Random Questions to Ask Your Friends
These are for friends who are bored together: a group chat gone quiet, a sleepover at 1 a.m., hour three of a long drive, a lunch table. The 87 random questions to ask your friends need no lead-in and run in the order a group would use them: Quick-fire, Hypotheticals, Rank and debate, About each other, Memories, and a last group for one best friend. The notes say how each question plays in a group, where the argument usually ends up and which ones work in a chat.
Want questions from the whole vault instead? Try the random question generator.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Quick-fire
What's the last thing you searched for on your phone?
Why ask it
The rule is to read it straight off the screen or pass: no swapping in a tidier one. Expect a lot of spellings and opening hours, which is why the one odd search in the group gets a full interrogation. In a chat, a screenshot is the answer.
What food does everyone else love that you can't stand?
Why ask it
Someone says chocolate or pizza and the table loses its mind. Let the group try to talk them round for one minute, then move on, because nobody has ever been argued into liking mushrooms.
What's a completely useless fact you can recite on the spot?
Why ask it
Every group has one friend who has been waiting for this. Let each fact stand without anyone looking it up until the lap is over, then check the most suspicious one together.
What's your pet peeve, and which of us is guilty of it?
Why ask it
Loud chewing, slow walkers and a one-letter reply come up fast. The second half is the fun part: the guilty friend usually had no idea, and will now do it on purpose. Keep it to habits and it stays friendly.
What's the fifth photo in your camera roll?
Why ask it
Counting back five stops anyone from picking a good one. Expect screenshots, a blurry floor and one photo that needs a whole story. In a chat people just send it, with a free pass for anything private.
What's your most used emoji right now?
Why ask it
The recently used row on the keyboard decides it, so nobody gets to choose a flattering one. It is a one-tap answer in a group chat, and the others can check the claim against the last week of messages.
What's the last song you played, and can you show the screen to prove it?
Why ask it
Proof matters, because people reach for a cooler song than the one they had on repeat. On a drive, each answer goes in the queue and the car gets a playlist nobody would have built on purpose.
What time did you really fall asleep last night?
Why ask it
The word 'really' is doing the work: the first answer is bedtime, and the second is when the phone finally went down. At a sleepover it turns into a bet on who drops off first tonight.
What's your karaoke song, and who here is your backup singer?
Why ask it
Friends who claim they would never sing still have a song ready. The backup pick is the telling half, since it names the one person they trust to commit to the chorus. A car with a speaker is all the stage it needs.
What's the strangest thing in your bag or pockets right now?
Why ask it
This one only works in person, since people have to dig. Receipts from months ago, a single glove and somebody else's pen are the usual finds, and the group votes on a winner.
What does your phone say your screen time is today, and which app is the culprit?
Why ask it
The number sits in the settings on most phones, so nobody gets to estimate. Lowest and highest both get teased, and the culprit is rarely the app the person guessed before looking. In a chat, a screenshot of the chart settles it.
What was your first username or email address?
Why ask it
Most of these were picked in grade school and it shows: a favorite animal, a sport and a string of numbers. Ask whether the account still exists and whether anything important still gets sent to it.
What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten, and would you eat it again?
Why ask it
Travel stories and childhood dares both count, and so does whatever a grandparent served without explaining. One person's weird is another person's regular dinner, so when that happens let the second person describe how it is meant to taste.
Who was your very first celebrity crush, cartoons included?
Why ask it
The cartoon answers get the biggest reaction, which is why they are written into the question. The names date everyone in the group to within a few years, and anyone who would rather not say can pass without comment.
What's the best snack for a long car ride?
Why ask it
Built for hour two of a drive, right before a gas station stop. Crumbs, smell and whether it can be eaten one-handed all become arguments, and the winner gets bought at the next exit.
What's the smallest lie you've told this week?
Why ask it
'Five minutes away' and 'I already saw your message' cover most of the confessions. Stick to lies that hurt nobody, and watch for the friend who works out that the last 'on my way' was sent from the couch.
Hypotheticals
If you could have any superpower for exactly one day, what do you do with it first?
Why ask it
The one-day limit moves the talk from which power to what for, and that half takes longer. Flying gets spent on skipping traffic and mind reading on one specific person. Go around once, then vote on who wasted theirs.
If you won the lottery tomorrow, what's the first thing you'd buy that isn't a house or a car?
Why ask it
Ruling out the house and the car gets to the fun purchases: a pinball machine, courtside seats, every flavor on the menu. Someone will say they would invest it, and the group is allowed to boo.
Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or a hundred duck-sized horses?
