GUIDE
Writing Custom Words That Work
Custom word packs are the best feature in the imposter game and the one most likely to ruin an evening. A pack of inside jokes can produce the funniest round your group has ever played — or four dead rounds in a row where nobody can think of a single clue. The difference isn't luck. It's whether the words pass a handful of tests, and most homemade packs fail at least two of them.
This is a guide to writing words that hold up. It's the same set of rules the built-in 832-word deck was written against, spelled out so you can apply them to your own.
Why most custom packs fail
Almost every bad custom pack fails for one of three reasons, and they're all the same underlying mistake — picking words that are interesting rather than words that are cluable.
- Too obscure. If two people at the table don't know the word, they look exactly like the imposter and get voted out for being honest. The round isn't a deduction any more; it's a general knowledge quiz.
- Too narrow. Some words only have one thing you can say about them. "Stapler" is universally known but almost every clue is "staples", "desk" or "click" — three clues in, the imposter has it.
- Too abstract. Words like "Freedom" or "Nostalgia" feel deep and play terribly. Every clue is vague by necessity, so vagueness stops being a tell, and the imposter is invisible.
The four tests
Run every candidate word through these. A word that fails any one of them will produce a flat round.
1. The recognition test
Would every single person at the table recognise this word instantly, without explanation? Not "have heard of" — recognise, well enough to say something specific about it under mild pressure.
The bar is the least-informed person in the room, not the average. A pack written by the two biggest film buffs in the group will be miserable for everyone else.
2. The five-clue test
Can you name five genuinely different one-word clues for it, right now, in ten seconds? Not five synonyms — five different angles.
Take Pizza: delivery, slice, Italy, cheese, sharing, box, Friday. Seven angles without trying. Now take Stapler: staples, desk, click… and you're already reaching. Pizza makes a great round; Stapler makes a round that ends after three clues.
This is the single most predictive test. If you only apply one, apply this one.
3. The blend test
Could a stranger to this word give a passable clue by copying the vibe of the first two? If not — if any clue that isn't specifically correct is instantly, obviously wrong — the imposter has no room to bluff and the round is a coin flip.
You want words where a smart faker can survive. The tension of the game lives in that gap.
4. The sibling test
Do the words in your pack look like each other? If your pack mixes "Grandma's kitchen" with "Quantum physics", the category tells the imposter nothing, and hard mode becomes impossible rather than hard.
A good pack has a shape. Everything in it should belong to one recognisable family — same domain, roughly same register, roughly same level of specificity.
Writing the imposter's hint
The hint is the other half of the design, and it's where most people over-help. The rule the built-in deck follows: one lateral step, never one step closer.
A good hint points sideways at the word from an unexpected direction. It should make sense the moment you know the answer and be nearly useless before then.
| Word | Bad hint | Good hint | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pizza | Italian food | Delivery | "Italian food" narrows it to a handful of answers; "delivery" fits a hundred things |
| Penguin | Antarctic bird | Tuxedo | The bad hint is the answer with extra steps |
| Karaoke | Singing | Off-key | "Singing" hands over the whole frame; "off-key" is a mood |
| Marathon | Long race | 26 miles | A specific fact reads as flavour, not definition |
Keep hints to one or two words. A long hint is always too much help — and if you can't hint a word in two words, that's usually the five-clue test failing in disguise.
Inside jokes: the sweet spot
Inside jokes are the reason to build a custom pack at all, and they're also the fastest way to break one. The sweet spot is narrow: the reference has to be known by everyone at the table and known well enough that each person could describe it differently.
"That time we missed the flight" works if all six of you were there. It dies if one person only heard the story. And crucially — if there's a guest at the table, put the house pack away. Nothing makes someone feel more like an outsider than a game whose entire premise is that they weren't there.
Rule of thumb: if you'd have to explain the word to anyone in the room, it's not in the pack tonight.
Three worked examples
The office pack
Built from shared workplace experience rather than named colleagues — naming people is fun for two rounds and awkward for the rest.
| Secret word | Hint |
|---|---|
| All-hands meeting | Mandatory |
| The good meeting room | Booked |
| Reply-all | Regret |
| The office coffee machine | Descaling |
| Out-of-office reply | Limited access |
| Performance review | Calibration |
Note the shape: every word is a workplace ritual, everyone has lived all of them, and each has several angles — the object, the feeling, the phrase people say about it.
The family pack
Aimed at a mixed-age table, so the bar is what the youngest player knows. If your table skews younger still, the kids' word list is built to the same standard.
| Secret word | Hint |
|---|---|
| The good scissors | Off limits |
| Sunday roast | Nap after |
| The loft | Ladder |
| Car journey | Are we there |
| The biscuit tin | Sewing kit |
| Family photo | Everyone blinked |
The couples pack
Works for two or three couples who know each other. Domestic, specific, and full of angles.
| Secret word | Hint |
|---|---|
| The washing-up argument | Soaking |
| Choosing what to watch | Forty minutes |
| Meeting the parents | Good shirt |
| Splitting the bill | Calculator |
| The shared calendar | Double booked |
| Snoring | Spare room |
How many words do you need?
Twenty is the practical minimum for an evening — fewer and words start repeating, which quietly ruins the game because a repeated word is a free win for anyone who remembers it. Thirty to fifty is comfortable. The built-in packs sit at 52 each for exactly this reason.
If you can only think of twelve good ones, that's fine: mix your custom pack with a built-in category rather than padding it with words that fail the five-clue test. A short strong pack beats a long weak one every time.
Test it before the night
Read your list to one person who wasn't involved in writing it and ask them to say the first one-word clue that comes to mind for each. Two things will show up immediately: the words they hesitate on (recognition test failure) and the words where their clue is the same as yours (five-clue test failure). Cut both.
The checklist
- Everyone at the table would recognise every word, instantly
- Every word survives the five-clue test
- The words look like siblings — one domain, one register
- Hints are one lateral step, one or two words, never a definition
- Twenty words minimum, thirty or more if it's the only pack
- No inside joke that needs explaining to anyone present
- Tested on one outside reader before the night
Once your pack is written, add it in the game's setup screen and play it alongside a built-in category for the first session — it makes it obvious which of your words are carrying and which are dead weight. For more on tuning difficulty, see the house rules and variations.