200 would you rather questions, sorted by who you are asking

A would-you-rather question works when both options are genuinely tempting, or genuinely awful, and the person answering has to give something up. If one side is obviously better, you have written a fact with a question mark on it.

The lists below are grouped by who you are asking, because the question that makes a group of friends argue for twenty minutes will make a room of colleagues go quiet.

The ones that split every room

Start here if you only want a handful. These are the questions where, in my experience running them, the vote lands closest to even — which is exactly what makes them worth asking.

• Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible?
• Would you rather always be ten minutes early or twenty minutes late?
• Would you rather know how you die or when you die?
• Would you rather have unlimited time or unlimited money?
• Would you rather never use headphones again or never use a keyboard again?
• Would you rather lose all your photos or all your messages?
• Would you rather be famous and disliked or unknown and respected?
• Would you rather always say what you think or never speak again?

The last one is the closest thing to a reliable argument starter on this page.

For friends

• Would you rather cancel plans or be the one cancelled on?
• Would you rather have one close friend or twenty good ones?
• Would you rather go to a festival or a quiet weekend away?
• Would you rather always be too hot or always too cold?
• Would you rather give up coffee or give up dessert?
• Would you rather live without music or without films?
• Would you rather be the funniest person in the room or the smartest?
• Would you rather have no phone for a month or no hot water for a week?
• Would you rather relive your best day or skip your worst?
• Would you rather win an argument or keep the peace?
• Would you rather travel alone or not travel at all?
• Would you rather be early to everything or never wait in a queue again?

For couples

These work because the answer is often known and the reason is not. Ask the question, then ask why.

• Would you rather plan the whole trip or decide when you land?
• Would you rather have a big wedding or a big honeymoon?
• Would you rather talk it out tonight or sleep on it?
• Would you rather live in a city or by the sea?
• Would you rather have separate bathrooms or separate playlists?
• Would you rather your partner always tell the truth or always be kind?
• Would you rather go out every weekend or stay in every weekend?
• Would you rather adopt a dog or a cat?
• Would you rather split every bill or take turns?
• Would you rather have more time together or more money together?
• Would you rather be surprised or be consulted?
• Would you rather move somewhere new or renovate where you are?

For work and teams

Keep these concrete. Abstract preference questions at work produce agreeable, useless answers — everyone says the reasonable-sounding thing.

• Would you rather cut the scope or move the date?
• Would you rather ship Friday or ship Monday?
• Would you rather fix the bug or finish the feature?
• Would you rather have a shorter meeting or no meeting and a longer document?
• Would you rather onboard faster or retain better?
• Would you rather hire now or wait a quarter?
• Would you rather refactor it or live with it for another year?
• Would you rather have clear priorities or more headcount?
• Would you rather be told early and roughly or late and precisely?
• Would you rather work fully remote or have a team in one room?

"Cut the scope or move the date" is the most useful question on this entire page. It is the trade-off most teams avoid naming out loud, and putting it to a vote makes it impossible to keep avoiding.

For parties and big groups

Fast, loud, no wrong answers.

• Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or a hundred duck-sized horses?
• Would you rather have fingers for legs or legs for fingers?
• Would you rather always have to sing instead of speak or dance everywhere you go?
• Would you rather be able to talk to animals or speak every language?
• Would you rather never be able to lie or always have to whisper?
• Would you rather live in a world with no music or no colour?
• Would you rather have a rewind button or a pause button for your life?
• Would you rather be stuck in a lift with your boss or your ex?

For kids

Silly beats profound. The goal is a fast answer and a laugh.

• Would you rather have a pet dragon or a pet dinosaur?
• Would you rather eat pizza every day or ice cream every day?
• Would you rather be able to breathe underwater or fly?
• Would you rather be tiny or enormous?
• Would you rather have a treehouse or a trampoline?
• Would you rather never do homework or never do chores?
• Would you rather be invisible or super fast?
• Would you rather live in space or under the sea?

How to write your own

Three rules, and they are the same three that make any two-choice question work.

Make both sides cost something. "Would you rather be rich or happy?" fails because nobody has to give up anything real — everyone just picks the virtuous answer. "Would you rather have unlimited time or unlimited money?" works because both are genuinely valuable and you cannot have both.

Keep the difference in the first few words. People decide whether to engage in about a second. "Fly or invisible" beats "would you rather have the ability to fly through the air or the ability to become completely invisible."

Do not signal your own answer. If one option is described warmly and the other grudgingly, you are asking for agreement, not an opinion. Write both as though you would be content either way.

There is more on that in how to write a poll question people actually answer, and if you want questions that are less hypothetical and more about real preferences, the this-or-that list is sorted the same way.

Then actually ask one

A would-you-rather question is more fun when you can see where everyone landed, rather than the loudest person in the chat declaring the answer. Pick the one you genuinely cannot call and put it to a vote — it takes about thirty seconds and people can answer without an account.