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Guess Who?

Games
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A two-player deduction game in which questions eliminate pictured characters until one remains.

Detailed Definition
Guess Who? uses rows of illustrated faces and yes-or-no questions to identify a concealed character. Each answer removes a group of possibilities, making observation, categorization, and assumption part of the play. In poetry, the game can expose how identity is reduced to visible traits, or how affection persists beyond labels and appearances. It offers a compact metaphor for recognition, prejudice, and the uneasy process of asking what another person is.
Example
Example in poetry:
Guess Who? can inspire a poem made of questions about identity and appearance; “Does he wear sorrow, or does sorrow wear him?” echoes the game’s process of elimination; A poet may use portraits and yes-or-no questions to examine stereotypes; The title Guess Who? can create playful suspense before the poem reveals the speaker’s hidden self.
Additional Notes
Guess Who? is a visual deduction game based on yes-or-no questions. Players eliminate characters according to visible features such as glasses or hair color, aiming to identify the opponent’s chosen face. Effective questions divide the remaining possibilities as evenly as possible.
Also Known As
Identity Game Mystery Play Character Reveal
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