Why ask it
An old internet argument that still splits a group down the middle. One side talks about the beak and the other about being outnumbered at ankle height, and within a minute everyone is discussing tactics. It polls well in a chat.
If animals could text, which one would be the worst to have in the group chat?
Why ask it
Geese get nominated for starting fights and cats for reading everything and never replying, and each pick comes with an impression. For a second lap, match each animal to the friend who texts the same way, as long as that friend is laughing too.
If zombies showed up tonight, where would this group hide out?
Why ask it
It becomes a planning meeting fast: the big-box store, somebody's basement, a boat. Then jobs get handed out, and the friend put in charge of morale usually objects. Good on a long drive, where there is time to pull the plan apart.
Would you rather visit a hundred years into the past or a hundred years into the future?
Why ask it
Past people want to see something for themselves and future people cannot stand not knowing how it turns out. Add the rule that it is a one-hour visit with no souvenirs and see who switches sides.
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what is it?
Why ask it
The clever friends pick something with many parts, like a burrito or a full breakfast plate, and get accused of cheating. Have the group rule on what counts as one meal before anyone answers.
If everyone got entrance music, what's yours, and what would this group pick for you?
Why ask it
The song people choose for themselves and the one the group hands them are rarely the same, and the group's pick is usually closer to the truth. Take one friend at a time. In a chat, song links do the job.
If you could stay one age forever, which age would you pick?
Why ask it
Some friends name an age they have not reached yet and others one they have already passed, and those two camps have plenty to say to each other. Ask what that age has that this one does not.
Which video game would you survive longest in if you were dropped inside it?
Why ask it
Farming and racing games get chosen by the sensible, and everyone else overrates how they would do against a final boss. Friends who do not play can swap in a movie or a board game.
If the whole town emptied out for 24 hours and you had it to yourself, what do you do first?
Why ask it
First stops tend to be a grocery store aisle, an empty movie theater or the roof of a tall building. To turn it into a round, each person adds one stop and the group builds a full day's route.
If aliens landed and asked to see the best thing humans ever made, what do you show them?
Why ask it
It starts noble, with a symphony or a cathedral, and ends with someone handing the aliens a grilled cheese. One answer each, then a vote, and the winner has to say how the aliens react.
Would you rather speak every language or play every instrument?
Why ask it
Languages win on usefulness and instruments on showing off, so the split is between the travelers and the performers. Take hands, then have each side say where they would use it first.
If you had a robot that could do exactly one task for you forever, what's the task?
Why ask it
One task is a tight limit, and people try to stretch it with answers like 'everything in the kitchen'. Hold the line. Dishes, replying to messages and getting up to turn off the light all make strong showings.
If you had to compete in the Olympics tomorrow, which event would embarrass you least?
Why ask it
Nobody thinks they would win, so the talk is about damage control: something seated, something short, something where a horse does the work. Friends should feel free to name the event each person would be worst at.
You get one true answer about the future, but it comes back as a single word. What do you ask?
Why ask it
The one-word limit is the game. A yes-or-no question feels like a waste, so people start engineering ones about final scores and what to name a dog, and the group gets to throw out any question a single word cannot answer.
Rank and debate
Is a hot dog a sandwich?
Why ask it
The classic, and it still works because the fight is over definitions. Before long someone asks whether a taco counts, and after that nothing is safe. Set a timer, take a final vote and write down the result so it can be cited next time.
Does a straw have one hole or two?
Why ask it
People answer with total confidence and then start doubting themselves out loud. A donut gets brought in as evidence, then a sock, and the sides reshuffle. It runs well as a chat poll, where the replies pile up under it all afternoon.
Does pineapple belong on pizza, and which topping is the real crime?
Why ask it
Everybody already has a side, so the first half is over in ten seconds. The second half is where a group finds out who orders anchovies or sweet corn, and the next shared pizza gets negotiated on the spot.
Is water wet?
Why ask it
A school hallway favorite that turns on whether 'wet' describes the water or the thing it touches. There is no winning it, so use it when the group wants ten minutes of noise and nothing more.
Which are there more of in the world: doors or wheels?
Why ask it
It went around the internet as a poll and still splits a room, because nobody can count either one. The wheel side brings up toy cars and office chairs, the door side answers with cupboards and apartment towers, and then everyone goes quiet counting what is in the room. Post it as a chat poll and leave it overnight.
Should the toilet paper roll hang over or under?
Why ask it
Almost everyone has a side and a few have never thought about it, which the rest find unbelievable. Anyone who has lived with someone from the other camp has a story about quietly flipping the roll.
What are the top three fast food places, in order?
Why ask it
Lists depend on where people grew up, so a regional chain will come up and half the group will not know it. On a drive this is how the next stop gets chosen: first place on the most lists wins.
