Indoor games for four people

Stuck indoors with three other people and nothing to do? The chit game needs no board and no batteries: one page, one pen, and a straight face. It has been played in homes for generations because a grandparent, a parent and a teenager can all sit down and be equally good at it.

▶ Play free now

Why it works at home

Rounds last about a minute, so it fits between other things. Nobody has to be good at anything except keeping a straight face, which makes it fair across ages. And since a different person is the guesser each round, nobody sits out.

What you need

Tear a page into four slips. Write King, Queen, Police and Thief on them (or your own version of the names), fold them and shuffle. One person tosses them on the floor and everyone picks one. Keep a score on the back of the same page.

When there are fewer than four of you

Open CHITPLAY on a phone: computer players take the empty seats. Friends in the same room can join from their own phones by scanning a QR code, and each person keeps their chit private on their own screen.

A forfeit makes it better

Agree before you start what last place has to do: sing a line of an old song, tell an embarrassing story, or make the next round of tea. CHITPLAY suggests a harmless forfeit at the end of every match.

Pick the version you grew up with

• Raja Rani Chor Police (India)
• Raja Wazir Chor Sipahi (Pakistan)
• Raja Mantri Chor Sipahi (Nepal)
• Raja Mantri Chor Police (Bangladesh)
• Tonosama to Dorobo (Japan)
• Mafia Game (South Korea)
• Jingcha Zhua Xiaotou (China)
• Mafia: Commissar (Russia)
• Cops and Robbers (USA)
• King, Queen, Bobby & Robber (United Kingdom)
• Räuber und Gendarm (Germany)
• Gendarmes et Voleurs (France)
• Polícia e Ladrão (Brazil)
• Policías y Ladrones (Mexico)

Questions