵️ Accusation spot on
💡1 ❓1 · score 3/5
playsus.app

Line by line, that’s the case number; your three guesses (green for the right word, red for a miss, white for a guess you didn’t need); how your accusation went (spot on, half right or missed); how many true hints you bought, and a question mark if you asked a suspect a question; and your score. A fake-word guess shows as a plain red miss, and the card never says how many liars there were, so it spoils nothing for friends who haven’t played yet. This player missed once, solved it on the second try with one true hint, asked a question and named the liar.

The card never shows the secret word, the fake word or which suspect lied. On a phone, the Share button opens your phone’s share menu. On a computer, it copies the text.

When does a case open and close?

A new case opens at midnight, your time. You always play the case for your own date, so everyone on the same date gets the same lineup and the same secret word. A friend on the other side of the world might be a case ahead of you, or a case behind.

Because some places reach a date many hours before others, each case stays open until its date has ended everywhere on Earth, which is noon UTC the next day. Then it closes, and its case file is published. For most players, that means the answer to a case appears the day after they played it.

The case file has the whole story: the secret word, the fake word, which suspect lied (if any did), the true hints and how everyone did. You can play a closed case from its file, too. Those plays are kept apart from the live numbers, and they don’t count toward your streak.

1Writers pickPlayers chosen as writers pick one hint each for a case two days away. One in five is secretly the imposter and sees a fake word.
2The case opensAt your midnight the case is yours: four placards (six on Sundays), a word of a known length, three guesses.
3You investigateGuess, buy a true hint, or question one suspect. Honest suspects answer about the word; the imposter about the fake one.
4You accuseName the liar (two on a Sunday). On the other days you may also name two, or say no one lied. Then see who lied, your score, and how everyone did.
5The file goes upWhen the day has ended everywhere on Earth, the case closes and its case file is published with the answer.

One day of SUS, from the writers' picks to the case file.

What happens if you’re picked as a writer?

You help make a future case. After you finish the day’s case, the game may ask you to write a hint for an upcoming case, usually the one for the day after tomorrow. It tells you which case and which day, and saying no thanks costs nothing.

If you say yes, the game shows you your role, which is drawn once and never changes. Most writers are honest: they see the secret word and pick a hint that helps players find it. About 1 writer in 5 is secretly made the imposter, and more when a case needs two imposters. The imposter sees the secret word and the fake word, and picks a hint that pulls players toward the fake word without getting caught.

Either way, you pick from a list of hints. Nobody types a hint, so nobody can spoil the answer or post something nasty.

When the case opens, its lineup is fixed. Each honest spot goes to one of the honest hints picked by the most writers, and each imposter spot to one of the most-picked imposter hints. Spots that no writer filled get the game’s own hints. Because you know the word, you don’t play that case. You watch it instead: you see if your hint made the lineup, how many players solved the case, how many accused your hint and, if you were the imposter, how many guessed your fake word.

Can you play SUS with friends?

Yes. A friends case is a private case for your group. You choose how many friends write the hints (3 to 6) and whether paranoia is on, then send the link. The first friends who choose to write become the writers, and the game secretly makes one of them the imposter (with paranoia on, there could be no imposter, one or two). If the case is started before every writer has picked, the game writes the missing hints, so the liar can even be the game.

Everyone else plays: they see their friends’ names on the placards and accuse a friend. Friends cases use their own word list, so they never spoil a daily case, and each one ends 7 days after it’s made. Start a friends case.

How do streaks work?

Your streak counts the days in a row you’ve finished the daily case, Sunday’s Big Case included. It’s forgiving: miss one day and your streak survives, as long as it’s your only miss in seven days in a row. The missed day doesn’t add to your streak, but it doesn’t end it either. Miss two days in a row, or two days less than a week apart, and it starts again. A day you wrote a hint counts as played, because writers can’t play their own case.

Your streak lives on your device, in your browser’s own storage, with your other numbers: cases played, how many you solved and how often you caught the liar. There’s no account, so a different phone or browser keeps its own record, and clearing this site’s data in your browser resets it. Cases you play from the case files, and friends cases, don’t count toward your streak.

Tips for your first few cases

Read every placard before your first guess, and ask what word each one points at.
Count the letters. The secret word and the fake word always have the same number, so the count can help you name both.
Look for the hint that leans toward a close neighbor of the word the others agree on. Pulling that way is the imposter’s whole job.
Don’t be afraid of the devil face. Guessing the fake word tells you what the imposter was aiming at.
Save your question for the suspect you’re unsure about, and pick a question the two words would answer differently.
If you’re stuck before your last guess, the first true hint is often worth its point.
On Sundays, look for two placards that lean the same way.

For more, read how to spot the imposter, with nine tells and worked examples.

Words to know

SUS has a few words of its own. Here they all are in one place.

Case: One day's puzzle: a secret word and a lineup of hints. A new case starts at your midnight.
Lineup: The suspects standing against the wall, four on a daily case and six on a Big Case.
Placard: The board a suspect holds: their one-word hint.
Imposter: A writer who was shown the secret word and a fake word, and picked a hint to pull you toward the fake one.
Fake word: The word the imposter was shown. It has the same number of letters as the secret word.
True hint: A hint from the game itself, which never lies. The first says something true of the word and false of the fake word; the second gives its first letter. Each costs a point.
Interrogation: Your one yes-or-no question to one suspect. Honest suspects answer about the secret word, the imposter about the fake word.
Paranoia day: A daily case with no imposter, or with two. The game never says when.
Big Case: Every Sunday: six suspects, two imposters, harder words.
Writer: A player picked to choose a hint for an upcoming case. Writers watch that case instead of playing it.
Case file: The page published when a case closes: the answer, who lied, and how everyone did.
Friends case: A private case for a group, where your friends write the hints and one hint may be a lie.

Updated 29 October 2026