How it works
A hot take is a bold opinion about something that does not matter, said with full confidence. These hot takes questions pull one out of each player, and the room votes. The take that splits the room nearest half wins.
Read the full guide
How to play the hot take game
Read the card to one player, who answers with a take and a one-sentence defense. The rest raise hands, and the host taps Agree with the answer or Disagree with the answer once per hand; Undo vote fixes a slip. Each side shows its share. House rule: if the smaller side has 40% or more, press +1 for the player on the end card. Dead even scores twice. Then press Next question.
Hot take ideas when nobody has one
Pick Ready-made takes in the Topic row for 60 finished opinions, such as "Airports are fun." The player argues the card's side, whatever they think, and the room votes Agree or Disagree. The other eight topics, Food to Everyday manners, hold the 150 hot takes game questions.
- The end card scores two, Team 1 and Team 2, so bigger groups pair up.
- Hard cards mean taking a side most rooms reject. Save them for round two.
- If a card comes around again, its old count returns with the first tap: Clear votes wipes it.
Questions and answers
What makes a good hot take question?
No right answer and nobody hurt. Everyone in the room has an opinion, and losing the vote costs nothing. "Which condiment is doing too much work?" starts an argument in seconds, and it is forgotten by dessert.
What are some harmless hot takes ideas?
"Leftovers taste better than the first serving." "Souvenirs are clutter with a plane ticket." "Doing dishes is the most relaxing chore." The Ready-made takes set has 60 like these, and the full list under the tool keeps them in a section of their own.
Why are politics and religion left out?
The game works only when the vote is easy to lose. No card touches politics or religion, and none is a take about a group of people, a named person, a team or a brand. If an answer heads there, the host presses Next question.
Where does the term hot take come from?
From sports talk radio, where hosts made loud declarations on unanswerable topics to provoke callers. It spread through sports journalism in 2012, and social media later widened it to mean any unpopular opinion, according to Wikipedia's article on the term.