How do you rank the potatoes: fries, mashed, baked, chips and hash browns?
Why ask it
A fixed list of five forces a real order. Fries tend to take first place without a fight, so the heat is in the middle and at the bottom, where somebody always feels the baked potato has been treated unfairly.
What's the most overrated movie that everybody claims to love?
Why ask it
Someone's favorite gets named within the first few answers and that person takes it personally. Give them thirty seconds for a defense. Asking for the most underrated one afterward calms things down.
Which decade had the best music?
Why ask it
People tend to choose the decade they were teenagers in or the one their parents played in the car. Make each side put up one song as evidence, and if a speaker is handy, play the evidence.
Which movie villain actually had a point?
Why ask it
Good for a group that watches the same films, since it turns into a retrial. The fun is hearing a friend build a careful case for somebody who was clearly the bad guy. Skip it if nobody shares enough movies.
Could an average person land a passenger plane with someone talking them through it?
Why ask it
A room divides into the confident and the realistic, and the confident ones are rarely the friends anyone would hand the controls to. End by voting on which person in the group should be the one to try.
Which is worst: being too hot, too cold, hungry or tired?
Why ask it
Everyone has to rank all four, worst first. Friends who have traveled together can confirm who becomes impossible when hungry, and the answers are handy to know before the next long day out.
Which app should vanish from everyone's phone for a year?
Why ask it
The app nominated most is usually the one the group opens most, and people admit that as they say it. As a chat poll it has an extra edge, since everyone is voting from inside an app.
How many alarms is the right number to set for the morning?
Why ask it
The one-alarm friends and the every-five-minutes friends cannot understand each other, and anyone who has shared a room with the second kind has opinions. Ask to see tomorrow's alarms as evidence. Worth settling at a sleepover before the lights go out, not at 6 a.m.
About each other
Which animal is each of us, and why?
Why ask it
Go through the group person by person, with everyone calling out animals until one sticks. The reason matters more than the animal: a golden retriever for the greeting, an owl for the 2 a.m. texts. Keep every match one the person would smile at.
Which of us would crack first if we all locked our phones in a drawer for the weekend?
Why ask it
Point on three, then ask the friend with the most fingers aimed at them how many hours they honestly think they would manage. They usually agree with the verdict. For obvious reasons it is funnier asked in a group chat.
If you were stuck on a desert island with one person from this group, who are you picking?
Why ask it
People choose for different reasons: one wants the friend who can build things, another the one who will keep them laughing. Hearing why they were picked is the good part. With only three or four friends, hand out island jobs so nobody is left unpicked.
What word or phrase does each of us say way too much?
Why ask it
Everyone knows everyone else's and nobody knows their own. Do one friend at a time, and expect the subject to say it by accident within a minute of denying it. In a chat, people can quote the message history as proof.
What is each of us most likely to end up famous for?
Why ask it
The more specific the better: a cooking channel, a clip of them falling into a fountain, a very niche world record. Take one friend at a time so nobody leaves without a predicted claim to fame, and give each person one veto.
Who takes the longest to text back, and what's the record?
Why ask it
A group knows this without thinking, and the guilty one tends to have a defense prepared. Ask it in the chat itself and time how long their answer takes to arrive.
Whose playlist would you trust on a road trip, and whose gets vetoed?
Why ask it
Best asked in a car before anyone has claimed the speaker. The vetoed friend gets three songs to change the group's mind, which is a fair trial and fills a stretch of highway.
What job would each of us be weirdly perfect for?
Why ask it
Skip the careers people already have or want and go for the odd fits: game show host, lighthouse keeper, the person who names paint colors. It lands as a compliment because it shows what friends have noticed.
In a haunted house, who screams first and who has to walk in front?
Why ask it
Two points on three, one for each role. Friends who have really been through one together will bring up what happened, and that story beats the vote.
Who here could you beat in a foot race, and who wants to prove you wrong?
Why ask it
Everybody names somebody, and the somebody objects. With a backyard or an empty stretch of sidewalk handy it gets settled on the spot, which is about the best outcome a bored group can hope for. Over text it becomes a standing challenge for the next meetup.
If this group entered a talent show, what would each person's act be?
Why ask it
Real talents and invented ones both count, so a friend might be put down for a drum solo or for parallel parking on stage. Once the lineup is settled, decide the running order and who has to follow the best act.
Who here will be a millionaire first, and who would spend it all in a week?
Why ask it
Vote on the two roles separately. Now and then the same friend wins both, and the group needs a minute to enjoy that. The big spender should list what the week's shopping would be.
What does everyone here have in common, apart from knowing each other?
