Celebrity words for Imposter: the Famous People deck
Everybody has heard of every name on this list, and nobody agrees on what any of them are actually famous for. That gap is where the imposter hides.
A celebrity round runs on the fact that fame is lumpy. Ask five people about Napoleon and you get short (he wasn't, apparently), French, a hat, Waterloo, and one person thinking of the ABBA song. Every one of those clues is fair, so the imposter can say something odd and still sound like they paid attention in history. The deck also has a deliberate banana skin: there are two Leonardos in it, DiCaprio and da Vinci, so an imposter who works out the first name still has to pick the right one. And David Attenborough is the rare name where everyone does the voice in their head before they speak, which is a tell all of its own.
The full celebrities word list, with the hints the app gives the imposter
Every word below is dealt in the Antics app. The easy hint is what the imposter sees on the default setting; the hard hint is the harder tier. Playing from this page with paper? Give the imposter one hint or none, your call.
| WORD | EASY HINT | HARD HINT |
|---|---|---|
| Michael Jackson | Dancing | Eighties |
| Elvis Presley | Rock | Vegas |
| Beyoncé | Stage | Fierce |
| Taylor Swift | Songwriter | Tickets |
| Ed Sheeran | Guitar | Romantic |
| Adele | Piano | British |
| Freddie Mercury | Band | Flamboyant |
| Bob Marley | Caribbean | Posters |
| Eminem | Rap | Controversial |
| Rihanna | Pop | Fashion |
| Marilyn Monroe | Glamour | Fifties |
| Tom Cruise | Action | Sequels |
| The Rock | Muscles | Blockbusters |
| Keanu Reeves | Stunts | Humble |
| Leonardo DiCaprio | Iceberg | Hollywood |
| Emma Watson | Magic | Bookish |
| Will Smith | Comedy | Oscars |
| Morgan Freeman | Voice | Wisdom |
| Lionel Messi | Football | |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Goals | Rivalry |
| Serena Williams | Tennis | Sisters |
| Usain Bolt | Running | Stadium |
| Muhammad Ali | Boxing | Confidence |
| Michael Jordan | Basketball | Nineties |
| Albert Einstein | Science | German |
| William Shakespeare | Writing | School |
| Queen Elizabeth II | Royalty | Duty |
| Henry VIII | Marriage | Appetite |
| Napoleon | War | Ambition |
| Cleopatra | Egypt | Beauty |
| Winston Churchill | Politics | Stubborn |
| Princess Diana | Charity | Hearts |
| Julius Caesar | Rome | Betrayal |
| Leonardo da Vinci | Painting | Italian |
| Steve Jobs | Technology | Perfectionist |
| MrBeast | YouTube | Teenagers |
| Kim Kardashian | Family | |
| Elon Musk | Rockets | Rich |
| Gordon Ramsay | Cooking | Television |
| David Attenborough | Nature | Treasure |
How to run a celebrity round
- In the Antics lobby, pick Famous People on its own for your first game. Mixing decks can wait until everyone has the hang of it.
- Pass the phone. Each person peeks at the name; the imposter sees their hint instead.
- One word each, and no impressions. A single "hee-hee" and the round is over, because there is only one person that can be.
- No surnames, no nicknames, no film titles. Titanic is not a clue, it is a confession.
- Point on three. A caught imposter names the person: the right Leonardo counts, the wrong one does not.
The names that trip people up
The hardest names are the ones with a rival standing next to them. Messi and Ronaldo are both in the deck, so every football clue is a coin toss, and the imposter who says "free kicks" survives purely because nobody can argue with it. The history lot are hard in a different way: most people's knowledge of Julius Caesar is one sentence long, and they have already used it. With hints on, the app deals the imposter one word every round, Easy by default and Hard if your group is ruthless. Three from the deck, easy then hard: Morgan Freeman: Voice / Wisdom. Henry VIII: Marriage / Appetite. Cristiano Ronaldo: Goals / Rivalry. Rivalry is the cruel one. It fits him perfectly, and it fits the other bloke too.
Who the Famous People deck is for
This is the deck for a room with an age gap. The older end takes Elvis and Churchill, the younger end takes MrBeast, and a grown-up family Christmas becomes a proper contest when your nan unmasks the imposter because they had no idea who Cleopatra was. It works at a work do as well: nobody has to reveal anything personal, only how little they know about Kim Kardashian.
Are the famous people all British?
No. It is a global list of Hollywood, pop, sport and history, with a strong British streak through the likes of Churchill, Adele and Attenborough. If someone genuinely has not heard of a name, they are in the same boat as the imposter, which is funnier than it sounds.
Can there be two imposters?
Yes, with six or more players. Switch it on in the lobby. Two imposters on a celebrity deck is chaos, because they each start guessing a different person and then accuse each other.
Do I need premium for Famous People?
No. It is one of the free Imposter decks, and Imposter is a free game in Antics.
Pick a celebrity, then lie about it
Famous People is free in Antics. Pass one phone round, everyone peeks, and the app keeps the secret so nobody has to deal and know the answer.
On a laptop? anticsapp.com/get sends the right store to your phone.