Yes you look ridiculous when you play Hedbanz...and it is worth it!
Created in 1991 Hedbanz is super simple...everyone wears a plastic headband that holds a card face out that the wearer cannot see. The card shows a simple picture and the name of the picture such as ‘Pencil’. At the start of the wearer’s turn a timer is started and the wearer asks questions. The other players can only answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. It is very similar to the game 20 questions. If the wearer guesses correctly they swap out their card for a new one and start asking questions about the new card. When time is up play passes to the next player.
The guessing and answering becomes something of a fun free for all.
The winner is the first player to guess a pre-agreed to number of cards.
We have played this using cards from other games which works fine as long as the card can easily be seen from across the table.
Currently there is a smartphone app called HeadsUp that is very similar to Hedbanz.
The Good: Great for young kids.
The Bad: Once you play through the deck of cards a couple times people start remembering the cards.
The Dastardly: If you get completely stuck on a card it can be very frustrating. We have a house rule that after 2 turns of not guessing the same card you can discard it and get a new card.