Why ask it
Harder than it sounds, because the group has to go hunting: a shared hometown fails, a shared hatred of one vegetable might hold. The search throws up small facts friends did not know about each other.
What's one thing you're fairly sure nobody here knows about you?
Why ask it
Keep it small: a middle name, a sport tried for one season, a food never tasted. An old friend who still manages a surprise gets a good reaction. If anyone already knew, the person has to come up with another.
Memories
What totally unimportant memory has stuck in your head for no reason?
Why ask it
Brains keep a stranger's shirt from ten years ago and lose last week's homework. These answers are short and odd, like a sandwich eaten on some forgotten Tuesday, and each one reminds somebody else of theirs.
When did you last laugh so hard you couldn't get a word out?
Why ask it
The retelling rarely lands as well as the moment did, and watching someone try is half the fun. If the story involves a friend who is present, hand it to that friend to tell.
What's the most ridiculous way you've ever gotten hurt?
Why ask it
Stick to injuries that are funny now: the trampoline, the glass door, the fight with a folding chair. Scars may be shown as evidence. Move along if someone's story turns out to be a serious one.
What job did you want at seven, and what made you drop the plan?
Why ask it
Astronaut and vet come up a lot, so the second half is the part to listen to. Often the plan ended the day they found out what the job involved, and that day is the story to get.
What's the most trouble you ever got into at school, and was it worth it?
Why ask it
Friends who shared a school will interrupt to correct the details or to admit they were involved. For everyone else, the size of the crime is a quick read on what kind of kid they were. A lot of the answers are about talking.
What's the first thing you remember being completely obsessed with?
Why ask it
Dinosaurs, a boy band, one particular trading card game. People still know a suspicious amount about it, so test them with a question. In a chat, ask for a picture of the thing.
What's the best prank anyone has pulled on you, and did you get them back?
Why ask it
The harmless ones are the ones worth telling: swapped ringtones, a desk wrapped in foil, a fake spider with a long career. Revenge stories run longer than the prank did. Somebody in the group will start planning one, so agree that tonight is a truce.
What was the first movie that properly scared you?
Why ask it
Plenty of these are kids' films with one terrifying scene nobody warned them about. Friends close in age will often have been scared by the same one. At a sleepover, ask it before choosing what to watch, not after lights out.
Which phase of yours do you hope left no photos behind?
Why ask it
Somebody did photograph it, and with luck that person is present. The haircut, the hat, the year of only wearing one color: let the owner tell it, and only bring out pictures if they say yes.
What's the biggest kitchen disaster you've been responsible for?
Why ask it
Everyone has a disaster, even friends who can really cook, and theirs tend to be more ambitious. Ask who had to eat it and what they said. A sleepover kitchen is a fine place to attempt a do-over.
What rule did your family have that no other family seemed to have?
Why ask it
No singing at the table, no shoes on one particular rug, total silence during a certain TV show. Each person learns their normal was a bit strange, and friends who visited that house can confirm the rule was enforced.
What's the longest car ride you've ever been on, and how did you get through it?
Why ask it
Made for the middle of a drive, when the current trip needs some perspective. Answers come with a number of hours and a survival method, and somebody will suggest trying the old car games, which is worth doing.
What's the strangest thing we've ever done because we were bored?
Why ask it
It needs shared history, so save it for friends who have logged a few empty afternoons together. The invented sport or the pointless walk to nowhere gets retold, and it doubles as a hint about what to do with the present boredom.
What's the best thing that ever happened on a field trip?
Why ask it
Hardly any answers are about the museum. They are about the bus, the gift shop and the kid who got left at the rest stop for four minutes. Classmates can compare versions of the same day.
What's the strangest dream you've had this year?
Why ask it
Dreams are dull to hear unless they are short, so set a three-sentence limit. If a friend appeared in it, they are owed a full account of what they were doing there.
Best friend
What did you think of me before we were friends?
Why ask it
Ask it one to one, where the answer can be honest: too loud, too quiet, kind of intimidating. Trade answers, then work out together what changed it, since the two of you will not remember the same moment.
If you made a playlist with my name on it, what's the first track?
Why ask it
It might be a song you played to death, one from a trip, or one they simply decided was yours. Easy to do over text: swap first tracks, then keep trading until each playlist has five songs on it.
If you had to dress up as me for a costume party, what would you wear?
Why ask it
A best friend can name the jacket, the shoes and the thing you always carry. It is a gentle way to hear what your look is from the outside. Go both ways, and nobody gets to be offended by an accurate hoodie.
If you had twenty dollars to spend on me at a gas station, what am I getting?
