How to Play Impostor with Famous Scientists and Inventors

What a Famous Scientists and Inventors round looks like

Each round deals one character from the database and every player writes a clue about them: their discovery, their country or their century. The impostor gets no character and has to fake one.

The category works because the names are instantly recognisable but their achievements are easy to mix up. Saying 'he invented the light bulb' fits Edison and a couple of others, and that is where suspicion starts.

• Best with 4 to 12 players
• Each round lasts 3 to 6 minutes
• Great for families, classrooms and friends
• Free in the browser, nothing to download
• Pairs well with the Inventions That Changed History category

How the database deals the scientists

The system hands out fourteen people: Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Nikola Tesla, Ada Lovelace, Linus Torvalds and Galileo Galilei among them. Each comes with a short description such as 'discoverer of radioactivity' or 'inventor of the telephone'.

The impostor is caught out by crediting the wrong person to a famous achievement. If the table is playing Fleming and someone claims their character created penicillin, they have just confessed.

1. Create the room and select the Famous Scientists and Inventors category
2. Write a clue with the achievement, the country or the century
3. Read the other clues and hunt for repeated achievements
4. Ask the suspect exactly what their character invented
5. Vote together, the ejected player reveals their name and the next round begins

The real characters in this category and their clues

These scientists and inventors are in the game database. Knowing the exact achievement lets you catch the impostor immediately.

Strategies for an impostor who does not remember scientists

The impostor does not need to guess the right person. They only need a clue that sounds like an important scientist and that nobody can disprove.

• Use broad achievements: 'changed physics', 'won a Nobel Prize'.
• Anchor your clue to a country already named: 'also European' costs nothing.
• Avoid specific inventions. If you say television and nobody else does, you stand out.
• Skip exact dates, the group usually remembers decades, not years.
• Ask your own question: 'which century was he from?' makes the others explain.
• Match the level of detail, if everyone writes four words, write four.

How to catch the impostor by comparing achievements

The key is to cross-check surname with achievement. If somebody says their character 'discovered radioactivity', ask where they studied and with whom.

1. Ask for the exact achievement, a clue with no discovery is vague
2. Compare countries, Tesla was Serbian-American and Lovelace was English
3. Hunt the impossible, Galileo never programmed a machine
4. Watch who writes late, the impostor needs time to invent
5. Close the vote before voting, split accusations give away the round

Common mistakes that ruin the round

• Naming the scientist in your first clue
• Confusing Edison with Tesla and accusing without proof
• Voting against the player who knows the least science
• Reusing the same clue round after round
• Playing with more than 12 people, the debate turns chaotic
• Arguing about who deserves credit instead of comparing clues

Recommended settings for a scientists game

With a technical group the full list is a solid challenge. With children, it is better to keep only the names they meet in textbooks.

House rules for the scientists category

Once the group knows every character, these house rules raise the difficulty:

• Scientists born before 1900 only
• Mandatory clue: mention the country and the discovery
• One-word clues
• Two impostors with different fake clues
• The ejected player becomes the impostor in the next round

Frequently asked questions

Game guides