Try Not to Laugh
One of you breaks. It is usually the same one.
- Players
- 2+ players
- Length
- 10–20 min
- Cost
- Free · no signup
- Long distance
- Works long distance
Ready?
One of you breaks. It is usually the same one.
- Players
- 2+ players
- Length
- 10–20 min
- Intensity
- Sweet
Free · No signup · Nothing you answer is saved
How do you play Try Not to Laugh?
Try Not to Laugh has one partner keeping a completely straight face for sixty seconds while the other performs whatever the card instructs — impressions, dramatic readings, invented commentary. Smiling counts as losing. Partners swap each round and it works equally well over a video call.
How to play
- One of you is the straight face. The other reads the card and performs.
- Sixty seconds on the clock.
- Smiling counts. Laughing definitely counts.
- Survive the minute and you score. Swap.
- No touching the straight-face person. That is not the game.
Why couples love this game
The impressions are why. There is a specific and very reliable comedy in being impersonated by someone who has watched you closely for years, and this is the only format that gives them permission to do it at length.
One person has to keep a completely straight face. The other gets sixty seconds and a card telling them how to break it.
Every couple has a designated person who cannot hold it, and this game exists to establish beyond argument who that is.
It requires nothing, works anywhere, and each round is a minute long. It is also one of the few things here that works just as well on a video call.
Example challenges
- Do your best impression of your partner (60s)
- Recite a shopping list as dramatically as possible (60s)
- Explain your job as if to a toddler (60s)
- Do an impression of your partner's mother (60s)
- Read the last thing you texted them in a Shakespearean voice (60s)
- Describe your first date as a nature documentary (60s)
The full game has 20 of these, shuffled every time you play.
Who this game is best for
- Anywhere, any time
- Video calls
- Groups and double dates
- Lifting the mood after something heavy
Tips to make it better
- The impressions of each other are the strongest cards. Save them.
- Smiling counts. Be strict or the game dissolves.
- No physical contact — tickling is cheating and ends friendships.
- In a group, one straight face against everyone else is chaos in the right way.
Frequently asked questions
How do you play Try Not to Laugh?
One person keeps a straight face for sixty seconds while the other performs the card. Smiling or laughing loses the round. Then swap.
Is tickling allowed?
No. No physical contact at all — it removes any skill from the game and reliably makes someone genuinely annoyed.
Does it work over FaceTime?
Perfectly. It is entirely performance-based, and the slight video delay somehow makes the impressions funnier.