How to Play Reverend Crawley's Game

Reverend Crawley's Game is a parlour guessing game for six or more players in which one player leaves the room while the remaining group agrees on a secret rule governing how they will answer questions. The questioner returns and must deduce the rule purely from the pattern of answers given.

Players love it because it rewards lateral thinking over general knowledge, needs no equipment whatsoever, and scales comfortably from a family sitting room to a large gathering. It is equally at home after dinner, at a village hall evening, or on a long journey.

Setting up

1. Choose one player to be the first Questioner. This is often done by volunteering or by drawing a slip of paper.
2. The Questioner leaves the room, moves out of earshot, and waits until called back.
3. The remaining players agree on a secret rule. The rule must govern how every player answers questions put to them. See How to Play for example rules.
4. Once the rule is firmly agreed and everyone understands it, the group calls the Questioner back into the room.
5. The Questioner stands or sits where they can address each player in turn.

How to play

1. The Questioner may ask any player any question that can be answered in a word or short phrase. Questions must be answerable in plain language: no gestures, no props.
2. Each player answers the question truthfully according to the secret rule, not according to their genuine opinion or knowledge. Players must not lie outright or give nonsense answers: the answer must follow from the rule in a way that, once the rule is known, seems fair.
3. The Questioner works around the group in any order they choose, asking as many questions as they like of as many players as they like.
4. Players may not volunteer hints, exchange glances intended as signals, or in any way assist the Questioner beyond giving rule-compliant answers.
5. If a player accidentally breaks the rule in their answer, that player is immediately out for the remainder of that round and must stay silent.
6. The Questioner announces their guess at the rule at any point they feel confident. They state the rule precisely out loud.
7. If the guess is correct, that round ends. The Questioner scores a point and a new Questioner is chosen from the group (typically the player who has waited longest).
8. If the guess is incorrect, play continues and the Questioner must keep asking questions. There is no penalty for a wrong guess, but the Questioner may only make one guess per turn around the full group.
9. If the Questioner has addressed every player at least twice without guessing correctly, the group may vote by simple majority to reveal the rule and award no point for that round. The same Questioner goes again with a new rule, or the group may rotate at their discretion.
10. Play continues for an agreed number of rounds or until a fixed time limit is reached.

Winning and scoring

The player with the most points at the end of the agreed number of rounds wins. A standard game is six rounds, giving each player of a six-player group one turn as Questioner. In larger groups, fix a time limit of 30 to 40 minutes and count points at the end. Ties are broken by a sudden-death final round in which tied players take turns as Questioner with a single shared rule; the first tied player to guess correctly wins outright.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns whether an answer genuinely follows from the rule. The standard ruling is that the group, not the Questioner, judges this: a simple show of hands decides whether the answer was fair. If the majority find the answer did not follow the rule, the answering player is out for that round and the question is re-asked of the next player. This keeps the game honest without lengthy argument.

A second frequent issue arises when the Questioner asks a yes-or-no question and the rule produces an ambiguous answer. The group should agree before play begins that yes-or-no questions are permitted but that the answering player may respond with a single qualifying word (for example, "possibly" or "sometimes") if the rule genuinely produces no clean yes or no. Elaborate qualifications are not allowed: if a player cannot answer in three words or fewer, they are out for that round.

Variations

Adverb Game

The most popular variant. The secret rule is replaced by a secret adverb (for example, "nervously" or "as though very cold"). The Questioner asks players to perform small actions or mime short activities, and players carry them out in the manner of the adverb. The Questioner guesses the adverb rather than a rule. This version plays especially well with younger children and with groups who enjoy physical comedy.

Colour Rule

The rule must relate to a colour chosen in secret: for example, every answer must contain an object of that colour, or every answer must rhyme with a word associated with that colour. This constraint keeps rules accessible for younger or less experienced players and tends to produce quicker rounds suitable for a larger party.

Animal Round

Each player is secretly assigned a different animal by the group while the Questioner is out of the room. Players answer every question as they imagine that animal would answer if it could speak. The Questioner must identify which animal each player has been assigned rather than a single shared rule. Scoring awards one point per correct animal identified; the Questioner may guess at any time and keeps asking until time is called.

Double Bluff

Two Questioners leave the room simultaneously. The group sets one rule. Both Questioners return and compete to guess the rule first, each asking questions in strict alternation. The Questioner who guesses correctly scores two points; the other scores nothing. If neither guesses within the standard time limit, neither scores. This version suits confident groups who want a more competitive feel.

Frequently asked questions

Can the rule be changed once the Questioner has returned to the room?

No. The rule is fixed the moment the group calls the Questioner back in. Changing it mid-round is cheating and ruins the integrity of earlier answers. If the group realises the rule is unworkable, they must concede the round, reveal the rule, and start a new round with the same Questioner.

Does the Questioner have to ask questions in a fixed order around the group?

No. The Questioner may address any player in any order and return to the same player as many times as they like. Varying the order is a legitimate strategy and often helps expose the pattern more quickly.

What happens if a player accidentally reveals the rule with their answer?

That player is immediately out for the rest of the round and may not speak. If the Questioner guesses correctly on the very next question, the point still counts. The slip is not penalised beyond that player sitting out.

Is there a limit on how complicated the secret rule can be?

There is no hard limit, but the group should use common sense. A rule so convoluted that players themselves struggle to apply it consistently is not in the spirit of the game. A good working test: every player should be able to answer any plausible question correctly within five seconds of hearing it.

Can the Questioner ask the same question to every player in turn?

Yes, and this is often a very effective tactic. Asking identical questions of different players highlights inconsistencies caused by misapplication of the rule and can quickly narrow down the possibilities. There is no rule against repetition of questions.