Why ask it
A test of how well they know your snacks, your drink and the candy you pretend not to like. On a real road trip, play it for real at the next stop and score each other's bags.
Without asking, what do you think I'm doing right this second?
Why ask it
Built for a text out of nowhere. The guess shows how well they know your ordinary afternoons, and a correct one is a little unnerving. Reply with a photo of what you are really doing, then take a guess at theirs.
What's the most pointless argument the two of us have ever had?
Why ask it
Both of you will remember the topic and each will remember having been right. Agree at the start that the old argument stays closed, or you will spend the evening having it again.
What's the weirdest thing only the two of us find funny?
Why ask it
A word, a face, a line from a show nobody else watched. Explaining it out loud never works, which is the point of asking. Best saved for when it is just the two of you.
What's your favorite memory of us that I've probably forgotten?
Why ask it
Each of you keeps different days, and hearing one you had lost is the reward here. Small ones turn up: a bus ride, a bad meal, a walk home. Have your own answer ready to trade.
If our friendship were a movie, what's the title and who plays us?
Why ask it
Casting is where the argument starts, since each of you has ideas about who is the lead. Decide the genre too. A lot of friendships turn out to be a road comedy with a slow middle.
What kind of old people are the two of us going to be?
Why ask it
Porch complainers, mall walkers, the pair who cheat at cards. It is a light way of saying you plan to still be around, and it suits a text sent late at night.
What haven't we done together yet that we really should?
Why ask it
Keep the answers doable: a concert, a day trip, cooking one real dinner. Each of you names one, and you pick a date for the cheaper of the two before the conversation ends.
How to ask a random question out of nowhere
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Asking with no lead-in
Say it, answer it, look at someone
A random question stops being random once it is announced. Skip 'okay, I have a question for everyone' and just ask it, give your own answer in a line, then look at whoever is most likely to disagree with you. The second answer is the one that gets the group going.
Pick the group by where you are
Quick-fire suits a chat or a room where half the people are on their phones. Hypotheticals and Rank and debate want a table or a car and a few minutes each. About each other only works with everyone present, Memories is better late, and Best friend is for two.
Leave the choice to chance
When nobody wants to choose, have one friend call out a number and count down the list to it. If the number lands on a Best friend question in a group of six, the reader takes the nearest question that fits the room.
Passing costs nothing
Say once, early, that anyone can skip any question with no reason given. A few of these involve showing a phone screen, admitting a small lie or naming a first crush, and a friend who can say 'pass' on those will stay in for everything else.
Group chat, sleepover, long drive, lunch table
In a group chat
Post a single question with your own answer under it and leave it alone for a while. The either-or debates, such as the hot dog, the straw and doors against wheels, can go in as polls. The phone questions in Quick-fire are the easiest of all, because a screenshot is the whole reply.
At a sleepover
Start with Quick-fire while people are still finding somewhere to sit, move to About each other once everyone has settled, and keep Memories for when the lights are low. Debates get loud, so run them before the rest of the house has gone to bed.
On a long drive
The front passenger reads and the driver only answers. Anything that needs a phone in hand waits for a stop or skips the driver. Rank and debate fills miles better than any other group, and one debate per exit is about the right pace.
At a lunch table
There are twenty minutes at most, so pick one debate and let it run. Call the vote before everyone has to leave and carry the result over to tomorrow, when the losing side will have come back with new arguments.
When a question turns into an argument
Let it run, then vote
The argument is what these questions are for, so do not rescue the group from it too early. Give it a few minutes, call for hands, and declare the result official until someone formally reopens the case on another day.
Swap sides when it goes flat
If a debate has stalled with the same two people repeating themselves, make each side argue the other's case for one minute. People are funnier defending a position they have just spent five minutes attacking.
Keep About each other kind
A vote about a friend should be one that friend would laugh at. If the same person keeps collecting the votes, change to a question that takes everyone in turn, like the animal, the job or the talent show act.
If an answer turns out to be serious
Now and then a memory question brings up something that is not funny. Thank the person, do not dig for more in front of the group, and follow it with something from Quick-fire so the mood has an easy way back.
With one best friend
Every question goes both ways
The Best friend questions are written as 'me' and 'us' so that either of you can ask them. Whoever asks answers the same question straight afterward, about the other person. Asking six in a row without trading turns it into an interview.
Guess before you hear it
Most of the Hypotheticals and Memories work for two if you add one step: before your friend answers, say what you think they will say. Keep score if you like. A wrong guess after years of friendship is its own conversation.
Late at night over text
Send one question and do not wait up for the reply. The ones about a playlist, a forgotten memory or the two of you as old people read well the next morning, and a voice message is a fine way to answer.