The word on your forehead.
Heads Up, Celebrity Heads, the post-it game — same game, no sticky notes. Hold the phone to your forehead, let the room give the clues, guess before the timer runs out. Free in your browser.
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The game where you guess the word on your forehead
If you came here trying to remember what this game is called, the answer is: it does not have one name. Depending on where you grew up it is Heads Up, Celebrity Heads, Headbands or Hedbanz, the post-it game, the sticky note game, Who Am I?, or just "the one where you hold a word on your head". All of them are the same mechanic, and it is the game above - free, in your browser, nothing to install.
The rule the whole game rests on
One player must not see the word. Everyone else must. That single asymmetry is the entire game: the guesser is the only person in the room without the information, and their job is to extract it from everyone else before the timer runs out.
Everything else is a house rule. Hold the phone to your forehead with the screen facing out, let the room describe or act out what is on it, and tilt the phone down when you get it and up to skip. If tilting feels awkward, or you are sitting in a car, tap the screen instead - the right side scores, the left side skips. Rounds are 60 seconds by default and you can shorten them; short rounds keep the noise level up.
What the room is allowed to say
The only hard rule is that nobody says the word, any part of the word, or anything that rhymes with it. Beyond that, decide before you start which version you are playing, because this is where every argument comes from:
- Clues allowed. The room talks, describes, hums and shouts. Fastest, loudest, best for a party.
- Miming only. The room acts it out in silence. This is charades with the roles reversed, and it is much harder than it sounds.
- Yes/no questions. The guesser does the talking and the room may only answer yes or no. Slow, strategic, good around a table with four people - this is the Who Am I? version.
Why a phone beats sticky notes and cards
The paper version needs sticky notes, a pen, and somebody willing to think of forty words while everyone else waits. In practice three things go wrong: the notes fall off, half the table reads the word while it is being written, and the first ten minutes are spent arguing about what counts as a fair word.
A phone fixes all three. The words are already there and nobody chose them, so nobody can be accused of going easy on their friend. It times the round, counts the score, and in upheads no word repeats in the same session - so the third player does not get the word the first player already had.
Which category to start with
There are 32 decks and 1,800+ words above. If you do not know the room, start with 🎲 Mixed - it shuffles every deck together, so nobody can complain the category favoured anyone. Otherwise these are the safe bets:
- 🐾 Animals — 105 words. the easiest warm-up; works with children and with people who have never played
- 🍔 Food — 100 words. everyone knows the words, so the clues get competitive fast
- 🎭 Act It Out — 100 words. verbs and actions rather than nouns - built for the miming version
- 🎬 Film & TV — 64 words. films and series; strongest with a group that watches the same things
- ⭐ Celebrities — 63 words. famous people - describe what they are famous for, not what they look like
- 📺 Cartoons — 52 words. cartoons; the deck that works best with mixed ages at the table
- 😎 Slang — 59 words. modern slang, and the fastest way to find out who is online too much
The full word lists for every deck are on the charades words page if you would rather read them, print them or use them with paper.
How many players, and when to switch to teams
Two people can play - one guesses, one gives clues - but it is thin, because there is only one voice and no disagreement. Three to eight is the sweet spot. Above eight the problem is not the game, it is the waiting: if each person gets a 60-second turn, the ninth player sits still for eight minutes and loses interest.
That is what teams mode is for. Pick 2, 3 or 4 teams, and the phone passes from team to team with a cumulative scoreboard, so the turns stay short and everybody stays in it. For a crowd of more than a dozen, this guide covers the formats that scale.
Playing with children
It works from about five years old, with two adjustments. Use the animals, cartoons or kids decks, and let the room mime rather than describe - a child who cannot yet read the room's vocabulary can still read a person pretending to be an elephant. Also hold the phone for them; small hands plus tilt controls equals a dropped phone.
Frequently asked questions
What is the game where you put a word on your forehead?
It has a dozen names and no single official one. You will hear Heads Up, Celebrity Heads, Headbands or Hedbanz, the post-it game, the sticky note game, Who Am I?, and simply the forehead game. The mechanic is always identical: one player holds a word where they cannot see it and everyone else can, then the room gives clues until they guess it. upheads is that game, free in a browser.
How do you play the word on forehead game?
One person holds the phone to their forehead with the screen facing out, so the room can read the word but they cannot. Everyone else describes it, acts it out or gives clues - without saying the word itself or anything that rhymes with it. The guesser tilts the phone down for a correct answer and up to skip, or taps the screen if they would rather not tilt. A round lasts 60 seconds, then you pass the phone.
Can I play the forehead word game online for free?
Yes. upheads runs in the browser on any phone with no app, no download, no sign-up and no cost. Open the page, pick a category and hold the phone up.
Do I need cards, sticky notes or an app?
No. The phone replaces all of it. Traditionally this game needs sticky notes, a pen and someone to think of words, and the notes fall off halfway through. A phone already has the words, times the round and keeps the score.
What words work best?
Anything the room can describe in a few seconds and most people would recognise: animals, food, films, famous people, cartoons, jobs. Avoid anything that needs a paragraph of explanation, and avoid in-jokes only two people get - the round dies while they explain it.
How many people do you need?
Two is enough, but three to eight is where it works best, because the clues come from several directions at once and the wrong guesses get funnier. With more than eight, use teams mode so turns stay short and nobody waits ten minutes.
Is this the same as charades?
Close, but not quite. In charades the person acting knows the word and mimes it in silence, and the room guesses. In the forehead version the guesser is the one who does not know, and the room is allowed to talk. Same family, reversed roles. upheads plays both ways on the same word lists.
Why does the phone need to be held up rather than flat?
So the screen faces the room. The tilt controls use the same motion: tipping the phone forward from upright registers a correct answer and tipping it back skips, which means the guesser never has to look at the screen to score.
Other ways to play the same game
The main upheads game with all 32 decks, the Who Am I? question version, charades, every word list, games like Heads Up, games for two people, family game night and classroom games.