How to play Impostor with the Modern Wonders category
Published: 2026-11-05 Updated: 2026-11-05 1259 words 6 min read
The Modern and Contemporary Wonders category looks easy because everyone has seen the Eiffel Tower, but very few know where Lalibela or the Shwedagon Pagoda are. Each round deals a landmark and the impostor has to bluff one into existence. Country, century, material and how you visit it become the clues.
Table of contents
- What a Modern Wonders round actually looks like
- How the Modern Wonders category works in the game
- Real landmarks in this category and how they work as clues
- Strategies for an impostor who knows nothing about landmarks
- How to catch the impostor when you know your landmarks
- Common mistakes that ruin the round
- Recommended settings for a Modern Wonders game
- House rules to make the wonders category harder
- Frequently asked questions
What a Modern Wonders round actually looks like
In every round each player is secretly dealt a wonder from the database: the Colosseum, Machu Picchu or the Burj Khalifa. Everyone writes one clue about their landmark without naming it, while the impostor invents a clue to slide in.
Then the group compares clues, debates and votes. The category works because the list mixes ancient sites with twentieth-century builds: everybody knows the Statue of Liberty, but hardly anyone has heard of Tikal.
- Best with 4 to 12 players
- Rounds last 3 to 5 minutes
- Great for travel friends, families and history classes
- Free in the browser, nothing to install
- Also available in table mode for playing in person
How the Modern Wonders category works in the game
The database runs from the Colosseum to Perito Moreno Glacier, including the Sydney Opera House, Iguazu Falls and Monte Rushmore. Each player describes their wonder with one detail: which country it is in, what it is made of, which century it belongs to or what you can do there.
The impostor receives no landmark. The classic failure is a clue so broad it fits anything: 'it is very old', 'it is in Europe' or 'you can visit it'.
- Create the room and select the Modern and Contemporary Wonders category
- Write a clue: country, century, material or type of visit
- Read the other clues and hunt for impossible combinations
- Debate in the chat and vote for the suspect
- The ejected player reveals their wonder and the next round starts
Real landmarks in this category and how they work as clues
These landmarks are in the game database. Knowing the country, the century or the material of each one lets you catch the impostor in round one.
| Wonder | What it is | A clue that fits its round |
|---|---|---|
| Colosseum | The Roman amphitheatre, symbol of the Empire | It was an amphitheatre, not a temple |
| Statue of Liberty | The New York statue gifted by France | It arrived in 1886 as a present from France |
| Golden Gate Bridge | The red suspension bridge of San Francisco | It is a suspension bridge, not an arch |
| Eiffel Tower | The iron tower of Paris | Built in 1889 for an exposition |
| Sydney Opera House | The white-shelled building on Sydney harbour | Its roofs look like ship sails |
| Burj Khalifa | The tallest skyscraper on earth, in Dubai | It stands above 800 metres |
| Great Wall of China | Hundreds of kilometres of walls across China | You cannot walk the whole thing in a day |
| Machu Picchu | Inca city above 2,400 metres in Peru | It sits in the mountains with limited tickets |
| Chichen Itza | Maya complex in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula | Its pyramid casts a serpent shadow at the equinox |
| Petra | City carved into rock in Jordan | You enter on foot through a narrow canyon |
| Stonehenge | Stone burial complex in England | Not a castle and not a recent building |
| Taj Mahal | White marble funerary monument in Agra, India | Its colour changes with the light of the day |
| Great Barrier Reef | The largest reef system in the world, off Australia | It is a living reef, not a built structure |
| Monte Rushmore | Carved presidential heads in South Dakota | Four presidents are carved into the mountain |
Strategies for an impostor who knows nothing about landmarks
You do not need to have travelled. The impostor wins when the clue sounds like a real landmark, not when it is the correct one.
- Lean on shared traits: 'very visited', 'made of stone', 'in a big city'.
- Anchor your clue to a continent already named: 'also in the Americas' sounds natural.
- Avoid exact names. If you say Burj Khalifa and nobody else mentions it, you stand out.
- Never copy the previous clue word for word: reorder it and add a small detail.
- When challenged, ask back: 'can you go inside it?' makes the others explain themselves.
- Match the tone of the table: if everyone uses landmark emojis, use landmark emojis.
How to catch the impostor when you know your landmarks
Knowing heritage sites only helps if you ask instead of accusing. A closed question forces the suspect to give a fact that can be checked.
- Ask for the country: a clue with no country is usually invented
- Compare the era: ancient, medieval, nineteenth century or modern
- Hunt the impossible: a nineteenth-century skyscraper is not in the list
- Watch who writes late: the impostor needs time to invent the clue
- Align the votes before voting: split accusations hand the round to the impostor
Common mistakes that ruin the round
- Naming the landmark in your first clue: it kills the mystery
- Voting against the player who has travelled least
- Confusing Machu Picchu with Chichen Itza and accusing without proof
- Reusing the same clue round after round
- Playing with more than 12 people: the chat becomes unreadable
- Asking for facts nobody can verify, such as the yearly visitor numbers
Recommended settings for a Modern Wonders game
With well-travelled groups the full list works on its own. With younger players, start with the landmarks in the school books and keep Tikal or Lalibela for later rounds.
| Group type | Players | Best mode | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friends or family | 6 to 10 | Online multiplayer | 20 min |
| Travel club or culture group | 8 to 12 | Online multiplayer | 30 min |
| In-person game night | 4 to 8 | Table mode | 15 min per round |
| History or geography class | 10 to 15 | Multi-room multiplayer | 45 min |
House rules to make the wonders category harder
Once the group knows the list by heart, these house rules raise the difficulty:
- Americas only: Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza, Iguazu Falls, Golden Gate, Monte Rushmore
- No continent allowed in the clue: only material or century
- One-word clues
- Two impostors with different fake clues
- The ejected player becomes the impostor in the next round