How to write party questions that start arguments

A good party question does something a quiz question can't: it makes people reveal themselves. Ask "What's the capital of Australia?" and you learn who paid attention at school. Ask "Can money buy happiness?" and you learn how someone thinks about their life.

Mind Raider's 200 built-in questions were written and rewritten to a short set of rules. This guide shares them, with before-and-after examples, so you can write your own, whether for a Mind Raider custom pack, a dinner party or a game night.

The format: one question, four answers

Every question in Mind Raider has exactly four answers. Four is a deliberate choice:

• Two answers (like Would You Rather) make guessing too easy: a coin flip gets you half the points.
• Open answers make guessing nearly impossible, and you can't score them fairly.
• Four answers give enough room for real opinions while keeping guesses meaningful. A random guess is right one time in four, so skill shows.

Even if you're not playing Mind Raider, writing four answers forces you to think about the full range of positions, which makes for better conversation.

Rule 1: No right answer

If a question has a correct answer, people stop thinking about each other and start thinking about the facts. The question should be about opinion, values or taste.

Rule 2: Every answer must be defensible

If one answer would obviously win, everyone picks it, everyone guesses it, and the round is wasted. Before adding a question, check that a reasonable person could pick each of the four options and explain why.

Rule 3: Cover the spectrum, not just the extremes

A strong pattern for opinion questions is two clear positions plus two nuanced ones. It gives people with strong views somewhere to go, and it gives everyone else a way to say "it depends" without a vague "it depends" answer.

Avoid "Depends" or "Not sure" as an answer unless the question is genuinely philosophical (like "Is free will real?"). In most questions, they become a hiding place that makes everyone harder to read for the wrong reasons.

Rule 4: Keep it short

On a phone, a question has to be read and understood in a few seconds. In Mind Raider you have 30 seconds to pick your own answer and guess everyone else's, so long questions eat into the fun.

• Questions: one line if possible, never more than two. "Remote work is..." is a complete question.
• Answers: one to four words. Short answers are easier to compare at a glance and fit on the guess buttons.
• Plain text. No emojis or symbols that need decoding.

Rule 5: Make the answers the same kind of thing

Answers should be parallel: four people, four places, four positions on the same scale. Mixing types confuses people and makes guessing feel random.

Rule 6: Use things everyone knows

A question about a niche band or an obscure politician only works for the people who know it. The rest guess randomly and feel left out. The Legends questions in Mind Raider stick to names almost anyone has heard of: Einstein, Messi, The Beatles, Shakespeare.

The exception is a pack for your own group. If everyone in the room knows about "the camping trip", that's the best question you can write.

Rule 7: Be a bit controversial, never cruel

The questions that play best touch a nerve: money, relationships, ethics, technology. A little controversy is what makes people think before they pick. But there's a line:

• Debate ideas, not people in the room. "Is cheating ever forgivable?" is a great question. "Would [friend] cheat?" is not.
• Avoid topics that hurt rather than divide, like someone's appearance, health or a recent loss.
• Group "who is most likely to" questions should be ones everyone named would laugh at.

Rule 8: Test it on one person

Before a question goes into a pack, ask one friend to answer it out loud. If they answer instantly with no hesitation, the question may be too easy. If they say "none of those" or ask what a word means, rewrite it. If they say "ooh, that's hard", keep it.

Ideas for your own pack

Some themes that work especially well for groups:

• Group history: "Best trip we've ever taken?" with four real trips.
• Who's who: "Who would survive longest in the wild?" with four friends' names.
• Work debates: "Best day for a team meeting?", "Cameras on or off?".
• Family legends: "Who really started the 2019 argument?", "Best holiday dish?".
• Hometown takes: "Most overrated place in town?" with four local spots.

Making a custom pack in Mind Raider

Every player can make one pack for free. When you create a party, open the Questions setting and tap + NEW PACK. Give the pack a name, then add questions, each with a question and four answers (A to D). A pack can hold up to 50 questions. When you host, choose your pack under Questions and everyone in the party plays it. Parties using a custom pack are invite-only, so your in-jokes stay with your group. Premium raises the limit to 10 packs.

Checklist

• No correct answer
• All four answers are defensible
• The answers cover a range, not four versions of the same view
• Question on one line, answers of one to four words
• All four answers are the same kind of thing
• Everyone in the group can understand it
• It divides people without hurting anyone

Need inspiration? Our list of 60 debate questions that split any group is a good model for each rule above.